• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Best equipment and system picks of 2014

December 31, 2014Jason Morgan

Ninkasi_New Brewhouse-GEA Brewhouse

The proper equipment selection and usage can make or break your brewing business. From productive, burly brewhouses to automated packaging systems, there is no shortage of equipment options for your growing craft brewery. In 2014, Craft Brewing Business took stock of all the latest and greatest brewing equipment and systems to outfit your establishment. We talked about production-boosting conveying equipment. We covered the most important safety and maintenance tips. We even got great equipment insight from established, successful craft brewers. I could go on all day, or you could take a look below to check out the biggest equipment and systems-focused features from 2014.

Packaging Equipment Reviewed: Conveying systems and accumulation tables

Getting beer to bottle is not as easy as it seems. Automated packaging requires transit — conveying, merging, diverting, picking, placing, transferring, orienting, stacking and every other gerund in between. As craft breweries grow, their bottling, canning and packaging lines will become interconnected chains of automated systems ranging from filling lines and labelers to bottle conveyors and case erectors. To brewers themselves, the automation of the packaging process can look a little like an ultra-complex Rube Goldberg Machine.

Read the full story.

10 brewhouse maintenance and safety tips from craft professionals

Brewing is an art. We’ll grant you that, but the business of brewing is more of a science, requiring specialized ingredients, exacting temperatures, well-maintained machinery, caustic chemicals and utmost safety. The brewhouse is a veritable warehouse full of specialized equipment and systems — from mills and mashing tuns to kettles and fermenting tanks. For a craft brewery to be successful, these many vessels need to be maintained and run properly and safely by a well-educated staff of employees. Because the scholarship of brewing is a constant journey, we decided to tap the big brains of top craft brewers and top brewhouse manufacturers and suppliers. We asked them to share their advice for safety and maintenance in the brewhouse, and the nuggets of wisdom below are the result. We raise a big pint of thanks to everyone who participated.

Read the full story.

Ninkasi Brewing Co. starts brewing with GEA brewhouse that boasts higher-level of sustainability

Currently, Ninkasi’s 55-barrel brewhouse has a capacity to produce 90,000 barrels (bbls) of beer per year. With a second, 90-bbl brewing system installed across the street in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood, the brewery will be able to add an initial 70,000 bbls of capacity with room to grow to 250,000. Perhaps what is equally exciting for the brewery is its gained ability to produce a wider variety of beers with longer fermentation times.

Read the full story.

Automated craft beer packaging: Boulevard Brewing case study

Growing craft breweries need to straddle a line between their local heritage and a modern, scalable, nationwide operation. Each batch requires care and a hands-on approach for even the largest craft brewer. Maintaining that ethos while also producing and moving enough brew to enter five states, and then 10 states, and then 25 states and so on is a delicate equation. Successful craft brewers know that the best way to achieve this is by identifying areas of the process that can be streamlined or automated — without detracting from taste, experience or concept.

Read the full story.

A ‘Case’ Study: Southern Tier Brewing capitalizes on a Standard-Knapp case packer

When the Southern Tier team found that the case packer in the new brewing facility couldn’t keep up with their growth, they looked for new equipment that could help them keep up with both existing demand and anticipated future expansion. They eventually selected the 939EZ Versatron Case Packer, supplied by Standard-Knapp, a new model specifically developed to combine proven and reliable case packing technology in a much more affordable package. After installing the new packer, Southern Tier has been able to increase its production by 30 percent, reduce changeover time between bottle sizes and, perhaps most importantly, maintain the product quality that its loyal fans have come to expect.

Read the full story.

How automatic yeast pitching rate control can improve your beer quality

The real stars of the craft brewing industry are the ingredients. Craft enthusiasts grab the latest offering from their favorite brewery or a newcomer off the shelf and immediately check the label. What’s in this? What’s special about it? Invariably they’ll get some facts or maybe some prose about the hops and malts used to create that batch. But what about the yeast?

