Moorhouse's Brewery

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Micordat's Process division designed, built and installed the new 100 barrel brewery for Moorhouse's in Burnley.

MOORHOUSE’S 100 BRL ALE BREWERY

  

LOW COST PARTNERSHIP PROJECT
This project was designed, supplied and commissioned in it’s entirety, by Microdat.
The project was implemented using Microdat’s new unique working methodology, designed around today’s financial issues, and to reduce overall project costs. 
We call the method of working ”The Low Cost Partnership Project”.
The main benefits are:

  • Involvement from our expert brewery process design team at a very early stage.
  • No large project deposits, and maximum benefits throughout, for customer’s cash flow.
  • No mark-up on tank purchases, which are competitively tendered throughout Europe.
  • Low overall cost, due to massive OEM purchasing power on process & control components.

For more information, please refer to the separate case study: “Microdat Major Brewery Projects (The low Cost Partnership Project)” available on Microdat’s web site.

MALT PLANT
The malt plant is fully automated and recipe driven.  Maris Otter is the main malt and this is blended with coloured malts and torrified wheat and is weighed through the highly accurate weigher.  Stock control is automatic, with delivery and usage data available.
The system comprises:

  • Malt Intake System 60T/hr
  • 2 x 30Tonne Malt Silos
  • Coloured Malt Hand-Tip Station
  • Accurate Electronic Weigher
  • Microdat’s new 4 roll Grist Mill
  • Brewing Salt Additions
  • Grist Case
  • Dust Extract System

100 BRL BREWHOUSE
Our Philosophy for the brewhouse is to keep things simple where possible, and to automate the important aspects. 
The brewhouse consists:

  • Brl Towns Water Break Tank
  • 55 Brl Chilled Cold Brewing Liquor Tank
  • 200 Brl Hot Liquor Tank With Steam Heating
  • Fully Automatic Hot Brewing Liquor Control
  • Steels Masher
  • Mash Tun with Spent Grains Discharge Gear
  • Microdat Spent Grains Pump
  • Underback/Sugar Dissolver, Steam Heated
  • Wort Copper With Fountain
  • External Wort Boiler Steam Heated
  • Hop-Back
  • Paraflow

A fully automatic liquor system very accurately controls the temperature while allowing the flow to fluctuate wildly if required.  During run-off, a fully automatic flow control system exactly matches sparge liquor with the run-off flowrate.  Liquor volumes are separately totalised for mashing, sparging and dilution.
The mash tun has automatic discharge arms, and a Microdat spent grains discharge pump, developed in conjunction with Mono pumps.
The wort copper internal fountain, EWB, and recirculation system, is designed to create a very rigorous rolling boil, to optimise the hot break, evaporation of unwanted volatiles and hop isomerisation etc. and of course it thermo-syphons beautifully.
The EWB has a multiple stage steam pressure control system, which limits the steam pressure (and thus temperature) to a minimum while running-off the mash tun, and then at accurately controls set-points for copper-up (bring to boil), and evaporation modes.  The control system is designed to minimise fouling.
The Hop back features a recirculation loop to allow wort clarification prior to transfer, and has manual hops discharge which is ergonomically designed to provide ease of spent hops removal.
Liquor dilution occurs both after casting from the copper (to rinse the copper & EWB) and in the hop-back.  Wort transfer is preceded by a hot liquor sterilisation of the wort main, paraflow, and oxygenation set (on the cold side).  Wort cooling is fully automated, and is optimised to provide maximum energy recovery.  A flowmeter records the wort transfer to FV, and allows for final cutting liquor to be added, which chases the wort into FV. 

FERMENTATION
Fermentation consists of 12 x new fermenters.  The FVs are arranged in pairs, sharing a flowplate, so that the FV can be fully isolated during fermentation, or connected to two multipurpose transfer mains, allowing simultaneous operations to two FVs (wort in / beer out), or (beer out and FV CIP) etc.  CIP to the spray balls is hard piped via dial-a-pipe flowplates, and attemperation is of course fully automated.
The FV room was carefully designed, and incorporates a floating floor, suspended from specially designed brackets on the FVs.  The gantry system has no support columns at all, which maximises the working area on the ground floor. 
The process and services pipework, and the electrical cable management system was also very carefully designed into the gantry floor support system.

