Twisted Barrel Ale Brewery and Tap House originally described themselves as 'the UK's first Pico-brewery' brewing on 60L kit, creating just 120 bottles a time. Shortly after this, they realised they’d very much outgrown their set up and relocated to their 5 times larger current site in Fargo Village, Coventry, in 2017. This is where the team have been brewing their much-loved beer ever since.
Twisted Barrel’s products are vegan and cruelty-free, with the company focus set on delivering quality and flavour.
With the pandemic forcing breweries and pubs to close nationwide and 70-80% of kegs and barrels being produced for hospitality settings, Twisted Barrel had to re-evaluate. This gave them the push to move from using a mobile canning company to in-house capabilities, allowing them to control their margins more efficiently.
THE BRIEF
The new Micro Canning machine needed an efficient way to run and as it operates pneumatically and is software controlled, compressed air was a great solution. Direct Air were alerted to Twisted Barrel’s crowdfunding and were happy to step in to help a local small business, by donating a compressor to support their vital new equipment.
Due to the canning machine being one of the first three produced of its type, working with it involved lots of trial and error for the customer, so having a hassle-free compressor to power it was essential. They needed a compressor with the ability to constantly maintain 5 BAR, along with an effective drainage system for high condensate prevention.
OUR SOLUTION
Direct Air’s Sales Engineer, Daniel Murphy, visited site to understand the requirements the brewery needed for their new canning machine. He identified that a Hydrovane HV02 RM Air Compressor, mounted onto a receiver would best fit their requirements. With the compressed air coming directly into contact with the customers production line, Dan also acknowledged that they needed to reach the ISO121 air quality standard. Therefore, a membrane dryer kit was supplied and installed alongside the compressor.
With the compressor only weighing around 150kg, the customer expressed that “it was nice and easy to move between sites using our trailer”. This is important as Twisted Barrel share the canning machine with Stourbridge based brewery, Green Duck, who have the equipment on their site for around 2 weeks every month. They have also been contacted by other local breweries interested in using the equipment.
Around 500 cans are produced during each canning session, so to ensure reliability, they have a Gold service contract with Direct Air. They’re due to have their first visit in December, investing in preventative maintenance to limit downtime as much as possible for this busy machine.
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Ritchie Bosworth, Co-Founder and Head Brewer at Twisted Barrel, commented:
“The lower noise levels of the Hydrovane compressor, compared to equipment which powered the mobile canning machine we previously used, has ensured no disruption for our neighbours”
“We’ve had no issues whatsoever with the compressor at Twisted Barrel and just one call out for a drainage replacement on the Green Duck’s site, where the engineer was in and out within just 10 minutes. The service has been great so far and without the donated compressor, the canning machine simply wouldn’t work”
Chris Cooper, Co-Founder at Twisted Barrel, commented:
“When Direct Air approached us to donate a compressor to go with our newly crowdfunded canning machine we were over the moon. They supported us every step of the way through the model selection process, and I can’t fault their aptitude and service delivery at all. Thanks so much to everyone at Direct Air for their fantastic support.”
Daniel Murphy, Sales Engineer at Direct Air commented:
“Chris and the team were very helpful in outlining their requirements, so I was able to identify the perfect solution for them. Everyone at Direct Air is really glad that we’ve been able to help out a fellow small local business by donating this great bit of kit.”
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