CRAFT BREWERY MAINTENANCE

1. CRAFT BREWERY MAINTENANCE This session is designed to help Craft Brewers set up a simple asset register for all their plant and equipment and link it to a planned maintenance system using programs (like Excel) readily available on most laptop computers. It could then also help when a breakdown occurs to be the focal point for obtaining data for both replacement parts and obtaining labour to effect the repair if it can’t be done in house The main point to get over is that if initially just a few minutes each day are given over to compiling the asset register and planned maintenance schedules then with this base load compiled, the planned maintenance can in future be developed easily and quickly.

2. Presenter • This presentation is being given by Mr John B Round C.Eng., M.Brew. F.I.B.D. , M.I.E. • John has worked in the brewing industry for over 40 years in project management, maintenance, production and senior management. During which time he has set up various planned maintenance system within breweries as well as determining engineering standards • Brewery companies worked for and with include Allied Breweries, Scottish & Newcastle, Bass Brewers, InBev, Carlsberg-Tetley, Innis & Gunn, Purity Brewery, Broughton Brewery, Bass Ginsber (China), CCU (Chile) • John has been a member of the IBD for around 35 years and is currently the treasurer of the Midland UK Section • Currently get involved in consultancy roles for companies in malting, brewing & packaging as well as lecturing at Universities on brewery engineering especially utilities

3. CRAFT BREWERY MAINTENANCE Introduction Brewing using either new or second hand equipment is very exciting but whilst most of the equipment is static i.e. tanks and pipework, there are moving components like pumps and valves which will require maintenance on either a planned or breakdown basis – that is not to say static items will not need maintenance of some kind at some time – like changing door seals Too often I have come across maintenance of the breakdown kind having to be undertaken by Craft brewers to get their plant working again where if there had been some planned maintenance it might have been avoided On the next slides are some ideas and suggestions taken from the ‘Big’ Brewers which WILL help craft brewers maintain their plant

4. TERMINOLOGY & MEANINGS • Craft Brewers can be considered as a group with up to 12 or so employees working on a brewery with a capacity of up to 50 hl per week output • There usually being no qualified practical engineer be it mechanical or electrical amongst the above

5. In the beginning Ideally the brewery before it is built - be it either new or second hand, the equipment there in should be considered by discussing with existing brewers and suppliers the best equipment to suit their needs - both in the short and long term (as it’s not expected to go out of business in the not too distant future) as well as visiting exhibitions and other installed and operational plant

6. Points to consider before you buy • Points to consider in selecting plant • 1 Good track record ,well known and respected plant manufacturer • 2 Consider standardisation of basic components like pumps and valves by one manufacturer • 3 Ability to have readily available (consumable) spares preferably with components suitable for more than one item of plant – e.g. pump seals • 4 In designing plant, go for standardisation of plant where possible. • 5 Keep the design and layout as simple and accessible as possible – Consider the layout – if you can’t read engineering drawings get some one who can and ask him to consider the following • A) How easy does it look for maintenance access? • B) Are there any tight areas where removal or installation look problematic – if so design them out now

7. Points to consider before you buy • Points to consider in selecting plant • Material of construction of components and plant- • Generally stainless steel ( of the correct grade) and taint free plastics are the main materials used in process plant but there is utilities plant to be considered which needs to be carefully considered – for example mild steel pipework sometimes used on compressed air and other process gas mains will rust and flakes of rust definitely do not want to make their way to process pipework lines • Utilities plant – careful choice now can save a lot of grief later on e.g consider desiccant air driers as opposed to refrigerant air driers – the former are cheaper to buy and operate and have a lower temperature range to ensure more moisture is removed • Consider finishes - descaled internal s/s pipework is smoother than polished – less resistance to flow and fewer bug traps

8. Desiccant Dryer ideal for small breweries – cheap, relatively maintenance free, few moving parts and produces excellent dry air

