Ancient Process Meets The Future

Sierra Instruments, Inc.: Food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries requiring the regulation of air and gas flows have historically faced the challenge of obtaining highly accurate measurements in rugged factory environments. Volumetric approaches to measurement haven’t always made that easy, given their sensitivity to heat and pressure fluctuations. With in the last two decades, thermal mass flow controllers have overcome those shortcomings and demonstrated precise accuracy through a method of literally “counting molecules”. With the advent of industrial gas mass flow controllers with fully enclosed valve designs, modern industrial environments have gained fully functional air and gas flow regulation.

As much art as it is science, beer making has long benefited from the wisdom of brewmasters. From ancient times, their experience provided the knowledge necessary to create wort recipes (mixed ingredients) capable of fermenting into the finest beers. In the modern era, the shift from producing for the needs of locals to large scale beer production has required significant changes in order to maintain the boutique product quality of the past.

In early 2006, deep in the Belgian forests in a thousand year old Trappist Monastery, the brewmaster at Orval Brewery was looking for the secret to more stable foam. Ghislain Piot, a sales agent for Sierra products, offered his help. Already familiar with the successful application of Sierra mass flow controllers at Heineken®, Europe’s largest brewer, he suggested they install the Max-Trak® Model 180, Sierra’s newest industrial mass flow controller, to gently add Nitrogen to what beer experts worldwide regard as liquid gold. Precise accuracy and repeatability, remote monitoring, and rugged wash down protection made it the ideal choice.

For the brewmaster who cares for Orval’s precious ale, the Sierra Max-Trak® has become a source of considerable happiness. Not only were they able to achieve the perfect head of foam, but in addition to many other applications, the flow controller’s Dial-A-Gas® capability has become extremely valuable in achieving optimum aeration during fermentation… valuable enough for them to make Max-Trak® an integral part of their brewing process.