That deserves a drink!
A joint venture between two ASSDA Members has seen 21km of stainless steel pipe work installed as part of the greenfields Bluetongue Brewery recently completed at Warnervale on the Central Coast of NSW.
The $120 million Pacific Beverages brewery, which officially opened in November 2010, contains more than 2000 tonnes of stainless steel, including more than 120 tonnes of tube sourced in Australia through ASSDA Sponsor Atlas Steels.
The brewery construction was overseen by German brewery manufacturer Ziemann, who contracted ASSDA Accredited Fabricators TFG Pty Ltd and TripleNine Stainless Pty Ltd as the sole installation partners for the stainless steel components.
TFG/TripleNine assembled and installed the pumps, heat exchangers, valves, brewing vessels and fermentation tanks, as well as fabricating and installing all the pipework.
TFG Manager Tom Moultrie said they used grade 304 and 316 tube ranging from 25mm to 100mm in diameter. To ensure accuracy, speed, efficiency and quality, specialist sanitary welders orbital welded the tube on site. The construction phase lasted 8 months and, at the height of the project, TFG/TripleNine had 60 fabricators on site.
Mr Moultrie said the scope and size of the project were the motivating factors behind the first-time joint venture.
“The joint venture made sense because both companies could continue to service our other clients during the construction phase, as well as meeting the tight deadline,” he said.
Ziemann project manager Sven Mauchnik said TFG/TripleNine were chosen due to their brewery experience and their ability to match the tight time schedule.
“We were able to build the complete brewery within 8 months and make the first brew on the original planned date,” Mr Mauchnik said. “The quality TFG/TripleNine delivered was beyond our expectation, which is obvious for everybody who visits the brewery.”
TFG/TripleNine installed 48 silos, including fermentation and storage vessels around 18m high. Two cranes were used to install four vessels a day.
The fermentation tanks and brewing vessels were manufactured abroad by Ziemann to assist in meeting the tight time frames.
The Bluetongue Brewery is unique in its design because it has twin-stream brew houses under one roof, which allow for brewing flexibility.
This article featured in Australian Stainless magazine - Issue 48, Autumn 2011.
