9 minute read
HVAC&R Nation regulars
from HVAC&R Nation October 2021
by AIRAH
TALENT ON TAP
Independent brewer Stomping Ground has opened its second urban brewpub in Melbourne. And as Sean McGowan discovered, there’s more to pouring a great beer than meets the eye.
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After establishing a name for itself with its convivial, neighbourhood brewery and beerpub in Collingwood, Stomping Ground has stepped out of the former heartland of Australian brewing to open a second establishment at Morris Moor in south-east Melbourne.
The iconic Moorabbin site is a former cigarette factory that has been transformed into a mixed-use precinct combining premium office spaces, vibrant food, leisure and retail offerings, and an onsite childcare centre.
Promoting itself as “a place to enjoy a beer brewed in your local neighbourhood”, Stomping Ground has garnered a cult following. It has also earned industry accolades, being named Australia’s number one brewpub by Beer & Brewer magazine four times. Taking the concept of their Collingwood brewpub to Moorabbin, founders Steve Jeffares, Guy Greenstone and Justin Joiner have aimed to create a welcoming, family-friendly destination. Indoor and outdoor spaces include a beer garden and sun deck, function room, kids play area, and viewing windows from which to watch the brewers in action.
COMMON GROUND
Responsible for the beer reticulation and refrigeration systems behind the taps are the dynamic team from Chilled Solutions: Lee Nyssen and Bridie O’Brien.
The two joined forces in 2018, Nyssen bringing his experience as an apprentice and installs team member at Coca Cola Amatil, and O’Brien bringing her knowledge from the hospitality industry where she had worked with, maintained and trained staff on beer systems.
While Stomping Ground pre-dates the formation of Chilled Solutions, the duo had in the years since serviced many of the brewer’s customer venues.
“And we had certainly drunk a lot of beers there!” says Nyssen.
He says providing beer system installs, maintenance and most importantly staff training is what they love to do.
“It’s incredibly important for a brewery to have confidence in the system their beer is poured through.” a new beerpub at Moorabbin, Chilled Solutions was keen to be involved.
“The boys from Stomping Ground had such a clear vision that incorporated the Collingwood facility but a little more grown-up and polished – so we had a base concept of how it should look," says Nyssen.
BEHIND THE TAPS
Understanding beer refrigeration starts not at the plant but in the pint, because the pouring temperature of each beer is so important.
“Beer is a food and very much alive,” says Nyssen, “and in a lot of cases it’s a heavily crafted and honed artisanal product, so needs to be treated as such.”
Like beer, he says beer refrigeration systems come in a lot of different shapes and sizes.
At Stomping Ground, the system consists of a 5kW 180L glycol tank and a three-phase packaged condensing unit with hermetic compressor running on R404A. This system is controlled by a standard electronic microprocessor controller with LED display, and solenoid valve.
“The glycol tank system was selected for its low capital cost, and came set up for R404A,” says Nyssen. Although he acknowledges that the refrigerant is part of the current HFC phase-down, Nyssen notes that the condensing unit is able to be retrofitted to a new, lower-GWP refrigerant if needed in the future.
The glycol tank was sized to ensure it could cope with the large volume of beer being poured, and the potential of high ambient temperatures on the rooftop service platform where the condensing unit is installed.
It is maintained at -2°C via a heat exchanger – served by the condensing unit – that sits inside the glycol reservoir. From the reservoir, a series of pumps propels the negative temperature glycol to the beer taps in a 100m “python” – a bundle of beer lines wrapped with glycol lines, wrapped in insulation.
“This allows us to control the pouring temperature of beers right up to the tap,” says Nyssen.
Beer is pumped from the kegs, stored in the cool room at 5°C, through the beer lines within the “python” to a chiller plate. There it is cooled to a consistent temperature, roughly 1°C, before being poured through the taps into the glass.
“Beer pouring temperatures can be a pretty contentious issue,” says O’Brien. “You need to pour most beers below 5°C to avoid ‘break out’.”
This concept is governed by an overarching pressure/ temperature scale rule whereby the colder the beer, the more suppressed the CO2 in the beer is.
“Too cold and the beer will appear flat,” says O’Brien. “Too warm and the CO2 will be released from the liquid resulting in foaming and a lot of wastage at the tap, effectively pouring profits down the drain.”
The importance of maintaining a consistent temperature range is even more critical when the system comes under heavy load.
“Stomping Ground can pump through 50 kegs a week,
The venue offers 25 rotating craft beers on tap – some served at slightly different temperatures!
DARK ARTS
Following discussions with the owners and brewer, it was decided that all of Stomping Ground’s darker beers, such as porters and stouts, be poured at a higher temperature than the lagers, pale ales and sours.
The final pouring temperature was settled at around 5°C to 6°C, in order to allow the drinker to taste the full flavour profile of the dark beers.
