Application Note

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Application Note

From the Fluke Digital Library @ www.fluke.com/library

Yuengling brews up a

winning maintenance

approach

It’s tough to win against giant global

competitors.

But the Yuengling Brewing Company, founded in

1829, has gone head-to-head against the Goliaths

of beer making—and tasted victory.

Andrew Jackson had just moved

into the White House when

German braumeister David G.

Yuengling (pronounced “ying-

ling”) opened his brewery in

Pottsville, a coal mining town

90 miles northwest of Philadel-

phia. Five generations later, the

company is still family owned,

now run by Richard L. “Dick”

Yuengling, Jr.

Yuengling’s brews have been

toasted by President Barack

Obama, and they’ve gained

a devoted regional following.

In 1987, noting the grow-

ing popularity of microbrews,

Dick Yuengling re-introduced

Yuengling Traditional Lager,

a beer more full-bodied than

national competitors offered.

Walk into a Pennsylvania tavern

today, ask for a “lager,” and the

bottle set down is likely to say

“Yuengling.”

From that home base the

company has expanded, distrib-

uting its seven brews up and

down the eastern United States.

In 1999 Yuengling acquired a

40-year-old Stroh’s brewery in

Tampa, Florida, then in 2001

opened a second Pennsylva-

nia brewery near Pottsville.

Yuengling is now the seventh-

largest brewer in the US.

Operator: Bill Friedman, electrical

supervisor, Yuengling Brewing

Company

Measurements: Spot-check heat

readings, check for constant amount

of pressure, check vibration on motor

and blower, calibrate Hart-compatible

instruments

Tools: Fluke 810 Vibration Tester,

Fluke 744 Documenting Process

Calibrator, Fluke thermal imager,

Fluke 1735 Three-Phase Power

Logger

Fresh Yuengling beer ages in huge tanks,

while below, empty kegs await their pre-

cious cargo.

Photo courtesy of Yuengling Brewery.

On the bottle line. Yuengling’s Tampa brew-

ery produces approximately 600,000 barrels

each year.

Photo courtesy of Yuengling Brewery.

Testing

Functions

Case

Study

Summary of content (4 pages)

PAGE 1
Yuengling brews up a winning maintenance approach Application Note Testing Functions Case Study It’s tough to win against giant global competitors. But the Yuengling Brewing Company, founded in 1829, has gone head-to-head against the Goliaths of beer making—and tasted victory. Andrew Jackson had just moved into the White House when German braumeister David G. Yuengling (pronounced “yingling”) opened his brewery in Pottsville, a coal mining town 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
PAGE 2
It’s a long way from 1829, when Yuengling opened its first brewery in Pennsylvania. These controls operate the keg line. Photo Courtesy of Yuengling Brewery. A really lean company Electrical supervisor Bill Friedman has worked at the Tampa plant since 2000. The Yuengling maintenance team of nine mechanics, plus Friedman and two other electricians, led by plant engineer Santo Lazarra, keeps the vintage facility brewing and bottling up to a million barrels of beer yearly.
PAGE 3
Here comes Yuengling! Adding breweries in Tampa and Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, has enabled Yuengling to expand its sales territory. Here bottles exit the pasteurizer. Photo courtesy of Yuengling Brewery. Calibration times 250 This label spells trouble The brewery’s 100 large electric motors aren’t all Friedman focuses on, of course. Process control at the plant depends on the accuracy of some 250 instruments.
PAGE 4
How Yuengling makes a better brew Milled, heated, cooked, pumped, cooled, aged, and filtered—beer and its ingredients are on the move throughout the production process. 1 Corn grits and malted barley are transferred to the hoppers. The malted barley is milled to the desired size.