9. Getting Started • Once you have decided upon the plant and are at the stage of awaiting the arrival of the plant – start compiling an Excel type spreadsheet of your new assets • (There are bespoke systems like Mainsaver that can be used for compiling asset registers and producing planned maintenance schedules) but for the amount of assets found in a craft brewery an Excel type spreadsheet is adequate • The spread sheet should be first broken down by area .i.e. dry goods, brewing, fermentation, conditioning, yeast handling, racking and if required bottling and canning, electrical supplies, water, steam, compressed air, process gases laboratory, FLTs and any other area peculiar to your proposed operation

10. Refrigerant air dryer – here the brewer does not have any compressed air pipework outside – so is confident of no freeze ups – but expensive to buy and operate maintenance intensive and only removes moisture to just above freezing point

11. Asset Register • For each area identify with an asset number you can readily relate to an asset, the make model, serial number, year of manufacture manufacturers and or local stockists contact details • For an asset number linked to a pump in the Brewhouse you might have:- BP1W17AL which defines it as B = Brewhouse P=Pump 1= No 1 W=Main duty here wort transfer 17 = year installed 2017 AL= manufacturer Alfa Laval. This might seem somewhat cumbersome but it gives you instant recognition. If the pump is replaced at a later stage say for a different make and model then the asset number should change to say BP1W28H where 28= 2028 and H =Hilge pumps The thing to remember is to ensure no duplicates of asset numbers and if you change a like for like pump to change the year of replacement

12. Asset Register • Some assets like tanks will have sub assets attached to them - e.g conductivity probes, temperature probes pressure relief valves and anti-vacuum valves which require periodic attention. In assigning an asset number, this should also reference the asset number of the tank • Assets installed in pipework like temperature probes and flow indicators should have asset numbers which indicate what fluid normally flows in that pipe and the nearest tank asset number • Valve asset numbers should indicate make, normal fluid passing , date and increase in number with direction of normal flow. Where there is a tee off continue numbering on the main stream then number valves on the branch after the main flow valves have been numbered • With pipework in ring main type systems start numbering in a clockwise manner from the input main

13. Flow Meter giving visual display at monitoring point as well as feeding data to SCADA system ensure these instruments are on your asset register and maintenance schedules for calibration checks

14. Asset Register • Future additions to pipework systems asset numbering should continue numerically as well as defining the year • Equally if assets are removed don’t forget to either remove from the register or at least prevent any further maintenance schedules being generated for these assets

15. Links to Asset register • Spare parts linked to an asset should be cross referenced to that asset. • Manufacturers ,naturally, want you to but their spares and always produce a huge list of spares which if you bought, over half would remain on the shelf unused – it is difficult to know what spares to hold until you have had experience in running the plant – however if you can identify ‘consumable’ parts i.e. parts which you know will wear out and require replacing then holding these would be sensible. • Manufacturer’s spares or OEM (Original Equipment of the Manufacturer) as they are sometimes known tend to be more expensive than ‘equivalent’ from a local stockist. There is an element of caution to be taken here but sometimes like with pump seals, Crane seals from a local stockist will be cheaper than an identical seal from the original pump supplier

16. Links to Asset Register • There are some component spares which should only be considered obtaining from the manufacturer –those which other stockist cannot source or which ensure that the manufacturers guarantee is not invalidated • Some items of equipment will come under the control of statutory regulations which necessitate regular inspections. These can be required by government through mandatory legal & regulatory bodies and also your insurance companies requirement In such cases it is essential to identify by the asset number that this plant comes under such jurisdiction e,g USB1PT17BY U-Utilities S=Steam B=boiler #1 PT Pressure Tests 17=2017 BY=Byworth. • Some assets might be acquired secondhand and it’s advisable to identify the year originally manufactured as well as year installed in your brewery on your asset labelling

17. Producing a planned maintenance schedule • Having compiled your asset register, compiling the planned maintenance schedule should be built up against your production schedule BUT you have to decide who is competent and able to do some or all of the maintenance • Some work is best left to qualified and experienced outside contractors but nowadays there is a trend to get some of your own staff trained up to do this work. The choice is yours

