How Do You Automate Fermentation and Glycol Controls?
Fermentation, Cellar & Glycol Controls
Automate every fermenter from one system.
Each fermenter and brite tank gets a temperature reading and a glycol valve for every cooling zone. The PLC opens and closes each valve to hold the setpoint or follow the profile you enter, watches the glycol supply and the chiller, and logs every tank’s trend and alarms.
ARP programs the targets you set. The tools on these pages never decide brewing parameters such as temperatures, times, or fermentation profiles. The system records target vs actual for the profile you enter.
Cellar and glycol architecture
- Chiller
- →
- Glycol reservoir
- →
- Glycol pumps
- →
- Supply header
- →
- Glycol valve per zone
- →
- Fermenters & brite tanks
- →
- Return
Per tank
Temperature per cooling zone, glycol valve per zone, optional pressure, level, and pressure-control valve.
Glycol loop
Pump control (duty only or duty/standby, across-the-line or Allen-Bradley VFD), supply and return temperature, pressure, and flow where measured.
Chiller
Enable, running, and fault signals to the PLC where the chiller supports them. The chiller’s own controls stay in place.
Build My Cellar Controls
Enter your tanks for a quick preliminary cellar I/O count. Carry it into the full builder so you don’t have to type it again.
Counting rules (ARP planning assumptions): one temperature input and one glycol valve per cooling zone; feedback adds 0, 1, or 2 digital inputs per valve; IO-Link sensors use one IO-Link port each, and each Allen-Bradley 5032 IO-Link master has 8 IO-Link ports.
Fermentation and glycol questions, answered
How do you automate fermentation temperature?
Measure each cooling zone, compare it with the setpoint or profile step for that tank, and open or close the zone’s glycol valve. The PLC does this for every tank at once.
Profiles can hold, shift temperature on a timer, rest, and crash, using the targets and durations you enter.
How do brewery glycol controls work?
A chiller cools the glycol, pumps send it around a supply and return loop, and a valve at each tank zone opens when that zone needs cooling.
The PLC runs the valves and pumps, watches supply and return, and alarms on faults. Alarm limits come from your chiller and loop data.
How do you control multiple fermenters?
Give every fermenter its own temperature input and glycol valve per zone, assign each tank a setpoint or profile and a batch, and show them all on one HMI screen.
Adding a tank later adds inputs and valves, so leave spare I/O. The PLC sizing tool adds ARP’s spare allowance.
How do you monitor fermentation remotely?
Log each tank’s temperature, target, and alarms to ARP’s own dashboard and monitoring platform, which communicates natively with Allen-Bradley PLCs, and view it through remote access your IT team approves.
Do brite tanks need the same controls as fermenters?
Usually the same pattern: temperature and a glycol valve per zone, with pressure and level where you need them.
The builder lists brite tanks separately so their zones and options can differ.
What does duty/standby mean for glycol pumps?
Two pumps where one runs and the other takes over on a fault or by rotation, so a single pump failure doesn’t stop cooling.
Duty/standby doubles the pump control I/O, which the builder counts.
Frequently asked questions
Does the system decide my fermentation profile?
No. ARP programs the targets you set. The tools on these pages never decide brewing parameters such as temperatures, times, or fermentation profiles.
Can ARP add controls to existing fermenters?
Yes. ARP can add temperature sensing, glycol valve control, and data logging to existing tanks. Tanks and jackets come from you or your tank supplier.
Can I see glycol problems before beer warms up?
The dashboard can trend glycol supply and return and alarm on faults or on the limits you set. ARP doesn’t assume operating limits for your chiller.
Talk to ARP about your brewery controls
ARP supplies the controls and automation package: the Allen-Bradley control panel, electrical design, PLC/HMI programming, instrumentation, utility and dosing pumps as selected, dashboards, drawings, FAT, and startup support as quoted. In certain applications, ARP can also provide a pump skid. Brewhouse vessels, fermenters, tanks, sanitary process piping, and mechanical skids come from you, your brewhouse manufacturer, or your fabricator, and ARP integrates with them.
Qualifying standard configurations are quoted, designed, programmed, and shipped in 7–10 business days.
Have drawings, P&IDs, panel photos, or I/O lists? Send them with your request.