PROCESS EQUIPMENT UPDATE
Brewery saves on yeast and enhances aroma with novel dry hopping system
BREWING SUCCESS T
hanks to a recently installed dry hopping system from Hoptimiser, a London specialist in distinctive handcrafted beers is not only
benefi ting from a boost in the aroma and consistency of its products, but is also saving on yeast at the same time. Brixton Brewery installed the system shortly after the recent expansion of its brewing operations to a facility some 10 times larger than the company’s original premises. Like so many good things in life, the
story of Brixton Brewery started over a pint. Couples Jez and Libby and Mike and Xochitl met in Brixton’s former Hive Bar. Not so long after, they started a brewery with the goal of putting Brixton on the map for great beer. T e couples secured a railway arch in 2013 and Brixton Brewery was born. Such was the team’s success in creating a range of IPA, APA and Pale Ale brews, as well as lagers and porters, that demand soon began outstripping supply. Gone were
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the days of delivering beer on foot to local shops and restaurants; beer from Brixton Brewery could now be found in every corner of London and across the south of the UK, with plans afoot for nationwide coverage. Today, this rapid expansion is being
further aided by recent investment from Heineken, which now owns 49% of the business. T e partnership has allowed Brixton Brewery to take advantage of Heineken’s distribution network for deliveries outside London. In addition, the investment helped the company with its much needed expansion.
EXPANDING AMBITIONS Despite commercial property space being at a premium in London, the team could not see itself operating from the suburbs, so when completely by chance a suitable (much larger) space became available just 600m from its original site, the deal was closed quickly.
In the summer of 2018, the brewing operation of Brixton Brewery opened in a facility that has seen capacity rise from 300,000 to 1.5 million litres a year. Everything at the new site is bigger, even the tank sizes have increased from 1,000 or 2,000 litres at the previous facility, to 5,000 or 10,000 litres at Milkwood Road. T eir original site has been retained for ‘specials’, and remains the location of the brewery’s tap room. “With a rise in demand there comes a commitment to enhance effi ciency; we didn’t relocate to simply produce more beer, we wanted to improve our processes,” says lead brewer, Alberto Iglesias, who today is one of 25 full time employees at Brixton Brewery. “Among the methods we have long-thought would infl uence this factor, was better dry hopping. T ere were a number of issues with our previous method. For instance, we would add hops at the end of the fermentation process, so we couldn’t re-use the yeast – it was still in
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