Brewery Automation & Flow Meters for Orlison Brewing

Orlison Brewing Company was one of the most successful breweries in Eastern Washington. In 2009, they were known as Golden Hills and made a bold move. The original investor, Orlin Reinbold, teamed up with another investor, Jason Miller, to pump cash into the brewery. Orlin and Jason re-branded the name as Orlison, and since that time have taken great strides in the brewing industry. In June 2018, the Airway Heights brewery announced it would cease operations, but would continue to make beer for No-Li Brewhouse on a contract basis, as it has been recently, but will no longer produce its own Orlison lineup.

What set Orlison apart was a lager. While hundreds of other brewers in Washington State were making ales, Orlison had taken a different path. Lagers are harder to produce. There is more time involved, and the process is delicate and labor-intensive. With that in mind, Orlison retooled the facility with updated equipment and brewery automation controls to provide the same quality of brew at a higher capacity.

During Orlison’s new venture, CFI has been involved in a number of projects. We developed a newly engineered central operations station that went online in early 2009. The station provided brewery automation controls to monitor sensors throughout the facility for temperature and pressure within the mash outlets, kettles, runoffs, and other vital equipment. Pumps and agitators where controlled by a variety of Schneider Electric Square D variable frequency drives (VFD) in conjunction with  Allen-Bradley motor circuit protectors. The panel was also designed for anticipated future growth within the facility.

Expansion of the facility did continue over the next five years. In 2014, CFI was called upon again when Orlison required the installation and setup for Niagara Series MTX flow meters with infrared transmitters. CFI handled the integration into the brewery systems and the lager kept flowing downstream to taverns, restaurants, and stores throughout the Inland Northwest.

CFI started working with Orlison when they were known as Golden Hills. We are proud of the work we provided over the years to bring about their vision of the future.