Two years in the making, Victorian-based Sou’West Brewery recently opened its doors in Torquay to the public, serving its beer offerings and menu catering for all ages. For the brewery's turnkey processing and packaging solution, it turned to FB*Propak.
FB*Propak, who provides tailored processing and packaging engineering solutions to the food and beverage industries, delivered for Sou’West a complete package – including a brewhouse, bottling line, labeller, keg washer/filler, tanks, auger and milling.
The equipment arrived from the US, Italy and other overseas supply partners in time for the planned 2020 install, but when works came to a grinding halt do to Covid building site regulations, material shortages and snap lockdowns, FB*Propak had to quickly find additional warehouse space to store the brewery for six months.
"Now that it is finally in, the Sou’West team are delighted with their equipment and the beer they are producing with it, and are just desperate to have the punters there to share it all with," Michael Morris, sales executive at FB*Propak, tells PKN.
"The Alpha Brewing Ops brewhouse is the industry leader for brewing American and Australian style beers - it is expertly engineered to enable a brewer like Luke Scott [head brewer at Sou’West] to be able to work virtually by himself and produce beers of the quality you would expect from the largest Australian breweries.
"It is compact, efficient and is a handsome attraction in the venue. The packaging too, supplied by Framax Italy, allows Luke to clean, sanitise and fill kegs on his own. Then with a small team, the Framax bottling line allows Sou’West to employ counter pressure filling technology that will label, and fill bottles to a standard of export quality."
FB*Propak successfully supplied and installed the following equipment for Sou’West:
- An Alpha automatic 25 hectolitre, two-vessel steam brewhouse;
- A FB*Propak 50 hectolitre hot liquor tank;
- A FB*Propak 50 hectolitre cold liquor tank;
- A FB*Propak 50 hectolitre brite beer tank;
- A FB*Propak 25 hectolitre brite beer tank;
- Three FB*Propak 50 hectolire fermenters;
- Three FB*Propak 25 hectolitre unitanks;
- A Framax Keg Filler/Washer;
- A Framax 5/5/1 Filler (1000bph);
- A Framax Labeller (2500bph);
- A Della Toffola glycol unit;
- An Alpha mill;
- An Alpha mounted grist hopper;
- An Alpha dual stage heat exchanger; and
- An Alpha wort grant.
The brewing equipment and bottling system allows Sou’West to produce about 700,000 litres per annum.
“We went with FB*Propak because they provide a whole system – from brewhouse through to packaging – they have experience with all facets of the brewing industry,” says Luke Scott, head brewer, Sou’West.
“What I really love about the new equipment is that it is very easy to use and efficient, it is producing really good beer – getting really good extracts out of the malts.
“It is a real aesthetically pleasing brewhouse and works really well in our venue as the showpiece.”
FB*Propak also recently delivered a complete turnkey solution for New Zealand craft brewer Behemoth Brewing.
