Brewing Up Efficiency

Yee-Haw Brewing Co. uses its water tube boiler to reap the benefits of fuel and water savings as well as quality control in its manufacturing process.

Yee-Haw Brewing Co. uses the Miura LX 200 SG gas-fired industrial steam boiler for various aspects of its brewing process, from heating the hot liquor tanks to boiling the wort to sanitizing the kegs.
Yee-Haw Brewing Co. uses the Miura LX 200 SG gas-fired industrial steam boiler for various aspects of its brewing process, from heating the hot liquor tanks to boiling the wort to sanitizing the kegs.
Photo courtesy of Miura.

As a small but growing craft brewery, Yee-Haw Brewing Co. needs versatile yet efficient equipment that can meet a multitude of demands in its manufacturing process. The Johnson City, Tenn.-based company says it found just that with a water tube boiler that does a lot more than just heat water. Yee-Haw credits its boiler for bringing efficiency to its operations and giving it precise quality control over the production of its craft beers.

Yee-Haw has been using the Miura LX 200 SG gas-fired industrial steam boiler since the company opened its manufacturing plant in 2015. The water tube boiler plays an integral role in Yee-Haw’s manufacturing process, helping the company produce about 18,000 barrels of beer a year. That includes five core beers available year-round; three seasonal beers; and its High Gravity series of beers, which each have an alcohol by volume of 8.5% or higher. Yee-Haw distributes its beers to grocery stores, restaurants, and bars in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as its four taprooms in South Carolina and Tennessee.

An operator adjusts the Miura LX 200 SG, which runs four days a week for 20 hours a day to produce about 360 barrels of beer per week at Yee-Haw Brewing Co.An operator adjusts the Miura LX 200 SG, which runs four days a week for 20 hours a day to produce about 360 barrels of beer per week at Yee-Haw Brewing Co.Photo courtesy of Miura.Efficiency in play

Producing 18,000 barrels of beer a year in a small 4,000-sq-ft facility is no easy feat. When it was planning and building out its manufacturing facility, Yee-Haw recognized that it would need highly efficient equipment that could fit in a small footprint. Instead of purchasing a conventional fire tube boiler, the company decided to install the Miura LX 200 water tube boiler for its efficient design and operations. For starters, the Miura boiler is half the size of a fire tube boiler—a key factor when space is at a premium. In addition, the compact design means less energy loss due to radiation and more fuel savings.

The Miura water tube boiler also uses less fuel and water than a typical fire tube boiler thanks to its energy-efficient design. The small size of the Miura water tube boiler allows hot gas to flow back and forth within the boiler faster, generating heat with a reduced amount of fuel. As the hot gas moves throughout the boiler, it heats the water that is located inside a series of vertical tubes fully welded to upper and lower headers that span across the length of the boiler. This floating header design allows the tubes to expand and contract safely as the water flows through the tubes and rises to the top of the boiler into the steam drum, reducing stress and pressure on the boiler. As a result, the tubes don’t need gallons of water surrounding it to serve as a buffer, which is the case for fire tube boilers. The boiling water in the steam drum continues to be heated by the fire and gas created by the burner furnace. This boiling water ultimately becomes steam that Yee-Haw uses for its manufacturing process.  

Because Yee-Haw has used the Miura boiler since the brewery’s inception, Yee-Haw can’t quantify its exact water and fuel savings. However, Yee-Haw and Miura estimate that the brewery uses only about 10% of the water volume that’s typically used in traditional fire tube boilers, attributing the reduction in water usage to the floating header design. Miura’s floating headers confine the water to the small water tubes. The heat source is distributed throughout the boiler and surrounds the tubes, requiring much less water than a fire tube boiler. 

Videos from Miura America Co., Ltd.
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