Build My Brewery Control System
Interactive Brewery System Builder
Describe your brewery. Get a preliminary controls specification.
Answer in plain terms: your vessels, heating, brew steps, fermenters, glycol, and the data you want recorded. You don’t need PLC knowledge or part numbers. At the end you get a process and controls architecture, a preliminary I/O and network count, instrument and pump requirements, an RFQ readiness score, a list of missing information, and a handoff to ARP’s RFQ Builder.
Preliminary engineering selection. Final design is subject to ARP, process, mechanical, and manufacturer review. ARP programs the targets you set. The tools on these pages never decide brewing parameters such as temperatures, times, or fermentation profiles. The builder never makes a final pump selection or claims hygienic, regulatory, UL, or safety compliance.
How the builder works
1. Brewhouse
Brewery profile, vessels you add or remove, heating source, and an editable brew sequence: add, remove, reorder, and set each step automatic, operator-confirmed, or manual.
2. Cellar, glycol, CIP
Fermenters, brite tanks, your fermentation profiles, glycol loop, and CIP. When CIP needs configuring, the builder hands off to Build My CIP System.
3. Specification and quote
Preliminary I/O and network, then handoff to the PLC sizing, enclosure, cost, and RFQ tools.
Automation levels
1. Monitoring
Temperature, level, flow, alarms, and manual pump and valve controls.
2. Assisted brewing
Recipes, automatic temperature control, pump sequencing, timers, and guided operator steps.
3. Semi-automatic
Automated valve routing, pump speeds, temperature ramps, vessel transfers, and sequence execution.
4. Highly automated
Recipe-driven sequences, automated transfers and routing, and integrated cellar, CIP, and data collection.
These are selection bands that describe what you want the system to do, not engineering standards.
Brewery builder questions, answered
How do brewery recipes work in a PLC?
A recipe is a list of steps, each with your targets (volume, temperature, time, flow) and the pumps and valves it uses. The PLC runs the steps in order and waits for an operator where you ask it to.
Recipes are stored by name, so the same sequence can run with different targets. You enter the targets; ARP programs them.
How do you control multiple fermenters?
Each fermenter gets its own temperature input and glycol valve per cooling zone, and the PLC holds each one at the setpoint or profile you assign.
One HMI screen shows every tank. See fermentation and glycol controls.
What is brewery RFQ readiness?
It is the share of key design inputs you have provided, such as vessel sizes, heating method, cooling zones, glycol interface, CIP plan, and remote-access needs.
Missing items are listed so you know what to gather. Nothing missing is filled in by guesswork.
Do I need to re-enter data in ARP’s other tools?
No for the RFQ Builder: the brewery configuration fills its empty fields automatically. Your IO-Link and monitoring choices also carry into the CIP builder.
For PLC and enclosure sizing, the result shows the I/O numbers to carry over.
Frequently asked questions
Is the builder output a final design?
Preliminary engineering selection. Final design is subject to ARP, process, mechanical, and manufacturer review.
Does the builder recommend brewing temperatures or fermentation profiles?
No. ARP programs the targets you set. The tools on these pages never decide brewing parameters such as temperatures, times, or fermentation profiles.
Can I save my brewery configuration?
Yes, for this browser session. You can go back to any step without losing entries, edit the final configuration, and download the specification as a text file.
How do I send drawings or an I/O list?
Continue to the RFQ Builder or request a quote, then send them with your request.
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.