Pressurized liquid transfer systems and their associated piping are a critical piece of brewery design that require airtight, sanitary design with particular attention paid to safety. This talk will focus on how to properly and practically select the right combination of hoses and piping in order to move your beer, CIP, and effluent efficiently and safely around your brewery.

Learning Objectives:

• Be able to recognize and troubleshoot unsanitary connections on soft hoses and how to remedy them, as well as identify types of sanitary connections as they apply to both flexible connections and hard piping
• Learn how to cost-effectively install hard piping systems in your facilities, including how to properly size the systems for your current and future capacity
• Be able to perform weld-inspections on your hard piped installations and follow-up with your welders to ensure a quality installation
• Discuss how to eliminate dead-legs in your CIP paths
• Learn how to inspect and evaluate your flexible and hard-piped connections for both sanitation and safety
• Understand how to properly design your flexible and hard-piped systems ahead of time, so that your installers have a thorough understanding of the requirements for safety, sanitation, and cleanability, eliminating potential future or costly re-work

About the Speakers

Matt Bailey, Maintenance & Engineering Manager

Odell Brewing Company

Matt Bailey has been the maintenance and engineering manager at Odell Brewing since 2010. He oversees maintenance, equipment capital projects, process improvement, and facility upkeep at Odell. A graduate in electrical engineering from Colorado State University, Matt began his brewing career at Anheuser-Busch in Fort Collins, working in several different areas, including instrumentation, packaging process improvement, maintenance reliability, and as a project engineer.

Chris McCombs, Head Brewer

Coopersmith's Pub & Brewing

Chris McCombs is the Head Brewer for Coopersmith's Pub & Brewing, located in Fort Collins, Colorado. With over 24 years of experience in the independent craft brewing industry, he has worked as both a Cellar Operator and Plant Engineer at New Belgium Brewing, and Brewer at Red Rock Brewing and KettleHouse Brewing Co. Additionally, he helped develop several award-winning brews, judged at the Great American Beer Festival, is currently volunteering as Chair for the BA Engineering Subcommittee, and mentoring senior project groups for Colorado State University's Fermentation Sciences Program.

Kent Taylor, Co-Founder

Blackstone Brewing Co.

Kent Taylor has been involved in the craft brewing business for over 25 years. He co-founded Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery, a brewpub, in 1994 and the Blackstone production brewery in 2011, both in Nashville, Tennessee. Kent managed the design, engineering, and building of both breweries. With the help of many talented folks, he managed all technical aspects of the brewpub brewery until its closure in 2016 and continues in that role with the production brewery to this day. He serves as a member of the Brewers Association Technical Committee and as vice chair of the Engineering Subcommittee.