Yeast Plants - design, installation and commissioning.

When Kerry Flavours & Ingredients wanted to supply bespoke yeast plants to major distilling company’s they knew Allen Associates would be their key partner in the design, installation and commissioning of the plants.

The Project

Kerry Flavours & Ingredients supply yeast to the major distillers in the UK. Traditionally yeast was supplied in a solid form (cake) which was manually handled by the distiller to be added to the washback either as a cake or slurry.

With the move away from manual handling and also the requirement for automated processes on site Kerry made the decision to supply yeast in liquid form (cream) to some of the larger distillers. This led to the requirement for a number of cream yeast plants to be installed at various sites across the country.

This is where the requirement came for Allen Associates expertise. Kerry commissioned Allen Associates to designed, managed installation and commissioned all of the required yeast plants – in excess of 15 plants. Using Allen Associates expertise in hygienic process design the plants were designed to meet food grade standards thus ensuring a quality assured yeast supply from the plant.

Each plant was individually sized and designed for the distillery providing a bespoke solution rather a one size fits all approach which can result in inefficient capital spend as well as operation.

Results

The new yeast plants have been a success for Kerry and the industry. They provide distillers with an automated plant for batching yeast to the worts line without the need for manual operation. Having the plants designed to a hygienic standard also results in a quality assured yeast supply. Finally, as each plant design is bespoke to suit the distillery delivered good value on capital spend and efficient operation.