Budějovický Budvar Brewery has been replacing its giant stainless steel hot water containers

The replacement of an accumulation hot water container started in Budweiser Budvar Brewery today. The replacement of the second container begins on 28th October. The change of both containers represents the last stage of an investment project which is supposed to decrease the heat and cooling consumption during brewing. The new containers have substantially better thermal insulation of 200 mm.  

Parameters:
volume 200 m3  
height 15 m
diameter 5 m
weight 20 t

“Considering the large size of the containers, the transport through the town of České Budějovice will take place at night, so that the traffic in the brewery surroundings is affected as little as possible,“ says Budweiser Budvar’s technical and energetic department manager Dalibor Čáp. Due to the container replacement, a week-long shut-down of the brewing house will have to take place, which is going to be exploited for many preventive repair works of the brewing house equipment. The investment into the accumulation containers including the installation and related costs is going to reach CZK 10 million. The annual energy savings in today’s prices will be higher than CZK 1 million, with the investment return therefore being about 8 years. ZVU Potez Hradec Králové, a.s. is the supplier of the containers; the installation will be carried out by Unimont Pacov.

Budweiser Budvar has recently installed a new mash cooler, which uses heat recuperation to a higher extent, due to that having a lower cooling consumption. In 2011, the brewery has also invested into modern technology for the production of cooling for lager cellars with lower electricity consumption.

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