10 new 100 hL beer fermenters for Casella Estate

Casella Estate, a company best known for the Yellowtail wine label, wanted 10 x 100 hectolitre new beer fermenters and companies from as far away as Europe tendered for the coveted project. However, an Australian stainless steel fabricator proved to be more than capable of meeting design and fabrication expectations of the food and beverage sector.

Close-up of Casella’s new fermenters showing stainless steel fabrication detail. Image courtesy of A&G Engineering.

ASSDA member and Accredited Fabricator A&G Engineering had a few advantages over the offshore companies: they had worked with Casella before, fabricating 88 x 1.1 million-litre wine tanks for the company’s tank farm in Yenda, NSW; they have supplied stainless steel tanks to Australia’s leading breweries, wineries and beverage companies; and they are one of the largest users of stainless steel in Australia.

The five-month Casella Brewery project, completed in August 2011, saw 25 of A&G’s 200 staff use 65 tonnes of 304-grade stainless steel (including 2-4 mm coil and 8 mm plate) to build the 10 vessels.

The tanks were designed to AS1210-2010 pressure vessel standards, in order to withstand a pressure rating of 115 kPa.

The stainless was welded with A&G’s semiautomated welding process and the internal welds were polished to achieve a 0.6 Ra surface  finish, to meet beverage industry standards of a food-grade finish.

Casella’s tank farm. Image courtesy of A&G Engineering.

A&G built the vessels at its Griffith and Irymple plants, before transporting them to Yenda. With the beer fermenters now in place, the Casella Brewery was operational by the end of 2011.

A&G Engineering’s successful completion of Casella’s project is an important victory for the Australian stainless steel fabrication industry as a whole as it proves there is no need for food and beverage manufacturers to go overseas for engineering, detailing and fabrication work.

A version of this article was featured in Australian Stainless - Issue 50, Summer 2011/12.