18. Who will do the Maintenance? • It normally is too expensive to have contractors on site doing maintenance – it is not economically viable or sensible but some maintenance work will have to be put out to contract if you don’t have the in house resources available and capable – this is in the areas of complex equipment such as compressors and for statutory inspections and overhauls like pressure vessels • Recruit engineers/operatives – this solutions appears to be the norm with Craft brewers and is very sensible as these employees can operate the plant, do front line maintenance like oiling and lubricating plant on a frequent basis as well as undertaking more in depth maintenance • Training existing employees in the short term, training them to do front line maintenance but in the longer term consider taking on apprentices

19. Screw Air Compressor - short of checking oil levels & filters there is not much maintenance that can be done on these compressors

20. Screw Air Compressor delivers around 550cfmnote you can’t see much because of the acoustic insulation around the compressor – not much maintenance required –oil level checks etc but when large maintenance is needed best bring in the manufacturer

21. Compiling Maintenance schedules • As a general rule compiling maintenance schedules should be to your meet your needs and convenience as well as satisfying statutory obligations • Manufacturers of plant usually give rough guidance as to when and what should be done at different intervals and some need to be adhered to if guarantees are to be maintained but from experience if there is no guarantee restriction, start with the manufacturers recommendation so long as the equipment is regularly in use develop an approach of checking if the frequency is to short or not frequent enough for your requirements. • On the other hand if the plant is used infrequently take a balanced view as to what is necessary based on your findings and experience. You are the one in the best position to see how well or otherwise the plant is performing

22. Compressed Air Filter- Regulator- Lubricator suitable for Front Line Maintenance

23. Compiling Maintenance schedules • Whether the schedules are compiled by hand or computer generated, it is vital to assign a time to perform the procedure/s –either based on experience or a guesstimate • Identify exactly what procedures are to be undertaken • Inform that feedback as to what was ( or was not) able to be undertaken and any other relevant information – like a deteriorating condition – is required. Allow time for this information to be transferred to the asset information file • Make sure the times do not exceed the normal working shift/daily hours – unless for example it is preparing a boiler for an insurance examination when possibly 2 or 3 days might be be required • It is good practise to have at least 2 sets of maintenance manuals – one located in the area of the asset ( for reference convenience) and the other in an office’library’

24. Compiling Maintenance schedules • In compiling schedules there can be a tendency to make them appear overly complicated and put the maintenance ‘off’ – try the KISS method Keep it Short & Simple. Sometimes it is necessary to be complicated but by and large most maintenance schedules are routine and by keeping it simple you tend to get good feedback from the maintenance man • Having compiled the maintenance schedules the need to identify the exact location of the asset is crucial. One of the best way is to buy a labelling programme and printer which can be linked to the spread sheet and produce adhesive labels to be affixed to the asset – with different coloured labels identifying different parts or types of asset, to assist the maintenance team

25. Tools for the job • Suffice to say a comprehensive set of tools the details of which would be left up to the brewery/individuals should be available. • Shadow boards in some areas should be considered - like centrifuges are useful especially if there are specialist tools required from time to time

26. Reciprocating air compressor in this case a 6 cylinder-you can work on these compressors easily ( a bit like a car engine) but easy to maintain being precision engineered they are a dream to work on and cheap to maintain compared with screw compressor but not as efficient in operation

27. Compiling Maintenance schedules • Schedules should also be broken down into daily, 3 days, weekly monthly or whatever other frequencies • The frequent ones might be considered given to operators who are constantly working in the area of the asset (front line maintenance)– not only does it give them a greater affinity to those assets but also can enable them to detect early signs if the assets are not working as well as they should

28. And Finally • Maintenance especially planned maintenance can appear a necessary evil but if you apply it properly it can be a great asset in the long run ensuring you run your plant effectively and efficiently