Abita Brewery had a tank explode

Explosion rocks Abita Brewery in St. Tammany Parish - North Shore Updates - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com

That sucks, I love turbo dog.

And to think how much one of us will cry when we break a carboy.

Maybe in the future use one of these:

Sir......I believe you are an A$$hole.........but I love it!

Fusorfodder said:

Maybe in the future use one of these:

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Off topic sort of: What size tubing do I need to do that on a 3 peice?

The explosion could be heard from 2 miles away? Man, what was the pressure up to in that tank?!?!

Kooky...a PA brewer just had a kettle shatter on them:

Seen Through a Glass: Bad news at Selin's Grove
Selin's Grove's website has announced an end to growler fills for the foreseeable future. "Due to a serious production equipment failure, we must preserve our beer supply for restaurant use only."

What's up? One usually reliable source of mine tells me that Selin's Grove has experienced "the structural collapse of their direct-fired kettle" on January 1st. It "shattered like glass" while water was being heated in it. Terrible thing to happen on the first day of the new year.

From a nearby resident:

Thinking that either a car had driven into his home or that someone was trying to force their way in, Herring grabbed his gun and ran outside.

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That's awesome... that would totally be me.

Why would cleaning a tank involve pressurizing it with co2? I've no idea of the quirky ways of large scale breweries.

Evan! said:

Why would cleaning a tank involve pressurizing it with co2? I've no idea of the quirky ways of large scale breweries.

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Yeah, especially leaving it on and expecting a safety valve to vent when it should unattended. WTF?

Yeah...hate to say it, but whomever's fault that is, better be under some kind of review on the future of his job.

Brewery: KAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! "Help! our brewery is ruined!"

Revvy: "be patient n00b - most of my beers have very little activity. Yours had a lot - everything will be fine. Read my blog"

I suspect they were using the CO2 to force the cleaning solution out faster. Time is money.

I bet they start putting pressure relief valves on their tanks now.

Hello? Take a cue from homebrewers.

Evan! said:

Why would cleaning a tank involve pressurizing it with co2? I've no idea of the quirky ways of large scale breweries.

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It was probably a CIP cycle (Clean in place) to prep the tank to have wort or beer put in it. One of the steps in the CIP cycle, if its a brite tank, is to fill it up with water and push it out with Co2, or use high volume C02 and purge the O2 out and use an O2 sensor. If they were doing this and the blow off valve went south, then that would cause an explosion like this. It blew out near the door and took off like a rocket into the ceiling.

"A worker moves a container of yeast in the Abita Beer Brewery in May 2008. An explosion happened overnight when a tank was being cleaned. No one was injured."


I can only dream of needing yeast additions that big....

Wait, that didn't sound right...

:cross:

AZ_IPA said:

Brewery: KAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! "Help! our brewery is ruined!"

Revvy: "be patient n00b - most of my beers have very little activity. Yours had a lot - everything will be fine. Read my blog"

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HA HA!! ZING!

I recently had the supreme honor of brewing at Willimantic Brewing Company in CT last week, and the brewer was telling us about a collegue from a brewery he used to work at. He said that while carbonating a tank something failed and caused the tank to constantly build up pressure. When the brewer was about to transfer the beer out of the tank, the door exploded off the tank and hit the brewer square in the chest. He flew 20 feet, and was killed.

The one lesson I took away from that whole day: Pressure kills. There are a lot of ways to get hurt in a brewery, but pressure, whether it be failed blowoffs/regulators or spraying hot caustic, is the number one way to get injured.