By combining traditional production methods with advanced technology, the company has seen expansion from an initial 800-litre brew size to the handcrafting of 6,500-litre brews and the bottling of 10 different beers on-site. This increase in productivity from its processes was aided initially by the brewery’s energy-efficient Atlas Copco compressed air system and now, even more so, by its recent addition of an on-site nitrogen generation system, designed to ensure continuity of supply and to achieve operational cost savings compared to using bought-in nitrogen or carbon dioxide.
Founder Bernard Sloan said: “We built a microbrewery because we are passionate about beer. We did our first brew in my great-grandfather’s shed with the aim of brewing exciting, great-tasting beers. Now, we occupy a 15,000 sq. ft production area which we purpose-built in 2018.”
In keeping with similar operations within the brewing industry, Whitewater Brewery has seen a growing reliance on nitrogen gas for a number of stages and process applications throughout the beer-making process. Typically, these range from flushing pipework and tanks to eliminating unwanted CO2 and oxygen, and purging residual wort or mash from completed batch vessels to prevent the risk of contamination spoiling the next brew batch.
In addition to these applications, pressurised nitrogen gas can serve as the ideal medium to aid the flow of beer from one tank chamber to another and to facilitate pressurised keg filling, as well as all other filling, bottling and canning operations.
As Sloan has experienced, on-site nitrogen generation offers a more sustainable and cost-efficient solution than reliance on nitrogen or carbon dioxide gas delivered in cylinders or as bulk liquid supply, which all require transport, handling and dependence upon supplier delivery schedules.
This is primarily why Whitewater Brewery switched to on-site generation. Operating with an Atlas Copco GA 7 VSD+ FF rotary screw compressor to supply 10bar clean, dry air, an NGP15+ nitrogen generator, incorporating the latest pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology, was installed to produce a reliable supply of grade nitrogen at the purity level of 99.5%
Atlas Copco’s NGP+ range of on-site, nitrogen generators combine high flow capacity, with output from as little as 4 Nm3/h right up to 3000 Nm3/h, with low operating and maintenance costs.
A specific benefit derived from the on-site generation facility is its contribution to nitrogenated beer production, such as Irish stout, which contains more dissolved nitrogen gas and less CO2 than traditional beer. The foam generated by nitrogen bubbles is thicker and longer lasting. With less CO2 the beer has the smooth character for which it is famed.
Whitewater Brewery has also reduced its reliance on CO2 within its processes and its material costs.
“We were using a tonne of CO2 every week from delivered bulk supply that was costing in excess of £1000 during supply shortages for each delivery. The on-site nitrogen has replaced many of the CO2 duties throughout our production, and as a result, we have been able to limit the supply programme to just one every five weeks. This is saving us around £35,000 per year on CO2 costs and is reducing carbon emissions,” Sloan confirmed.