10 Torr Distilling and Brewing Process Automation

Apr 7

Project Drive

10 Torr Distilling and Brewing Greyhound Soda canned cocktail product in production facility

10 Torr Distillery and Brewery in Reno, Nevada needed an automation system for their new facility. The system consisted of an automated grain dispensing line, two Mash systems, fourteen fermentation tanks, a canning line, a glycol chilling system, a stripping still—and the highlight of the operation, a 28’ tall Vacuum Still with a gin basket used to produce all of the spirits. In addition to beer and various spirits, 10 Torr also produces canned cocktails with flavors developed in house, and canned on their fully integrated canning line.

Solution

Corso Systems worked with 10 Torr’s design engineer to develop a fully automated control system for their brewing and distilling operations. This included simultaneous operation of their distillery and brewing mash systems, allowing them to mash in multiple batches each shift. We provided all of the PLC programming and design services for this project with on-site commissioning and ongoing remote support.

The automation system also manages the vacuum still, keeping precise vacuum and temperature measurements for each recipe produced on a given day.

The flagship opportunity on this project was developing a “card” based system where each equipment type was given a card template that could be dragged/dropped on a screen. This gives 10 Torr’s operators full control over the data they are monitoring on a dynamic screen. They can now set up both mash systems, a mash system and the stills, or any combination of fermentation tanks along with the mash tuns on a screen. As they move through the brew day, operators can adjust the cards once they are moving wort over to the fermentation tanks without having to navigate to another screen. Additionally, the systems have standard SCADA screens with fixed layouts for day-to-day monitoring.

Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform Perspective module allowed them to use mobile devices on the brewdeck to control and monitor the process without the additional cost of PCs and networking architecture.

Ignition also provided the backbone of the data analytics, recipe management, and scheduling systems used by 10 Torr to create delicious products. These tools help them dial in their cuts on the still. Randy Soule, the founder and owner of 10 Torr said, “We couldn’t run this system without Ignition and the PLC, there is simply too much stuff to manage for even a handful of people, and now we can run multiple batches with one person using this technology.”

Benefits

Complex process conditions are managed by setpoints from a control room rather than manual operator intervention
Remote monitoring of the system is simplified, along with alarm notifications to provide real-time alerts of any process upsets
Streamlined operator interfaces improve safety, process visibility, and production throughput
Modern SCADA software allows for detailed process reporting and trending
Increased throughput compared to similar systems without automation

Architecture

Allen Bradley CompactLogix PLCs for equipment control
Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform, including:
- Perspective for mobile device visualization
- Built-in Historian for data collection and trending
- Fully integrated reporting, including TTB form generation
- Alarm notifications for critical process alarms
State of the art “Card” system for real-time configuration of SCADA screens allowing operators to run multiple mash operations simultaneously with dynamic screen layouts
Advanced Boiler Management automation system to ensure boiler capacity is used efficiently
Fully integrated Recipe and Schedule management