As John Marrino, the founder of The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery (OMB) in Charlotte, North Carolina, says, “Not everything can be local, but beer can and should be.” This commitment to creating fresh, local beer drives the growth behind Charlotte’s oldest and largest brewery, founded in 2009.
Every barrel of beer the Brewery produces complies with the world famous “Reinheitsgebot” German beer purity law enacted in 1516. This standard requires that beer be made with only four ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. OMB is not required to follow the Reinheitsgebot, yet it does so out of respect for the tradition, and to guarantee that OMB beer is always all natural without any chemical additives, preservatives or adjuncts.
This attention to detail influences the entire brewing process, including the brewery’s choice of compressed air equipment used in a variety of applications.
Oil and Beer Don’t Mix
In the middle of the brewing process, before the beer is transferred from the primary fermentation tank, the receiving lager tank must be purged using 99.995 percent pure nitrogen gas. Using pure nitrogen prevents oxidation of the finished beer in the lager tanks and prevents flavor defects. Two Atlas Copco SF 22 full-feature oil-free scroll compressors deliver pure, oil-free air to the entire brewery for equipment process control, for wort aeration for the yeast prior to fermentation and to power the onsite NGP nitrogen generator. The brewery stores the nitrogen that is produced onsite in its utility room.
“In a brewery application, using anything but 100 percent oil-free air doesn’t make sense,” explained Marrino. “Oil is one of beer’s worst enemies because it kills one of the most important aspects of the beer – the head (or frothy foam on top of the beer). Because we need to inject compressed air directly into the wort before fermentation, and we produce nitrogen to purge our lager tanks from this compressed air, it’s not worth the risk of contaminating the beer using traditional oil-lubricated compressors.”
The decision to invest in onsite nitrogen generation was also an easy one. Since day one of the installation, the brewery has saved approximately $3,000 per month in purchased carbon dioxide gas costs, making the payback period for the nitrogen generator one year.
If you’d like to learn more about Atlas Copco’s oil-free air compressors and nitrogen generators, visit www.atlascopco.us or fill out our Request a Quote form and a representative will be in touch with you shortly.
