Sectors / ProductsBrewing【Our Achievements】Brewing Equipment
Karuizawa Brewery is one of the leading craft beer producers in Japan. MIYAKE brand’s brewing equipment is playing an active role in this place, too. With the renewal of equipment for production increase in 2017, the company is now able to deliver its popular THE Karuizawa Beer to more beer lovers.
To meet the customer’s request,
“We want to produce beer twice as much as now.”
Karuizawa Brewery, which opened in June 2013, brews THE Karuizawa Beer with the famous water of Mt. Asama. It is one of the largest breweries in Japan's craft beer industry with the latest equipment and known as a popular tourist spot for its highly amusing experience tours in which visitors can feel the aroma, sounds, and temperature of the brewing process.
The brewery, when first opened, used brewing equipment made by a German manufacturer. However, when planning for production increase in 2015, it decided to introduce MIYAKE’s brewing equipment after a competition with the German manufacturer mentioned above. Although the original equipment was capable of producing 6 kiloliters of beer at a time, the customer wanted equipment capable of producing 12 kiloliters at a time, which is double the previous capacity. In addition to it, we proposed introducing an automated system to save manpower. They also highly evaluated our mobility to respond immediately to any problem or maintenance needs, and, in 2016, we received the order. It was completed in 2017.
Offering specifications that meet the customer’s needs with the focus on custom-made products
We were contracted for the equipment and related utilities (mainly for the enhancement of the existing equipment) for process production such as malt crushing, brewing (mashing, filtration, boiling and clarification), fermentation and maturation, and beer filtration.
We also introduced other manufacturers’ products and assembled them in-house for the malt crusher (manufactured by Künzel) and the beer filter (manufactured by Filtrox). It is also strength to be able to provide maintenance for any product, whether or not it is our product.
The rest of the equipment is our unique custom-made products. The agitators for the mash pan and mash tub have large blades to prevent uneven agitation and stress on the liquid contained. For the lauter tun, we also manufactured the filtering screen in-house, which is an important part. The screen has a special function on the cross-section of its slits, which prevents solids from passing through and allows liquids to pass through.
The only technology in Japan to manufacture process production equipment as a whole
The Wort kettle has a wort boiler for boiling the wort in the tank, which was also manufactured in-house. The whirlpool has an inverted cone shape with a shallow bottom and grooves around the periphery to obtain clear wort. The fermentation tank has a mirror-finished inner surface, which reflects our unique polishing techniques that can be applied even to tanks for pharmaceutical companies. Thus, the MIYAKE brand's unique technology is alive everywhere.
We are the only company in Japan with the ability to undertake process production equipment for beer brewing as a whole. The use of build-to-order manufacturing with a high degree of freedom in the shape and arrangement of each piece of equipment enables us to manufacture products that meet customer needs. In this way, we were able to fully utilize our strengths in the expansion of Karuizawa Brewery. It is also our strength to be able to provide post-delivery maintenance and troubleshooting quickly.
Voices of gratitude from the customer include: "Basically, the fully automated system has made our work much easier,” “Producing beer without stopping the machines ensures uniform quality without changes in taste,” and "The increased production volume has enabled us to deliver beer to more people.”