If you’re starting up a brewery or expanding your startup to pursue bigger and better production capabilities, you’re likely going to be making an investment in brewery equipment. And, when it comes to installing and integrating this equipment into your operations, it’s important to also invest in professional oversight—specifically the kind that comes from expertise with commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR.
Trusting a refrigeration expert is just about the best decision you can make for a number of reasons. Let’s take a look at five of them:
First and foremost, there’s a lot of heating and cooling that comes with the brewing process. From boiling the ingredients and working with the mash, to chilling and refrigerating the finished brew, temperature control is critical. Knowing that your heating and cooling components are set up flawlessly will lead to confidence while brewing.
Second, a refrigeration expert will be able to integrate new equipment into any existing setup you might have. This is vital for not interrupting your existing brewing process or capabilities. The last thing you want to do is take two steps forward and one step back! Seamless integration is important and it’s something a commercial HVAC expert can offer.
Facilities setup is a third important reason to trust an HVAC and cooling professional. Breweries are often cramped, busy places. Having your equipment set up to ensure mobility and efficiency is important. Working with a cooling expert who has brewery equipment installation experience means maximizing your facilities and, in turn, your production efficiency.
Thinking long-term, having an HVAC and cooling expert handle your installation is going to pave the way for maintenance and repairs in the future. If you’re able to work with the same company from the get-go, your equipment will get a higher standard of service through consistency. You won’t have to worry about patchwork maintenance or repairs when you rely on the same individual or company time after time.
Finally, troubleshooting oversight is going to be a big reason to work with an expert. There’s a lot that could go wrong when it comes to commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR. Having a professional who knows your setup means being able to get to the bottom of trouble fast, before it impacts your production. Instead of getting bad batches that lower your fulfillment, you’ll be able to figure out what’s wrong quicker, minimizing downtime.
Brewery equipment demands a keen understanding when it comes to installation. Be sure you’re leaving the installation to a professional with time-tested experience. Not only will you get a better level of performance and integration right at the outset, you’ll also get long-term peace of mind.
Whether you’re scaling up your budding brewery or you’re kicking the tires on your first large-scale brewing operation, the team at American Refrigeration Inc. is ready to provide you with a complete scope of services, tailored around brewing equipment installation. We want to be your long-term partner for operational success—get in touch with us today!
There’s no doubt that owning any food or beverage establishment comes with extra responsibilities to ensure consumer health and safety. Important tasks include checking your ingredient storage area monthly for needed commercial refrigeration repair in Eugene, OR and regularly cleaning distillery equipment. Regular maintenance is a crucial step in preventing the growth of bacteria that can lead to illnesses, bad tasting drinks, wasted products and equipment failure. Those in the beer and spirits production industry can attest to this.
Did you know that properly cleaning and sanitizing distillery equipment often goes overlooked? You may rinse and wipe down distillery components after each use, but sanitizing equipment is what will kill unwanted germs, bacteria and yeast.
With that in mind, here are some tips for maintaining your brewing and distillery equipment.
Implement a cleaning routine
Make sure to clean all brewing or distillery equipment parts after use. If you skip this step, you’re taking the chance of germs spreading through the entire system. Parts to clean include the brew kettle, mash paddle, fermenter, fermented lid, pump, hoses, hydrometer, airlock, thermometer, yeast containers and measuring spoons and cups. Always wear eye and hand protection when using cleaning solutions (your cleaning product will depend on what your equipment is made of). Some parts can be washed in an automatic dishwasher, but washing by hand ensures effectiveness and proper flushing.
Sanitize it all
Although cleaning and sanitizing sound like the same thing, they are not—especially when it comes to the food and beverage industry. To clean means to get rid of dirt, debris, stains and other matter, while to sanitize means to kill or greatly reduce spoiling microorganisms to minimal levels.
If you don’t get every area and surface on every piece of equipment, you run the risk of contaminating your next batch. Both cleaning and sanitizing your equipment—all of it, from the large kettle to the handheld measuring instruments—provides the best brewing or distilling conditions possible. Use chemical sanitizers manufactured specifically for sanitizing distillery equipment, and consider making a soaking bath for equipment you cannot reach inside to dissolve leftover ingredients. You should also schedule monthly and yearly maintenance appointments to avoid costly distillery equipment and commercial refrigeration repair in Eugene, OR.
