The popularity of micro-breweries and brewery pubs in America make it likely that the number of brewing facilities will continue to increase. On the flip side, closings are on the increase as well. But, the opening rates outpace the closing rates. The closings are purely a sign of market competition within localities, regions, and genre of the beer itself.
New brewery start-ups and existing breweries need to plan for current and future needs. While the micro-brewing industry has not reached its saturation point, eventually push will come to shove. One way to stay ahead of the Clydesdale is to pull a lighter wagon by lightening the load with brewery automation equipment and controls.
Whether it is a new company or a company looking to expand, ControlFreek Inc is poised to handle every micro-brewery automation need. CFI has tackled everything from beer bottling retrofits to full blown retooling of existing brewing facilities.
A Stout History of Brewing in America
Brewing in the US has taken on many guises over the years. From the days of bathtub gin during prohibition to today’s wineries and craft breweries. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed a landmark bill which legalized home brewing. Since that time, there has been an explosion in the craft brewing industry.
State legalization of brew pubs soon followed with Washington and California in 1982, Oregon in 1983, and others soon followed. Home brewers began to launch businesses based on what was just a hobby at the time. With a little instinct, and a lot of guts, Brewery Pubs soon started to open across the US. In the footsteps of our forefathers, they revived an age-old tradition dating back before the American Revolution. Owners of those brewery pubs included some gutsy radicals such as Patrick Henry, William Penn, and Samuel Adams.
The Beer Brewing Boom
In the early 1980’s you had two choices in a beer aisle, domestic or import. You had Heineken or Bud. By 1995, there were over 600 independent micro-breweries in America, including Samuel Adams which went public that year. The beer brewing boom was on, and they started to carve out their own niche in the beer aisle.
Today there are over 3,500 independent brewers selling nation-wide next to the likes of Bud, Miller, and Coors. Is it any wonder that Bud has the best commercials every Super Bowl? Forget about the imports, Big Brewer has other people to watch out for now. Micro-breweries are here to stay.
Brewery Automation is the New Black
Micro-breweries are a huge business in America and they all share a common problem. How do they make a profit while taking all the required steps to brew a truly outstanding ale? That is were micro-brewery automation can help with some of the heavy lifting.
ControlFreek Inc has heard the calling and came to the aid of several micro-breweries in the Pacific Northwest. From Wallace Brewery near the last stop sign on I-90 to our local Orlison Brewing Company, CFI has taken their amber waves of grain and hops to a whole new level of automation.
You can brew your ale, and sip it too
Just to be clear, CFI does not condone brewing while ingesting. That will get you a BWI! But, with all the brewery automation upgrades and installations we offer, you may want to tip one back.
Our custom electronic control panels and systems for brewing equipment can offer turnkey solutions for vats, valves, boilers, chillers, mills, conveyors, and other related processes. CFI can ease the worries of any time-strapped micro-brewer to do what he does best — brew, baby, brew!
You can’t shortcut the process, but you sure as heck can reduce a lot of the headaches. The brewer has many operational controls at his disposal today. Tedious daily processes for monitoring changes in boiler temperature, vat pressure, grain input, evaporation, and more can be automatically responded to. The brewer can rest easy that their processes are being reliably taken care of.
Need to take your brewing game to the next level? Hop on over to our contact page and get in touch!