BOGE further enhances efficiency for Black Sheep Brewery

BOGE has further refined service for the Black Sheep Brewery, where its screw compressor solution applied four years ago is still delivering faster production and greater reliability. More recently, a BOGE Air Leak Detection Survey, carried out across the site in April 2014, has recorded a series of air leaks that are being addressed to increase efficiency yet further.

The award-winning Black Sheep Brewery produces cask ales and bottled beers in its traditional style brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire. Compressed air is used at various stages in the brewing process, with the largest volume used on the racking plant.

Its ongoing relationship with BOGE began when the Black Sheep Brewery installed a BOGE SD15 screw compressor for all its machine and valve actuation. Impressed with the efficiency and reliability of the BOGE compressor, Alan Dunn, Head Brewer at Black Sheep Brewery, specified a BOGE compressor to compress foam and speed up cask filling when plans were put in place to expand production in 2010.

The Black Sheep Brewery invested in a BOGE SD40 screw compressor with a built in refrigerant dryer to power the cask filling process, which has now been providing a reliable and efficient supply of compressed air for four years. The SD series from BOGE, part of the award-winning BOGE S series, offers the user a compact compressed air station. An integral refrigerant dryer ensures a small footprint, keeping the space requirement to a minimum, and ensures that there are no additional assembly or installation costs required for a stand-alone dryer, while a compact design ensures easy access from one point during maintenance work.

The BOGE Air Leak Detection Survey identified that the main area of leakage was on the racking plant. As this is also the area with the most air usage this represents a major cost-saving opportunity for Black Sheep Brewery. All leaks were detected using an Ultrasonic Leak detector and have been tagged with a yellow BOGE ‘Leak Detected’ tag, each one individually numbered by hand. The numbers on the tags correspond to the record numbers on the spreadsheet report. The majority of records on the spreadsheet relate to general air leakage, mostly from fittings that either need to be resealed with a suitable sealant (i.e PTFE Tape) or have become worn and need to be replaced (mainly push in type fittings). Some leakage is the result of valve seals becoming worn, particularly Directional Control Valves & Solenoid Valves where the seals are passing or a valve is venting/exhausting when it is not required to do so.