Keeping the beer cold

Producing household names, such as Tooheys Draught XXXX, James Squire, Boag’s and a host of other famous brand names, Lion Nathan has a vested interested in keeping its product in top-quality condition.

And when it came to doing a mandatory maintenance shutdown over the June long weekend, the need to keep the hundreds of thousands of litres of beer bubbling away in its vats at the correct temperature was foremost in the company’s mind.

According to Ian Porter, an engineering contractor overseeing the shutdown process, it was a case of extreme importance that the beer vats be maintained at the correct temperature.

“The temperature control was critical - if the temperature goes out by even a couple of degrees, then all that beer, literally hundreds of thousands of litres of top-quality brew, would have to be thrown out,” says Porter.

To prevent this near-tragedy from happening, Lion Nathan turned to Active Power Management to supply a couple of generators to ensure the beer was kept at the right temperature.

According to Active Power Management Manager Brad Sweeny, the product the brewer required was a no-brainer.

“We supplied Lion Nathan with a 500 kVA Generator Set, one 350 kVA Generator Set and one 3000 L external fuel cell and all the associated cables that were required to hook the system up.”

Sweeny noted, “Our generators were running the refrigeration equipment to keep the product at the correct temperature at all times,” adding that these particular generators “are specifically designed for such mission-critical jobs”.

According to Porter, “We used the Active Power Management generators to supply power to the refrigeration plant for the beer vats, which entails capturing CO₂ from the actual beer-making process, reliquefying it and then using this to cool down the vats.”

“Overall,” he notes, “the generators performed very well and without any major hitches.”

In fact, he points out, “Without them, it would have resulted in a total disaster.”

And, says Sweeny, “Active Power Management supplies generators to anywhere in the country at just about any power configuration and we have done similar jobs before, so the thought of keeping safe such a large quantity of beer was almost a labour of love.”