Applying heat is another step you can take in the sanitation process. Heat is good at blasting bacteria from your equipment; you may be able to use the high-heat drying cycle on your commercial dishwasher as the final step in the sanitation process. While metal does great in high temperatures, plastic components do not. Avoid putting plastic pieces in the high-heat cycle.
Clean and sanitize immediately
Yes, you’ve spent the last several hours in front of hot equipment making alcohol, but the time to clean up is right away. Waiting to clean and sanitize gives bacteria time to grow, and makes the mess tougher to remove.
Keep your distillery equipment healthy and clean for fresh batches of beer or spirits every time. Luckily, the team at American Refrigeration Inc. is here to help. Give us a call any time you need distillery equipment maintenance, parts repair or commercial refrigeration repair in Eugene, OR!
If you own a distillery, then you undoubtedly want to make a drink that is clean. This is what regular cleaning and sanitizing equipment does, right? Well, it plays a huge role in cleanliness, but you also need a distillery filtration system. Much like doing your research before purchasing commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR, you’ll want to look into the features and statistics of several filtration systems, and even get a few price quotes first. Another thing to keep in mind is installation. Always hire an experienced professional, like American Refrigeration Inc., to properly place and install your distillery equipment.
When looking for distillery filtration equipment, you will quickly learn that you’ve got many options to choose from. This means that making a choice may not be as easy as you thought it would be—especially since you probably have factors to consider, such as the price, equipment maintenance needs and equipment productivity.
To help narrow down the options, we’ve put together a list of some of the things you should consider before installing a new distillery filtration system.
Know what you are distilling
Most spirits being made for commercial distribution will require filtration to taste their best. Temperature is very important in the filtration of spirits. Filtration at ambient temperature is enough for white spirits, while most brown spirits need to be filtered at low temperatures. Therefore, the right filtration method for you will depend on the specific spirit you are distilling:
Gin: Because an already processed neutral spirit is used to produce gin, filtration typically occurs before gin production even begins. If producing your own neutral spirit for production, carbon filtering will make your gin clean.
Tequila: Carbon filtration, also referred to as activated charcoal filtration, is commonly used in tequila production to remove impurities like esters and furfural. Distillation alone cannot lower the amount of these impurities to legal standards, which is why activated charcoal filtration is used for additional cleaning.
Whiskey: If you are producing whiskey that is 46% ABV or less, the liquid will get cloudy when the whiskey cools on its own, through commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR or when ice or water is added. Use chill filtration to remove esters, proteins and fatty acids in the whiskey to prevent cloudiness from happening.
Types of filtration methods
The key to producing an excellent spirit is to ensure it is filtered properly. But what should the final filtered product look like? The product must be free of visible particles in the liquid and present a clear and bright appearance. Chill filtration and carbon filtration are the two major methods of distillery filtration:
Chill filtration: This method is used mostly in the whisky making process to remove residue—brown spirits contain substances like proteins, essential oils, pectin and others.
Activated charcoal filtration: This is a basic filtration method used to remove unwanted particles from all other kinds of spirits—the activated charcoal removes contaminants and impurities using chemical absorption.
If you need service for your distillery equipment or commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR, look no further than American Refrigeration Inc. Call us today for more information!
As providers of equipment for commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR, we have the privilege to work with a number of local wineries, servicing their unique commercial refrigeration needs. We’ve taken that knowledge and put together a short, simple guide explaining what a winery chiller is, and the role it plays in the process of making the wine you love to enjoy.
What is a winery chiller?
Winery chillers allow you to keep control over the temperature of your wine at every step of the process, most importantly during fermentation, and then during storage. Many winery chillers allow you to control the heat of each wine vessel independently, meaning you don’t need a separate setup to get your whites and reds to their own correct temperatures.
How does a winery chiller work?
It works the way all refrigeration systems do, by pumping cooled refrigerant through a closed loop. When you outfit your wine vessels with heat-exchanging jackets, the system then carries away heat from the wine to whatever specifications you set.
