Lion Nathan is famous for its beer, producing household names, such as Tooheys Draught XXXX, James Squire, Boag’s and a host of other famous brand names.
When it came to performing a mandatory maintenance shutdown over a recent long week-end, the need to keep the hundreds of thousands of litres of beer 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 Mr. Porter.
To help prevent this Lion Nathan turned to Active Power Management, a division of Active Air Rentals , to supply them with generators to ensure the beer was kept at the right temperature.
According to Brad Sweeny, Manager of Active Power Management, the product the brewer required was obvious.
“We supplied Lion Nathan with a 500 KVA Generator Set, one 350 KVA Generator Set and one 3000Litre external fuel cell and all the associated cables that were required to hook the system up”.
Mr. Sweeny noted that, “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 Mr. Porter, “we used the Active Power Managements generators to supply power to the refrigeration plant for the beer vats, which entails capturing CO2 from the actual beer making process, re-liquefying it and then using this to cool down the vats”.
And says Mr. 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”.