Inside Allagash Brewing's new temperature control system

Brewing a quality beer — and then keeping it a quality beer — requires a full cradle-to-cracked-open plan. To better optimize a loose link in its chain, Allagash Brewing Co. installed wireless temperature controls from Maine Controls at its warehouse in Portland, Me.

What’s this now? Well, it all comes down to total facility management. Maine Controls is a provider of energy management systems in the state and is a member of the InsideIQ Building Automation Alliance, an international alliance of independent building automation contractors. These controllers provide Allagash with precise temperature control as well as the ability to send alerts and alarms, track energy use over time and the ability to integrate temperature controls with other systems for more effective facility management.

Temperature control is critical for quality brewing, but Allagash still relied on simple thermostats at its remote warehouse where beer is stored while awaiting shipment. The brewery decided to replace the thermostats with advanced controllers that could integrate with their other environmental systems and provide improved monitoring and control of warehouse temperatures.

Because the Allagash warehouse has large rooms and ceiling heights of up to 40 feet, it wasn’t practical or cost-effective to run wires through the building. So Maine Controls relied on integrated wireless room controllers to bridge the gap between stand-alone sensors and intelligent building management systems.

“We installed the controllers, which are open, interoperable and fully support standard BAS protocols, in both the refrigerated and warm rooms,” said Craig Kirby, general manager, Maine Controls. “The controllers monitor the air conditioning equipment and are integrated into Allagash’s enterprise network controller, which provides integrated control, supervision and network management solutions for a variety of controllers in the Allagash facilities.”

For continued reading about facility planning, check out this one from our archives: Craft brewing operations: Tips for workflow, facility planning, packaging.