What happens if you don’t use a winery chiller?
All wine is made to very tight specifications, which have often been passed down for generations. Without the ability to precisely manage the temperature of the wine throughout the entire process, you’d simply be putting the wine’s profile at risk. And when you’ve built your reputation on a certain richness that comes from precise and loving attention to the winemaking process, you don’t want to risk that reputation by leaving things up to chance. When you control all other factors to such a degree, that allows the grape itself to be the star of the wine, as the only thing that changes from vintage to vintage is the flavor of the grape.
The regular change of temperature that occurs when wine is stored in unrefrigerated vessels causes the wine to absorb more of the flavor of its vessel, as the heat and cool cause expansion and contraction of the vessel, pushing the wine into its tiny pores, and then wringing it back out. This additional flavor is desirable in some wines, while highly undesirable in others.
Here at American Refrigeration Inc., we’re highly knowledgeable about the worlds of winemaking and beer brewing, and especially about their particular needs in regards to commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR. We have to be—we’re from Oregon. If you’re looking for any component for your winery or brewery, from holding tanks, to refrigeration tanks, to wine presses and fermenters, give us a call. We also perform maintenance on these products and provide installation on the products we sell, as well.
We know that what wineries and breweries do is a multifaceted process, and that this means trouble can spring up when you least expect it. That being the case, we make it our effort to perform every repair and every installation with longevity in mind, so that your interruptions will be few and far between. This is just one of the ways we’ve made a name for ourselves meeting the unique commercial refrigeration needs of Oregon’s wineries and breweries. If you’re in the wine or beer business, give American Refrigeration Inc. a call for all your commercial refrigeration needs.
Reducing the energy costs of commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR can benefit everyone. If you’re the owner of a business that’s reliant on refrigeration, such as a restaurant or a grocery store, saving money on refrigeration equipment can actually represent pretty significant savings.
By following even just one of these tips, you’ll save money on the energy costs associated with your refrigeration equipment—and they’ll save you even more money when you combine them:
Maintain your machine: Keep its evaporator and condenser coils cleaned. Keep doors to your refrigerators maintained so that, when the doors are closed, they maintain a good seal.
Upgrade your machines: Add liquid pressure amplifiers to increase your system’s overall refrigeration capacity; floating head pressure controls which allow your systems to vary their more easily without wasting energy; upgrade to higher-efficiency fan motors and compressor systems, which can save you 15 percent on your commercial refrigeration costs; and upgrade your machine’s lighting fixtures to energy-efficient bulbs, which can actually save you as much as 10 percent, especially in reach-ins.
If possible, turn off door heaters: Just doing this can save a small restaurant $75 a year, and a grocery store much more. If your doors begin to get ice and frost buildup, and this is not caused by some problem with the door’s seal, turn the heaters back on and leave them on.
Insulate lines: Insulate your suction line, so your refrigerant loses less cool and absorbs less heat as it is moved from the evaporator. This is a very affordable way of adding additional efficiency to your machines.
Check refrigerant: If there is not enough refrigerant, your compressor is working overtime, which is costing you money. Look through the sight-glass window built into the condenser where you can see the refrigerant line. If it is insufficiently full, you’ll see bubbles in the line when the refrigerant is moving. If this is the case, call an HVAC contractor or refrigeration expert.
Purchase new equipment: Obviously we’d all prefer to just maintain the machines we have rather than make an investment in new equipment. But if you upgrade to Energy Star certified commercial refrigeration equipment, you’ll save 30 percent on your refrigeration costs, right away. For business that are heavily reliant on refrigeration equipment, this can represent enormous year over year savings—especially if your current equipment is on the way out, getting less and less efficient each year. The cost of new equipment can often be offset by rebates and vouchers, so it’s worth discussing these things with your refrigeration equipment retailer.
If you’re looking for new commercial refrigeration in Eugene, OR, or are simply looking for guidance on getting the most out of your current refrigeration equipment, give us a call here at American Refrigeration Inc. We have more than two decades of experience specializing in commercial refrigeration, HVAC and AC and heating repair. We’re well known for going the extra mile for our customers, and for providing the best service and the best products at the best prices. Call American Refrigeration Inc. today.
