Devils Backbone Brew Hall and Fermentation Room Trench Drains

Trench drains are the latest addition made in the last few years for Devils Backbone Brewing Company after they were purchased by Anheuser-Busch, an iconic leader in America’s beer industry. The partnership enables Devils Backbone to distribute their products farther and wider than ever before. This means the demand for their beer is higher than their brew house has seen before either. The more they brew, the more processed waste, like spent hops and grains, began spilling out onto the floors. Devils Backbone realized they needed more efficient drainage systems in their brew hall and fermentation room and called upon Southern Air’s Industrial Maintenance Department.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company Drains

The scope of work called for replacing all the existing drains and underground drainage piping with stainless steel while adding trench drains and catch basins. What made this project so complex involved completing the work without shutting down their production. Southern Air engineers designed a detailed plan for new sanitary drains and stainless steel piping causing very minimal interruption to their processes. We provided design drawings, calculated tank discharge, underground depths and sized the drains.

The job was split into three phases. In Phase 1, our team rerouted all the current drainage of the brew hall and fermentation room in order to keep the brewery operational. We installed two catch basins, excavated the old PVC underground piping and replaced it with stainless steel. This involved an abundance of digging by hand since excavation vehicles wouldn’t fit inside the building. At one point, you could find Southern Air field technicians covered in dirt as they excavated 200-feet of concrete, gravel and soil with hand carts.

Phase 2 of the project focused on renovating a trench drain in an extremely tight space between numerous brewing tanks. The close proximity to operational tanks required specialized cribbing and bracing when cutting into the concrete floor to extract the old drain. Our field technicians took expert care as they replaced the old PVC drains with a custom-designed 75-foot stainless steel solution.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company Drains

The final phase consisted of renovating the last two trench drains, to include one 60-feet long at a depth of 18-inches. This also required specialized cribbing and bracing for the custom drains. Simpson and his team of millwrights persevered through unforeseen obstacles, creating safe and effective plans. Risk was always taken into account during these unique installations resulting in zero injuries or safety incidents throughout the project.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company won’t have to worry about drainage problems, flooding or clogging whatsoever with this new drainage system. The work at Devils Backbone Brewing Company is far from over for Southern Air. On any given day, you can find a Southern Air tradesman at the facility welding a pipe, running some electrical wire or installing a trench drain. Each task we complete just helps the brew masters continuing to do what they love;

Brewing beer for you.