YEAST STORAGE & SKIMMING
The system incorporates two identical yeast tanks, both mounted on weighing load cells. 
Yeast is continually skimmed into one vessel, while fully automated yeast pitching occurs from the other.  Microdat’s unique hygienic peristaltic pump is used in a multiple modes, to create vacuum when skimming from FV, via the skimming mains, and in forward flow mode when recirculating or pitching.  A skimming main is routed around the FVs and yeast is skimmed using a hand held lance through the FV manway. 
A small dedicated chiller provides chilled glycol at – 2C and the yeast tanks have a specially designed agitator, designed and manufactured by Microdat, to keep yeast moving on the cooling surfaces when chilling.  During storage, the gentle action of the Microdat hygienic hose pump recirculates yeast around the tank, ensuring movement on the cooling surfaces and a homogenous mix. 

CIP SYSTEM
A fully automatic CIP system is included for FV, yeast and racking areas.  The system incorporates a caustic recirculation tank, rinse water re-claim tank, and uses terminal sterilant in the final rinse.
The brewhouse is cleaned using the multifunctional 4 brl underback, which doubles as hot caustic CIP during the weekly brewhouse clean. 

CASK RACKING
Microdat is the UK leader in cask racking, and Moorhouse’s has our latest 180 firkins per hour 4 head black-fill metered racking system.  Once filled, the casks are ejected out the rear of the racking stations, and are automatically up-ended and conveyed into an accumulation table.  A forklift truck then picks up the casks and transports them to the cold store.  The process system comprises 3 No. chilled racking tanks, each agitated and connected via a multifunctional flowplate to the racker process skid. 
The racker racker process skid automatically meters beer either direct from a single racking tank or from two different tanks, to form a recipe driven metered blend in cask, with fully automatic finings injection.
The system can run at up to 180 firkins per hour at peak periods (with 2 men), and is slightly down-rated when running with just one operator.

CASK WASHING
A fully automatic walking beam cask washer, is included, rated at 180 Firkins per hour.  Microdat is the market leader for cask washing, and this washer uses a 3-pass water re-use system for maximum energy efficiency.  The in-feed and out-feed are on rolling rails, and the out-feed is arranged so that it forms a conveniently positioned holding rail for clean casks prior to filling.  A dedicated hot water generator is included, running at 80 deg C.

CONTROL SYSTEM
A fully integrated modern control system uses colour touch screen man-machine interfaces to control the plant, and features remote monitoring via an internet connection by either the brewer for FV alarms out of hours, or by Microdat to provide remote support.  All control panels were designed and built by Microdat, and the electrical installation was included from our installation team.

PIPEWORK INSTALLATION
The pipework system was fully integrated using a 3D designed system to optimise the installation which is complex in places.  
All our welders are coded to a high standard, and we use a fully automated orbital welding where possible.

SERVICES - BOILER HOUSE & GLYCOL CHILLER
In this case, the brewery procured their own boiler system, but these can be supplied as part of our services if required.  There was a strong interface with the boiler house supplier, to define our requirements.
The refrigeration system was supplied by Microdat and the glycol pipework system uses the latest techniques for a low cost installation, using the Sanha system of low cost crimped pipework.

EFFLUENT SYSTEM
The project included an effluent pH correction system, which accumulates waste water to naturally balance the effluent pH.  In extreme conditions, acid and caustic are used to keep the effluent discharge within the consent limits, and a flowmeter records the volume sent to the water authority drain.

Read more about Moorhouse's and their award winning beer on their website - www.moorhouses.co.uk

See below - British Beer Blog (http://britishbeervideoblog.blogspot.com/) featuring Microdat machines. 

Filmed at Moorhouse's in Burnley, this is the country's newest British cask-conditioned beer brewery, Peter Amor explores the brewery with Managing Director David Grant. While Pete Brown visits the Bridge Bier Huis to review the beers they have on tap. This month we also begin our new feature; a definitive guide to British Beer Styles, starting with Best Bitter.