📍 Location: Neijiang, China
⚙️ Annual Output: 1 million liters
Founded by local entrepreneurs to bring premium craft beer to western China, the Sichuan Maihe brewery, with an annual production capacity of 10 million liters, occupies a site in Neijiang’s urban industrial zone. Its vision is to develop a flagship domestic craft beer brand, capitalizing on the Chinese trend toward premium, differentiated beers. Maihe positions itself as a regional hub, combining traditional Sichuan flavors with international-style lagers and ales.
The Challenge
Constructing a high-capacity craft brewery presented several hurdles. Key challenges included:
- Zoning and Regulations: Chinese laws require breweries to be located in designated industrial zones, so site selection and permitting were critical. The project needed to comply with local policies on production volumes and safety.
- Utility Provisioning: Brewing at this scale demands vast amounts of water, steam, power and compressed air. Ensuring uninterrupted, high-volume utilities in the brewery was a challenge. The plant design had to include boilers, chillers and water treatment for continuous operation.
- Production Consistency: Maintaining craft beer quality at multi-thousand-ton output is difficult. The brewery needed advanced controls to ensure each batch meets flavor and quality standards, avoiding batch-to-batch variability.
- Space Efficiency: Fitting a large brewhouse, dozens of fermentation tanks, and a complete packaging line into a limited footprint required careful layout planning. Efficient use of floor space was essential to accommodate future expansion.
- Labor and Automation: Skilled brewers and technicians are relatively scarce. The brewery aimed for a highly automated process to reduce manual labor, increase safety, and allow less-experienced staff to run the plant.
- Energy Efficiency: The founders emphasized sustainability. Designing an energy-efficient operation – recovering heat and minimizing waste – was a top goal to control costs and support green credentials.
Our Solution
Tiantai delivered a turnkey brewery solution tailored to Maihe’s needs. The solution combined proven industrial brewery design with advanced automation and sustainability features.
- A high-capacity, 5000L 5-vessel brewhouse features a large mash tun, lauter tun, wort holding tank, kettle, and whirlpool, all of which are fully jacketed for precise temperature control.
- 30000L fermenters*10
- 20000L fermenters*10
- 10000L fermenters*10,
- 30000L BBTs*2
- 20000L BBTs*1
- Dozens of tanks are fully insulated and jacketed, allowing for the simultaneous processing of multiple batches. This cellar enables year-round production without downtime.
- 1000L brewhouse CIP system and 3000L cellar CIP system were installed to automate the cleaning of tanks and lines, ensuring hygiene with minimal labor.
- Tiantai also supplied boiler systems, glycol chillers, and an integrated water-treatment plant.
- Packaging Line: 3 complete canning/bottling lines were delivered, including filler, labeler and case packer. These lines handle the high throughput, packaging beer into cans and bottles to meet market demand.
- Automation & Controls: We installed a PLC control system linking the brewhouse, fermenters, and packaging line. Sensors and controllers monitor every process step, enabling fully automatic brewing schedules and giving managers a single interface for the entire plant.
- Energy Recovery: The system includes thermal recovery elements to save energy. For example, wort boilers and heat exchangers capture hot vapors to preheat brewing water, reducing fuel use.
All equipment was fabricated at home and shipped to Neijiang. Our technical team collaborated closely with Maihe during engineering. A remote inspection and system commissioning were performed via video conference before shipping.
On-Site Commissioning: A Tiantai installation team worked on-site to set up the system. A senior project engineer coordinated with local contractors, trained brewery staff, and oversaw the first brewing trials. This hands-on support ensured a smooth handoff and quick start-up
Results
- Production Capacity: Maihe now comfortably produces its yearly target. The large brewhouse and streamlined workflow allow multiple batches per day to keep up with demand.
- Energy and Resource Savings: Early measurements show the heat-recovery and insulation features are working as planned. Energy and water consumption per liter of beer are significantly lower than typical plants, in line with the brewery’s sustainability goals.
- Automation and Efficiency: The integrated control system minimized manual work. Operators report more stable fermentations and fewer errors. Processes like CIP are completed automatically each brew cycle, freeing staff for higher-value tasks.
- Market Impact: Since launch, the brewery’s beers have received strong market reception. Craft beer sales in Sichuan are growing, driven by consumer preference for premium domestic products. By focusing on Western China first, the brewery is capitalizing on regional loyalty for local brands – studies note Sichuan consumers are very fond of their own breweries. Early orders already cover Sichuan, Chongqing and surrounding provinces, verifying the domestic-market strategy.
Partnership for the Future
Tiantai’s relationship with Maihe goes far beyond installation. We will continue to support the brewery as it grows. Major future initiatives include:
- Ongoing Support: Tiantai provides regular technical service, spare parts and software updates. Our service team is always ready for maintenance and quick troubleshooting. This long-term support ensures the brewery runs at peak performance.
- Expansion preparedness: Maihe can expand capacity as demand grows. Additional fermenters or filling lines can be added; Tiantai will supply and integrate these equipment to fit the existing plant. Our flexible design makes expansion simple and easy.
- Innovation Collaboration: As the brewery develops new beer recipes or product lines, we will assist in adapting equipment and processes. Joint R&D in process adjustments or efficiency upgrades will keep the brewery competitive.
This cooperation is based on mutual benefit. With over 24 years of expertise in the brewing industry, Tiantai is committed to helping Maihe thrive. We look forward to many more years of collaboration as the brand continues to grow.