PLC/HMI unit provides easy, consistent control for craft brewer

Twisted Vine Brewery creates unique, hand-crafted beers in the picturesque hills of St Charles, Iowa. Beer is a labour of love at this three-man operation, where they are dedicated to both the art and science of brewing.

The team at Twisted Vine needed a robust and reliable control system that would enable them to brew with meticulous attention to detail for a consistent, delicious end result. They needed to be able to monitor and control the fermentation temperature, to implement tools like timers for tracking hop additions, and to monitor trends and outputs remotely. They also wanted a control system that would expand easily as their business grew.

Of course, there were some limiting concerns. Everybody at Twisted Vine was a first-time PLC user, so they needed a controller that was easy to learn and to configure. They also wanted a feature-rich PLC and HMI that would provide a lot of functionality on a tight budget, while looking impressive when customers toured the facility.

Most importantly, as space in the brewery is very limited, the PLC would have to be mounted next to the mash tun. This mash tun is kept at 150degF (65degC) during the brewing process; at times the mash is rinsed in water as hot as 170degF (77degC). These conditions would require a PLC robust enough to be exposed to high temperatures and large amounts of steam and condensation without failing.

Process control and monitoring

The Unitronics Vision1040 combined PLC/HMI, paired with a V200-18-E3XB snap-in I/O module, accommodated all these requirements with ease. The Vision1040 controls a rotary phase converter, which powers a three-phase chiller, glycol pump and the glycol valves on the jacketed fermentation and conditioning tanks. Using this system, the Twisted Vine team can also check temperature trends remotely, turning temperature loops on and off as needed from anywhere with internet access. Additionally, with a NEMA4X/IP65 environment rating, the Vision1040 is able to withstand the hot steamy conditions.

Not only did Unitronics provide a powerful PLC, according to co-owner of Twisted Vine, Steven Becker, the all-in-one design and complimentary, single-environment software made the Vision1040 an intuitive and cost-effective choice for their operations: "The free software and many online tutorials made it easy to learn and it was a low-cost and powerful solution."

In fact, Twisted Vine Brewery is already planning to expand its control system. They are introducing water-use monitoring and valve control to control the amount of water in their mash, which will improve the consistency of the product and free up their attention from watching the water meter to more productive tasks. Becker says, "my experience with Unitronics products has enabled me to produce systems that are more productive and user friendly. This system has kept our products at the optimum temperature while keeping our development and operating cost at their lowest."

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