Siemens technology is helping Cumbrian brewery Hardknott take control of its fermentation process, with increased efficiency and reliability.
Since establishing Hardknott in 2005, Dave Bailey and his small team have continued to develop and invest in the business, driving forward their goal of producing stunning craft beers.
Dave (pictured) said: “Control of the fermentation temperature helps to considerably improve the quality and consistency of beer. It takes place over several days and, on a practical basis, the process cannot be watched continually.
“Temperature control systems can be expensive and complex to set up and microbreweries tend to use fairly rudimentary on/off controls, or even manual ones, which by definition are not overly accurate. However, some sort of automatic temperature monitoring and control system is essential in my view.”
Searching for a cost-effective and usable solution, Dave began a dialogue with Siemens at the SIBA BeerX event in Sheffield. This led to a working relationship, matching Siemens technology answers with the particular processing needs of the microbrewery.
Dave said: “It was clear to us that there was work to be done to find a suitable solution for the small-scale, independent brewing sector, that could overcome cost barriers and technical hurdles around automated temperature control.
“We have successfully used discrete controllers for the past five years, but an inability to integrate with other equipment easily, a lack of a logging facility and the rising cost of replacement units when failures occur, encouraged us to seek out an alternative solution.
“At this stage, I offered to investigate whether the proposed Siemens solution — LOGO, an intelligent logic module that is ideal for small-scale automation tasks — could provide the answers and support we needed to control the fermentation temperature process.”
With simple installation, minimum wiring and easy programming, the LOGO control system is suited to small automation projects, enabling the replacement of time switches and relays, counters and protective relays.
Dave added: “The specification of LOGO to control this central element of our brewing process has already proved to be beneficial as it offers cost effectiveness, flexibility, scalability and the potential to be seamlessly networked with other Siemens technology.
“There are areas that we will look to optimise, such as the system’s resistance thermometer detector resolution, and we will continue to work with Siemens in this area. However, my early impression is that we can eventually achieve the goal of developing the basis of a truly commercial solution that will be ideal for other microbrewery operations.”
Siemens’ Sara Nichols said: “Siemens set out to continue its long-term association with the brewing industry by supporting the functional requirements and price points demanded by the new wave of passionate and innovative brewers who are hand-crafting small batches of specialist beers.
“After talking and listening to these brewers, together we have developed a solution to support the control requirements for consistency and repeatability of the fermentation process, whilst delivering all the add-on functionality on their wish list of remote access, data logging and app support at an affordable price.”
