Steam Boilers and Craft Breweries

Across the United States, craft beers and craft breweries are increasingly in demand. A craft brewery, defined as a small and independent brewery, can fall into one of six market segments: microbreweries, brewpubs, taproom breweries, regional breweries, contract brewing companies, and alternating proprietors. As per the National Brewers Association, retail sales of craft beer account for 24.7% of the U.S. beer market. They are currently valued at approximately $117 billion!

Regional breweries lead the way of the six craft brewery market segments. They are responsible for 65.7% of 2023’s craft beer production volumes. The soaring popularity of craft beer means craft breweries need to respond rapidly to increasing demand. Their facilities need to be flexible to scale efficiently. And they need to handle costs and other prohibitive factors. For example: meeting carbon emission regulations in a way that best suits small but growing companies.

Industrial Steam Boilers and Craft Breweries

Whether used for heating, hot water, steam generation, or myriad other applications, industrial steam boilers help breweries perform tasks that are key to their product output. These essential functions include:

• Sanitization and Sterilization: Clean, sanitary equipment and a clean environment are crucial in producing safe, unspoiled beer. Steam is the best resource for sterilizing equipment, kegs, and containers, ensuring the brewing environment remains contaminant-free.
• Cleaning: Like sterilization, steam is used to clean every area of the brewery. This includes pipes, fermenters, and work surfaces, without needing to use harsh cleaning chemicals.
• Heating and Boiling: Steam heat is used in the brewing process to heat the mash to create wort. A sugar solution, the wort is a base for beer and requires further boiling to halt its chemical reactions. For example, converting starch into sugar, and to ensure its stable and sterile, ready to create beer.
• Employee Comfort and Safety: Steam boilers are also essential for keeping brewery staff clean and comfortable. Boilers heat buildings and plants and heat water in staff bathrooms and kitchens where available.

Scaling and Sustainability in Craft Breweries

Many craft breweries are born out of a passion for brewing beer. These businesses, often starting only as passion projects, begin small and grow with demand. This growth curve can present a small brewery with several challenges when it comes to meeting customer demand. Ensuring beer production grows with the brewery’s popularity requires a steady and robust steam supply.

Expanding the boiler room to house an additional mammoth-sized conventional firetube boiler is financially and physically tricky, if not impossible. This is especially true for an independent brewery with a small real estate footprint. Plus, keeping the industrial boilers fired up is a significant drain on energy resources. Doing this can expand the brewery’s carbon footprint and push costs further.

Miura Boilers, available from Apex, are built to scale alongside businesses. Their compact, modular design allows them to fit into smaller boiler rooms. This leaves extra space for additional Miura boilers as craft beer demands grow. Miura has also reimagined boiler safety. Operators no longer need to perform risky inspections involving heavy metal doors, steaming-hot pipes, and risks to personal safety.

A Miura steam boiler goes from cool to optimal temperature in under five minutes. This efficiency means fewer resources are needed to heat a large water tank. Plus, the rapid start-up time means operators can respond to steam demand in the brewery.  It can power the boiler down after hours and during lulls in production. The carbon emission savings from Miura boilers are significant! The LX-series Steam Boiler can reach NOx regulations as low as 9ppm NOx with efficiencies at 85%.

Choosing a sustainably designed boiler helps craft breweries reduce their carbon footprint. It is achieve by lowering their emissions, reducing the resources needed to generate steam, and limiting wasted energy.

Interested in learning more about Miura boilers?

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