Evolution of the Brewery Chiller System

Evolution of the brewery chiller system

It is hard to believe it’s been 20 years since chiller manufactured 

our first “brewery” chiller system for a small brewpub in Seattle. 

A look back over the past 20 years reminds us of the great challenges 

and advancements this market has presented. We owe the brewing industry 

a great deal of credit for development changes we have applied across our product line to all of the markets we serve.

A list of just a few early challenges the brewery chiller systems:

- Operating at 25 to 27 F Glycol Solution Temperature. 

Prior to breweries our chiller systems operated at 35 F Glycol Solution temperature. 

The challenge wasn’t reaching the lower temperature, but supplying this reliably and efficiently.

- The fluctuating cooling load. The only constant found in breweries is the constantly fluctuating load conditions

- in a short span the chiller load could jump from 10% to 100%. As loads change, flow rates change- causing even more variables.

- Extreme Ambient Conditions. There is an obvious correlation between hot weather and increased beer production. 

Another obvious connection is that a cooling system operating under a heavy load during hot weather is extremely challenging. 

Although it wouldn’t seem to be as big of an issue, it is as difficult for a refrigeration system to operate under extreme cold conditions too.

- Fermenter Jacket Cooling. In addition to the challenge of keeping the glycol supply line pressure below the cooling jacket pressure rating,

 the glycol flow had to meet the breweries ever changing flow requirements.

There has been three main “generations” of chiller systems supplied to this market during the past two decades, 

with many of each style still in operation today.