How Do You Automate a Brewhouse?
Brewhouse Automation
Automate a brewhouse by putting each vessel’s heating, pumps, valves, and measurements on one PLC, then running your brew day as recipe steps.
Start with what the brewer does by hand: filling, heating, mashing, recirculating, sparging, boiling, and transferring. Each step becomes a recipe step with your targets. You choose which steps run automatically and which wait for an operator.
ARP programs the targets you set. The tools on these pages never decide brewing parameters such as temperatures, times, or fermentation profiles.
Brewhouse process and control points
- HLT
- →
- Strike water
- →
- Mash
- →
- Vorlauf / recirculation
- →
- Lauter + sparge
- →
- Kettle / boil
- →
- Whirlpool
- →
- Knockout
- →
- Fermenter
| Vessel | What the PLC typically controls | Typical measurements |
|---|---|---|
| Hot liquor tank (HLT) | Heating, fill valve, recirculation pump | Temperature, level |
| Cold liquor tank (CLT) | Fill and transfer valves, cooling where used | Temperature, level |
| Mash tun | Heating (if heated), agitator, recirculation pump, strike-water valves | Temperature (one or more points), level |
| Lauter tun | Rake, wort pump, sparge valve, recirculation | Flow, level, temperature, pressure where used |
| Brew kettle | Heating and boil control, agitator, transfer pump | Temperature, level; hop additions confirmed by the operator |
| Whirlpool | Whirlpool and knockout pump, transfer valves | Level, temperature |
Typical examples, not a requirement list. Your vessel set and options go into the builder.
From monitoring to highly automated
1. Monitoring
Example: the HMI shows HLT, mash, and kettle temperatures and levels, alarms on your limits, and the brewer starts pumps and opens valves by hand.
2. Assisted brewing
Example: the PLC holds HLT and mash at your targets, times each rest, and prompts the brewer to confirm mash-in, hop additions, and transfers.
3. Semi-automatic
Example: automated valves route strike water, recirculation, and sparge; pump speeds and temperature ramps follow the recipe.
4. Highly automated
Example: recipe-driven transfers and routing from HLT to fermenter, with cellar, CIP, and batch data on the same system.
Brewhouse automation questions, answered
What does a brewery PLC control?
Heating, pumps, agitators, rakes, and automated valves, based on temperature, level, flow, and pressure readings and the recipe step that is running.
It also raises alarms and records the batch.
Can an Allen-Bradley PLC control a brewery?
Yes. Allen-Bradley PLCs and HMIs run sequencing, temperature control, and data collection for process equipment like brewhouses, and ARP builds its brewery panels on them.
The controller is sized from your I/O count with the PLC sizing calculator.
How do you automate mash temperature?
Measure mash temperature, compare it with the target in your recipe step, and let the PLC drive the heating (steam valve, electric elements, or other source) while recirculating if your system does.
Rest times and ramps are recipe values you set. The heating method decides the outputs, so the builder asks for it.
How do you automate sparge flow?
Measure sparge water flow and let the PLC control the sparge valve or pump speed to the rate in your recipe, often balanced against lauter level.
Flow sensing is listed in the builder per vessel.
How do you automate wort transfer?
Route the transfer with automated valves, run the pump, and stop on level, volume, or operator confirmation, as you choose for that step.
Fermenter destination can be recorded with the batch. Sanitary transfer pumps are existing or customer-selected, or ARP coordinates a suitable one.
What instrumentation is needed for a brewhouse?
Temperature on every heated vessel, level on vessels you fill or transfer from, flow on brewing water and sparge if you want them controlled, and pressure where your process needs it.
See brewery sensors for each measurement.
What controls are needed for a 5, 10, 15, or 30 BBL brewhouse?
The same kinds of controls at every size. Batch size changes the number and size of vessels, pumps, and heaters, which changes the I/O count and panel, not the approach.
The builder’s worked examples include 7, 10, 15, and 30 BBL breweries.
How do you upgrade an existing brewery control panel?
Inventory the existing devices, keep the instruments and valves that still work, and replace relays, standalone controllers, or an old PLC with one Allen-Bradley PLC and HMI.
Retrofits often add recipe steps and batch records without changing the vessels.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep manual steps in an automated brewhouse?
Yes. Each recipe step can be automatic, operator-confirmed, or manual, and you can change that later.
Does ARP supply the brewhouse vessels?
No. Vessels and sanitary piping come from you or your brewhouse manufacturer. ARP supplies and programs the controls.
Can ARP control a direct-fire kettle?
ARP interfaces to the burner (enable, running, fault). Burner management and combustion safeguards stay with the burner supplier.
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.