GEA is proud to announce the sale of a CRAFT-STAR™ artisanal brewhouse to The Bruery, in Orange County, CA. The recipient is a boutique craft brewery specializing in experimental and barrel aged beer. The company’s name is a fusion of ‘brewery’ with the founding family’s name, Rue.
Already well on their way to becoming a significant player on the national craft beer scene, The Bruery needed a sharp increase in production capacity and found a 2-vessel CRAFT-STAR™ by GEA to be just the right fit. This is The Bruery’s brewing philosophy: “Our calling is to create beers with character and depth using the simplest and purest of means. We do not filter or pasteurize our beers. Most of our bottled beers gain carbonation through bottle conditioning, allowing carbonation to naturally occur through a secondary bottle fermentation. We strive to use unconventional ingredients, and we will proudly state what we put in our beers.” Unconventional maybe, but very highly regarded by their peers, The Bruery makes a very wide variety of exceptionally unique and popular beers. “We are inspired by those in the brewing community who are pushing the limits of what ‘beer’ is. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for great brewers who came before us. We aspire to be an influential force in craft brewing.”
The GEA CRAFT-STAR™ is a 40 hl (35 U.S. bbl), well automated brewhouse, built with the American craft brewer in mind. The pre-skidded design makes for a seamless install and batch sizes are flexible from 25 to 40 hl (20 to 35 U.S. bbl).
Vessels – optimized and off-the-shelf
The CRAFT-STAR™ comes in two configurations; a 2-vessel system with a mash/lauter tun and a Whirlpool/wort kettle, or the 3-vessel system with a separate mash kettle, dedicated lauter tun and a Whirlpool/wort kettle. With these two designs, the brewer can choose the one that best fits his needs!
The CRAFT-STAR™ allows for a performance of up to five brews within a 24 hour timeframe, making it the right choice for a successful growing microbrewery!
Some other key features are: A build-in grist hydrator that facilitates efficient and clump-free mashing-in; differential pressure lautering to ensure a fast filtration process with high yields; and an external wort heater with a circulation loop for homogenous wort treatment and proper hot trub separation in the Whirlpool/wort kettle.
Also standard on the CRAFT-STAR™ are automatic mash and sparge water tempering, a lauter wort sampling station, and full CIP capability. Add the finishing touch of modern process visualization and process control via a detachable laptop work station and it completes the picture of a meticulously designed brew system skid.
Reliable and intelligently automated
German engineering, materials and construction ensure that the user is getting the same quality that goes into the larger systems, for which GEA has become world renowned.
CONCLUSION
The Bruery installed their new CRAFT-STAR™ artisanal brewhouse in 2014. GEA is proud to be partnering with such a wonderfully unique brewer and looks forward to helping them grow their brand for years to come.
