Commercial and industrial electrician for breweries
A brewery is a small plant with a bar attached: three-phase equipment, a glycol chiller that cannot stop, floors that get hosed down every day, and a taproom that has to open on time. We wire the brewhouse, the cellar and the taproom to the equipment's sheets and the code.
What the work involves
Often, depending on the equipment: brewhouse equipment, chillers and canning lines can call for three-phase, and a load calculation from the equipment list shows whether the service can carry them. The glycol chiller gets its own circuit, disconnect and surge protection, and washdown floors need wet location rated devices with GFCI protection where the code calls for it.
Brewhouse equipment, chillers and canning lines often call for three-phase power, and the first question is whether the building's service can carry them. A load calculation from the equipment list answers it, and if the service has to grow, the work is coordinated with CPS Energy before the equipment is ordered.
Each piece of equipment comes with sheets that give its voltage, phase, circuit size and connection. Pumps, mills, heating elements and control panels each get a circuit and a disconnect where the code requires one, placed where the brewers can reach them and the hoses cannot.
The glycol chiller holds fermentation temperatures, and a chiller that trips at night can cost a batch. It gets its own circuit sized from its sheet, a disconnect within sight, and surge protection, and the walk-in cooler gets the same care.
Brewhouse floors are washed down daily, so receptacles, boxes, fixtures and fittings in those areas have to be rated for wet locations, with GFCI protection where the code calls for it. Getting this right at rough-in is far easier than replacing corroded fittings later.
The taproom is a restaurant style build-out: lighting, the bar coolers, the point of sale, any kitchen equipment, and exit and emergency lighting. Inside the city it is permitted and inspected through the City of San Antonio Development Services Department, and we plan the inspections around your opening date.
The common failures are corroded connections in wet areas, a service that runs short when a tank or a canning line is added, and a chiller on a shared circuit. Wet rated materials, a load calculation before every expansion and dedicated circuits for the cold side prevent all three.
Questions about brewery electrical services? Call or get a quote.
Commercial quote
Send the equipment list if you have it, and tell us about the building. The owner responds the same business day.
Prefer to talk? Call (210) 446-5446.
FAQ
Straight answers. If you do not see yours, call us and ask.
Often, depending on the equipment. The equipment sheets say what each piece needs, and a load calculation shows whether the building's service can carry it all.