“ Historically we would have been doing two brews per day to achieve maximum output , but because of its flexibility , we are now able to shut the thermal fluid heater down for a day per week to deep clean the brewhouse and increase output to three brews per day for the remainder of the week . Something that would have been very difficult to achieve with steam .”
Beyond the control and flexibility , there are many other factors that have had a positive impact on Rebellion Beer Company , as Mark explains : “ A steam boiler is essentially a pressure vessel and regulations state that pressurised systems must undergo an annual insurance inspection . This inspection would often take the steam boiler offline and mean our brewing processes were down for a day or more , with disruption from the downtime potentially being felt for several days after . Additionally , with even the best water treatment programme in place , steam at pressure can be very corrosive , leading to problems with steam traps , flanges and pipework , which we always seemed to be maintaining and was always therefore another potential for process downtime .
The beauty of the thermal fluid installation is its flexibility and ability to very easily adapt our changing brewing strategies
savings made compared to maintaining the old steam system – and despite the thermal fluid installation being a more expensive capital outlay initially – has certainly contributed significantly to the return on investment , with the investment now fully paid for .
Expanding on the flexibilities of the thermal fluid system , Mark has also announced that Rebellion is about to tap into the existing brewhouse line to create a small-batch development brewery and yeast propagation plant on the site . “ It ’ s been such an easy expansion to achieve . We ’ ve just been able to tap into the existing thermal fluid line and use the system for another duty without impacting on everything else .” says Mark .
The new development line is capable of brewing five hectolitre ( 500 litre ) batches and will enable development or commercial batches – such as strong beers or one-off batches that may not appeal to the wider consumer – to be processed without having to invest in a full 4,000 litre brew .
Summarising , Mark Gloyens says that whenever he ’ s asked if Rebellion is happy with the thermal fluid installation from
Fulton , he simply tells them to come and take a look because it speaks for itself . “ It ’ s just a neat , compact installation that ’ s relatively maintenance free and extremely flexible !”.
And when asked about his advice to anyone considering a new brewhouse or complete overhaul of existing plant ; and perhaps sitting on the fence when it comes to considering steam versus thermal ? “ You obviously need to consult the experts as we did when we approached Fulton over six years ago . They were completely unbiased because they manufacture both steam and thermal fluid solutions .”. says Mark . “ But for Rebellion Beer Company , a thermal fluid solution was a no brainer . It ’ s more cost-effective , more reliable , relatively maintenance free and a much neater , more compact system that still provides the quality of heating needed for brewing . It ’ s just a better way of doing it !”
For further information on its range of steam- and thermal-based heat transfer solutions for brewing processes and brewhouses , visit www . fulton . co . uk , email sales @ fulton . co . uk or call the office on + 44 ( 0 ) 117 972 3322 .
“ With thermal being more of a closed loop system , we ’ ve not experienced the same issues with leaking gaskets , flanges , etc ., making the whole installation not only look but also feel so much more reliable than steam !”.
In putting a figure on the annual cost savings of maintaining a steam system – including servicing , water treatment , chemical dosing , etc . – compared to thermal fluid , Mark Gloyens estimates that the thermal fluid system is much lower and could be at least half that of the previous steam boiler installation . And six years on , Mark estimates that the
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