With no off-the-shelf options available to Chilled Solutions, they designed and installed a thermostatically-controlled heat exchange plate specifically for the job. ■
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so if your system is undersized or can’t deal with that load, the result is you start pouring foam,” says Nyssen. “No one wants to drink a lukewarm glass of that!”
IN THE PLAYGROUND
As well as the beer refrigeration system, Chilled Solutions was responsible for the systems operating in the brewery. These include a glycol loop for the fermenters, a cool liquor tank, and serving tanks.
“The boys found a second-hand chiller that we craned onto the roof, and we fitted off a 1,000L buffer tank with some controls and a couple of pumps located downstairs,” says Nyssen. To deliver beer from the kegs to the 120-person function room at the rear of the building, conduit was installed before the foundations were poured, while galvanised steel duct was used as conduit for the python to run into the main bars. In total, over 100m of beer python was run across the site. Although beer fonts are usually bought off the shelf, those installed at Stomping Ground’s Morris Moor are bespoke items, also manufactured by Chilled Solutions. “This is the first project where we’ve manufactured the beer fonts ourselves,” says O’Brien. “Beer fonts come in a lot of different shapes and sizes, but for one to work well the beer needs to stay cold right up to the tap. If the beer is sitting in the font at ambient temperature, the beer will pour heady and you’ll get a lot of waste.” The 10 three-way fonts are designed to match those at Stomping Ground’s Collingwood premises.
Unlike the “flooded” or frozen-over fonts seen at many pubs – the result of the heat transfer properties of the stainless-steel font and moisture in the air – the fonts created for Stomping Ground run on a recirculated loop.
“For us, it was important that the design was functional and practical,” says Nyssen. “We need to be able to plumb and adequately recirculate loops inside them, and have access in the event of a problem.”
The new Stomping Ground brewpub can go through 50 kegs in a week.
HOW COLD DO YOU LIKE YOUR BEER?
Chilled Solutions refrigeration mechanic Lee Nyssen shares some insights into the science of pouring beer temperatures.
“A lot of it comes down to personal taste,” he says, “which might not always align with what the brewer had in mind.”
Australians tend to drink their beers on the cold side. This probably has a lot to do with our climate, our preferred beer styles, and the residual influence of the “six o’clock swill” – the last-minute rush to down a few beers before closing time during the days of 6pm closing, which changed to 10pm in 1966. to answer for so far as Australian beer styles and drinking habits go!” says Nyssen.
Chilled Solutions generally aims to have lagers, pale ales and sours pour at a temperature between 1°C and 2°C. Beers with a higher alcohol by volume (ABV) and stouts are generally poured a little warmer. “This is because the esters, or flavour compounds, in these beers are suppressed the colder the beer is,” says Nyssen. “So delivering the beer a little warmer allows the subtle flavours to be appreciated by the human tongue.” ■
OPEN (AND CLOSED)
Work on the beer refrigeration systems at Stomping Ground’s new Morris Moor site was completed ahead of it’s opening in late June.
Sadly, repeated lockdowns in Melbourne have resulted in a stop-start first few months, yet when open the newly minted brewpub managed to get through about 50 kegs a week without any hiccups experienced in the refrigeration system. The frustrations of COVID-19 have extended to Chilled Solutions too.
“Having a business so closely tied to the hospitality industry has been tough, as we ride the wave of all these lockdowns,” says Nyssen.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve been lucky to work on exciting projects like Stomping Ground and others, and we love supporting an incredibly versatile and resilient industry that has pivoted and changed business models to stay afloat.” We can all raise a glass to that! ■
LESSONS LEARNT
The team at Chilled Solutions offers a few tips on how small business can best approach a big project like that at Stomping Ground’s Morris Moor.
COMMUNICATE
“Communication is extremely important when working on a job this size with multiple trades involved. Everyone needs to be clear on what is required from them, and the time frame.”
FOCUS ON THE DETAIL
“Having a detailed plan on the system layout and equipment required will save headaches when it comes to ordering and installation. Beer systems have a lot of individual parts and it’s a long way to the suppliers if we forget something.”
KNOW THE PRODUCT
“Stomping Ground’s Gipps St Pale Ale goes down a treat as a Friday arvo knockoff!” ■
Chilled Solutions' Bridie O’Brien and Lee Nyssen.
PROJECT AT A GLANCE
THE PERSONNEL
▲ Client: Stomping Ground ▲ Refrigeration Contractor: Chilled Solutions
THE EQUIPMENT
▲ Compressor: Tecumseh ▲ Condensing unit: ACPAC (Actrol) ▲ Controls: Carel ▲ Glycol tank: Bracton ▲ Pumps: Grundfos
More than 100m of “python” was run across the site to transport beer from the kegs to the taps.
