Case Study

Located in Winston-Salem, N.C., Foothills Brewing produces six standard beers, and up to four seasonal beers, ranging from light golden ales to deep ambers and robust stouts.

Jamie Bartholomaus, president and brewmaster of Foothills Brewing recently decided to expand his business and opened a new brewing facility. He purchased the beer division of Mooresville, N.C.-based Carolina Beer & Beverage. The acquisition included the company’s equipment, trademarks, and all 12 beer brands— including the highly popular Carolina Blonde and Cottonwood Ale lines. According to Bartholomaus, Foothills Brewing will continue production without interruption, and will preserve the brewing integrity of every Carolina Beer brand.

When an account executive from Spirax Sarco asked Bartholomaus about the operations at Foothills Brewing, he discovered that the procedure was to open the drain valve during startup. They thought they had to do that every time - even in the restaurant-based brew pub. The operating procedure at Foothills was very similar to those at Carolina Beer.

The account executive explained how operations at Foothills could change. “If you’re moving to an industrial production facility and you’re going to have a bottling line, you really need to address condensate return and how you’re going to keep the equipment drained.”

Using Spirax Sarco’s Steam DesignPro - an intuitive Windowsbased software that enables easy modelling of steam generation, distribution, utilization, and condensate-handling systems - the account executive presented three options that would correct the condensate return issue at Foothills Brewing.

The heat exchanger provided all the hot water for the original installation. However, it didn’t allow for any hot water storage. Bartholomaus independently obtained a new hot water tank to ensure there is enough hot water available to completely fill the mash tank with water at the required temperature. By obtaining a new tank, Foothills would have consistent water temperature for the mash tank. The new tank also helps minimize load surges on the brewery’s boiler by heating water over a longer period of time instead of generating it on demand. This prevented the need for a larger or even a second boiler.

As with most craft breweries, Foothills runs a batch-type operation. “When the operators went to start the equipment, all of the steam space would be full of air,” the account executive explained. “This air must be vented to allow the steam into the equipment when heat is called for. The inverted bucket trap has difficulty in venting this air rapidly slowing the startup process by reducing rate of increases in temperature.”

While inverted bucket steam traps typically can be made to withstand high pressures and can tolerate waterhammer conditions, the small air vent hole in the top of the bucket can only discharge air very slowly. The hole cannot be enlarged, as steam would pass through too quickly during normal operation.

Whether it’s a brewery or a power plant, in a properly operating system tanks and heat exchangers will heat efficiently and consistently. This requires condensate formed during energy transfer to be removed, returned to its source, and not allowed to back up into the equipment. Brewery operators shouldn’t have to open steam and condensate valves to drain the equipment in order to get the desired heating rates.

Systems that use heat-exchange or heat transfer principles for temperature control are prone to stall conditions. Under a stall condition, condensate can’t flow through the steam trap because of insufficient pressure differential. A stall condition can flood the heat exchanger, which can lead to unstable temperature control, equipment leakage, or equipment damage due to waterhammer. The pressure powered pump eliminates stall conditions by removing condensate effectively under all pressure conditions. The APT combines the features and benefits of a pressure powered pump with the automatic operation of a float and thermostatic trap.

The APT is also self contained and operates using steam instead of a motor. It also removes condensate under all load conditions, even vacuum. However, a compelling reason for using the APT at Foothills is its low profile; the APT is ideal for low-mounted process equipment as it requires only 8 inches of headroom from the base of the pump.

In addition to operating a successful and expanding craft brewery and producing award-winning beers and ales, Bartholomaus now is more knowledgeable about leveraging steam solutions to make his operation run more smoothly. “He couldn’t picture it at first,” said the account executive. “However, we convinced him that his operators would be able to start the system and not have to touch anything on the steam or condensate side. He would be able to run without waterhammer. We showed him how he could run safely and efficiently.”

Bartholomaus is convinced. “We don’t want to think about the condensate return process. It should just happen seamlessly,” he said. He’s happy with the work that Spirax Sarco and Carolina Piping and Rigging did for Foothills Brewing. “I like the design and it is easy to maintain. We aren’t even using the unit to its full capacity.”