Read the full story.

10 packaging tips from famous craft brewers and expert manufacturers

The science of commercial beer goes beyond the chemistry of brewing. The process of packaging it is an equally impressive engineering feat, requiring bottling, canning, kegging, labeling, sorting, accumulating, boxing, palletizing, shipping and so much more in between. Visit a packaging and distribution center at a brewery like New Belgium Brewing Co. and the automation of the packaging process can look a little like an ultra-complex Rube Goldberg Machine.

Read the full story.

Wastewater basics for a growing craft brewery

Depending on where you are, wastewater emanating from your brewery can be a non-issue or it can be a major deal-killer type of problem. That’s quite the variation, and it’s true. You will sleep better and have fewer headaches if you are lucky enough to fall in the non-issue end of the spectrum, but not everyone is so blessed. This article will provide a little of bit of insight in to the wonderful world of brewery wastewater and what to do with it.

Read the full story.

Brewhouse advice from top craft brewers and equipment manufacturers

Every brewhouse should be a palace of production, safety and innovation. The brewhouse is the heart and engine of your brewing business, and its many complex systems and operations (from mills and mashing tuns to kettles and fermenting tanks) require constant vigilance, maintenance and safety. The journey to the perfect brewhouse and brew crew is a long road rife with big decisions. What’s the size of your system, space available, desired flavor impacts, heating time and, of course, ease of cleanliness using the right chemicals at the right frequency? There are so many questions. What will be the heating source for your kettle or hot liquor tank, or do you have a Lock Out, Tag Out Program to help workers avoid getting hurt when machinery is being serviced?

Read the full story.

Clean air, clean beer: New Ingersoll Rand oil-less reciprocating air compressors are ideal for breweries (aeration to canning)
Aquatherm announces BIM libraries in Revit
Efficient infrastructure is imperative, so let us introduce you to polypropylene piping systems
Yuengling begins big expansion in Tampa focused on beer tourism (enjoy these impressive renderings)
Understand total cost of ownership for brewing packaging and processing equipment with this FREE playbook

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David Lengvarsky says

    January 4, 2015 at 6:52 pm

    David Lengvarsky liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  2. Joël Back says

    January 1, 2015 at 6:37 pm

    Joël Back liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Gregory Evantash says

    January 1, 2015 at 6:37 pm

    Gregory Evantash liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  4. Lee Yunyong says

    December 31, 2014 at 10:22 pm

    Lee Yunyong liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  5. Scott Davidson says

    December 31, 2014 at 6:08 pm

    Scott Davidson liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  6. Augusta Label says

    December 31, 2014 at 2:07 pm

    Augusta Label liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  7. Shade Tree Beer Brewers says

    December 31, 2014 at 2:07 pm

    Shade Tree Beer Brewers liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Here are the U.S. recommended malting barley varieties for 2021, additions include Flavia, Mayflower and Moravian 179
  • Anheuser-Busch cuts Budweiser ad from Super Bowl LV but is still running four minutes of commercials
  • TapRm testing out robots for contactless beer delivery in New York
  • Expansion by franchise’n: How Voodoo Brewing is scaling its business nationwide

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Anheuser-Busch cuts Budweiser ad from Super Bowl LV but is still running four minutes of commercials
    January 26, 2021
  • Voodoo-RaintreeExpansion by franchise’n: How Voodoo Brewing is scaling its business nationwide
    January 25, 2021
  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
    January 21, 2021
  • virginia-beer-co-renovationHow Virginia Beer Co. used the shutdown to overhaul its facility (and keep people employed)
    January 19, 2021
  • Clean air, clean beer: New Ingersoll Rand oil-less reciprocating air compressors are ideal for breweries (aeration to canning)
    January 18, 2021
  • Non-alcoholic beer brand Athletic Brewing closes $17M+ in funding with famous backers, selects Crafted ERP, eyes big growth
    January 18, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by