Good Beer Week

Australia’s craft beer industry is going from strength to strength, with more small, artisanal brewers setting up shop than ever before. In fact, the Independent Brewers Association (IBA) estimated there to be 420 craft brewers at the end of last year, a massive 14 times more than there was in 2006.

This boom is echoed in the increasing sales, with craft beer showing year on year double digit growth in liquor stores, with 24.2% for local craft beer – proving that the Australian appetite for high quality, locally made beer is far from being quenched!

Flowcrete Australia has been working alongside many of these craft brewers, helping to put their operations on a firm platform as they scale up and providing the specialist advice required to create safe, reliable and attractive flooring for beer brewing facilities.

It might be an overlooked element of the brewery industry (compared to aroma, hop content and strength) but the floor underfoot is a vital factor in guaranteeing the taste of the produce as well as the safety and efficiency of the brewery operations. Failing to install a finish that’s up to the task at hand could put the site at risk of unwanted bacteria and contaminants building up and infiltrating the produce as well becoming an unsightly surface rife with trip hazards.

Flowcrete Australia’s Flowfresh range of antibacterial enhanced polyurethane floor finishes are the ideal solution to overcome the challenges that the brewery process will inevitably inflict on the floor.

This was exemplified recently at the independent, rural Victorian producer Bright Brewery, which installed 2,000 square metres of the heavy-duty system Flowfresh SR. The owners of Bright Brewery chose Flowfresh SR as they knew that it would withstand the specific onsite chemicals and operating conditions, such as:

• Caustic CIP cleaner consisting of sodium hydroxide (30-60%) used as a 1-3% strength solution at up to 85°C
• Mixed acid detergent, a phosphoric (10-30%) / nitric acid (10-30%) blend used as a solution of 0.5% - 1% strength at up to 85°C
• Acid sanitiser made from a hydrogen peroxide (25%) and peroxyacetic acid (5%) mixture used as a 1 % solution at ambient temperature
• Hot water at up to 90°C
• Hot water of pH 4.5 - 5.5 with a high sugar concentration at up to 95°C
• Residual beer and yeast ranging from 0°C - 20°C at pH 3.8 – 4.5

Additionally, Australian breweries are not just designed to brew a tasty beverage but are more commonly a destination space, a place to have a pint and a laugh while looking over the tanks where the magic happens.

Local breweries are embracing this transparency between public areas and manufacturing zones and are considering how design can be incorporated into the facility in a way that’s synonymous with the brand.

These design choices can range from industrial steel and hand-crafted woods to pops of colour and branded materials. The floor is a fantastic canvas on which to make a design statement, and the wide variety of colour options in the Flowfresh range means that this can be achieved without having to sacrifice on functionality.

Appearance was also a key part of the flooring project at Bright Brewery, where the floor had an important aesthetic and interior design role to play. The floor was supplied in a Warm Buff shade in the heavy-duty areas and in Tile Red across the passageways, as these colours complemented the brand's warm hues and embraced the inviting, high country environment.

This was also the case at the White Rabbit Brewery in Geelong, Victoria where the site was designed to allow visitors to follow the journey of the beer. The sister brewery to Little Creatures, White Rabbit required a floor finish that would ensure each person’s journey around the brewery was conducted in a safe, fun and consistently on-brand space.

400 square metres of Flowfresh SR was installed in a bright Coral Red to provide a robust, ultra-hygienic floor that would simultaneously add colour and style into the brewing area. The seamless and impervious nature of Flowfresh means that it is very easy to clean so visitors will only ever see a pristine and unblemished surface – and thanks to its durability it will be able to maintain its aesthetic and functional properties for the long term.

To find out more about creating tailored, fit-for-purpose floors for Australia’s craft beer industry, get in touch with your local Flowcrete Australia representative today.