New Glarus Brewing Company assigns greenfield project

The New Glarus Brewing Company of New Glarus, Wisconsin, has placed an order for the construction of a complete brewery with an annual capacity of 120,000 hl. This is Krones’ first order for a complete brewery in the US. The German parent, Krones AG, will complete the project in collaboration with its US subsidiary Krones Inc. of Franklin, Wisconsin.
The order includes the malt house, malt delivery and cleaning equipment, brewhouse, the entire cold section comprising yeast propagation and storage, and integration of the new process section into an existing Krones filling line. Krones will also provide the complete engineering package, including all necessary utilities such as water, steam, CO₂ and air and brewery automation using the Botec process control system.
The brewhouse will be equipped with state-of-the-art Steinecker technology, including a Variomill malt mill with an output of 5 t/h, the ShakesBeer mashing system, the Pegasus lauter tun and the Stromboli wort boiler with an energy storage system. In the first stage of the project, the brewhouse will produce 6 brews a day at 120 hl each. The only alteration needed to increase daily output to 12 brews is the addition of a buffer tank to the brewhouse. In combination with an expansion of the tank farm and utilities, the overall capacity of the brewery can be increased to 300,000 hl per year.
The owner of New Glarus cited several reasons for awarding the job to Krones besides the innovative Steinecker technology, including the proximity of Krones Inc., the fact that after-sales support covers technological issues and questions concerning the control system, and Krones’ expertise in turnkey management, which has been documented in many greenfield projects worldwide, and ability to meet all the brewery’s specifications.