Tank Access for Brewery and Distillery Crews

Tank Access for Brewery and Distillery Crews

A brew house is a wet, stainless room with tanks ten to fifteen feet tall, and the work always happens at the top: manway gaskets, CIP arms, sight glasses, pressure relief valves and dry hopping. A stepladder to a manway is the standard shortcut and the standard injury.

The Working Platform a Tank Job Needs

A Baker and Perry unit is the practical platform in a brewery because it rolls into the space between tanks and adjusts to the height of the manway. Our Baker scaffold unit at $229 with a solid wood deck gives a stable platform at about five feet, and a second frame stacked takes it to ten.

For single-level work, a 5 by 6 foot double ladder frame set at $126.40 is the common stack for a seven barrel system.

Measure the manway height with the tank empty and cool, not by eye. Tank legs vary and a platform two inches off is a platform that gets abandoned.

Guard Rails When the Floor Is Wet

Brewery floors are wet by design, and a platform without a rail is a slip away from a fall onto concrete or a tank fitting.

Our Baker guard rail assembly at $147.70 closes the open end of the platform, and the locking casters at $21.50 each keep the unit still while someone is on it.

Catwalks, Kegs and Brewhouse Work

Most brewhouses have a fixed catwalk at the kettle and mash tun, and the movable platform only has to serve the fermenters and bright tanks. That usually means one Baker unit per room rather than a frame scaffold.

Keg washing and packaging work happens at waist height, so a fiberglass step stool at $97 covers the pallet and the filler without a full ladder.

Distillery Stills and Proofing

A pot still or column still runs fifteen to twenty feet and the top is where the pressure relief and the sight glass live. A rolling tower with guard rails is the right answer where the ceiling allows it, and a plank between two frames is the answer in a low room.

Our 7 foot aluminum plank at $129 spans between frames and does not care about washdown.

Never climb the still itself. Column trays and copper are not designed for a foot, and a dent in a still is a six figure repair.

CIP, Chemicals and Wet Floors

Clean-in-place work puts a tech at the top of a tank with a hose and a caustic line, which is the worst combination of height, chemical exposure and a wet platform there is. Set the platform so both hands stay free, and route the hose so it cannot pull a worker off balance.

Keep a spill kit and a second person on the floor for any CIP job above five feet. A slippery platform with a caustic line in one hand is not a one-man task, and no ladder fixes that.

Rinse the scaffold frames after every washdown day. Caustic and acid both attack the paint on a frame, and a frame that lives in a brew house needs a wipe down more than a frame that lives in a warehouse.

Outfitting a Brewery

The kit that fits most DFW breweries is one Baker unit with a guard rail and locking casters, one frame set for stacking, one plank and a fiberglass step stool for packaging.

Tell us the tank height and the room the unit has to roll through and we will size it.

Everything ships from 5030 Dexham Rd. Ste. 103 in Rowlett, TX, and local crews can pick up the same day. Call 972-331-1090 and we will tell you what is on the floor right now.