Cold beer provides warm offices
Klackabackens Bryggeri outside Kristianstad is one of the country’s more successful microbreweries. Last winter they took a big step and increased their production tenfold with a brand new brewery with an annual capacity of 500,000 litres. And the unique thing is that the same heat pump that provides Klackabacken with hot water and a warm office also keeps the beer cold! Or rather the other way round...
A heat pump provides heat in one spot, while reducing the temperature in another spot. This is the basis of the technology, and the trick is to find a location where the drop in temperature causes no problem – such as a bore hole, for example.
The installation designed by Hässleholm-based company Teokyl for Klackabacken instead focused on cooling. heat pump has its collector positioned in the jacket of the double-jacketed large closed fermenting tanks and the brine runs through a NIBE UKV 200 accumulator tank, which is also approved for cooling. By means of the NIBE ACS 45 accessory for active cooling, the need for cooling governs when the heat pump starts up and the output for cooling. The latter is possible thanks to the inverter controller. The heat then generated in the heat pump is used to heat rooms or hot water, after which any surplus is dissipated through a air coil outdoors. If the system is not in operation when heat is needed, the heat pump switches to operation by immersion heater. heat pump has its collector positioned in the jacket of the double-jacketed large closed fermenting tanks and the brine runs through a NIBE UKV 200 accumulator tank, which is also approved for cooling. By means of the NIBE ACS 45 accessory for active cooling, the need for cooling governs when the heat pump starts up and the output for cooling. The latter is possible thanks to the inverter controller. The heat then generated in the heat pump is used to heat rooms or hot water, after which any surplus is dissipated through a air coil outdoors. If the system is not in operation when heat is needed, the heat pump switches to operation by immersion heater.
A NIBE F1255 heat pump has its collector positioned in the jacket of the double-jacketed large closed fermenting tanks and the brine runs through a NIBE UKV 200 accumulator tank, which is also approved for cooling. By means of the NIBE ACS 45 accessory for active cooling, the need for cooling governs when the heat pump starts up and the output for cooling. The latter is possible thanks to the inverter controller. The heat then generated in the heat pump is used to heat rooms or hot water, after which any surplus is dissipated through a air coil outdoors. If the system is not in operation when heat is needed, the heat pump switches to operation by immersion heater.
It has all been constructed using standard products direct from stock.
“In an ordinary cooling system all the heat is waste heat,” says Stefan Ohlsson from Teokyl.
“But here we make use of it and get all heat that is needed more or less free, while having a cost-effective cooling process.”
Klackabacken’s 7 closed fermenting tanks all contain beer at various stages of the process and with totally differing temperature requirements. One tank may require a temperature of 2 degrees, while another needs 17. Shunting is used to mix brine of different temperatures, so that each tank gets the exact level of cooling required. The heat pump is connected to NIBE Uplink, enabling both the brewmaster and installer to have full control of cooling temperature, any alarms and other parameters.
“You can truly say here that nothing warms as much as a cold beer,” concludes Stefan.