In 2017, Coenco installed the highest brewery in Belgium (694 meters above sea level) near the Signal de Botrange. In 2018, the adjacent restaurant opened, turning the site into a tourist attraction. So much so that, five years later, an increase in brewing capacity became necessary. Once again, Coenco stepped in!
The Peak Brewery is located in the picturesque Sourbrodt-Waimes, in Eastern Belgium, near the Signal de Botrange. A paradise for hikers and cyclists, and in winter, for occasional skiers and cross-country skiers. The brewery is the brainchild of three friends, each professionally active in a different sector. Around five years ago, they started constructing the building that now houses the brewery and restaurant. Coenco was brought in to supply all the brewing equipment, resulting in a 10hl brewhouse with an annual brewing capacity of 5,000hl. This brewhouse was placed in a highly visible spot between the restaurant and the bottling line, clearly visible from the outside. Additionally, Coenco supplied the fermentation tanks, a CIP system, and a CIME Careddu bottling line.
Bernard Mathieu manages the brewery and restaurant’s daily operations. He explains how it all started:
“We literally started with 0 liters of beer, and in the beginning, we didn’t expect such growth, especially after opening our restaurant in 2018. A large portion of our beer is consumed on-site. Despite the Covid-19 period, when the restaurant was obviously closed, we continued to grow, including beyond our brewery. Our beers became very popular in the region, and we quickly reached the maximum capacity of our brewery. Our goal is to keep growing in the region and the rest of Belgium. That’s why, almost two years ago, we started considering a new brewery. We’ve always had a great relationship with Coenco regarding maintenance and technical aspects. Together, we developed growth plans.”
This was quite a puzzle, as we absolutely wanted the new, larger brewery to be located at the same site. Coenco helped us solve this challenge.
Bernard continues:
“We opted for a ‘future-proof’ solution. The new brewery is currently too large, but it’s fully designed for expected growth. We added an entirely new 30 x 20-meter building with two floors, which now houses the bottling line, kegging line, and our storage. This freed up more space in the existing building for additional fermentation tanks. But most importantly, the new brewery features much more technology and automation. It was a challenge because we really wanted the new, larger brewery to remain at the same location so that our visitors could see the brewing process from the restaurant. Coenco worked very well with us on this.”
Coenco has grown with us over the past five years.
The strong relationship with Coenco led to the decision to choose them again for the new installation:
“They were willing to take back the smaller, old brewery, but more importantly, they’ve grown with us over the past five years. They knew exactly where our pain points were and could provide the best advice for our expansion. We now have a fully automated 4-vessel 20hl brewhouse, allowing us to reach an annual capacity of 10,000hl. Interestingly, Coenco has grown alongside our new brewery; it’s one of the largest they have delivered so far. They know everything about the old brewery, which helped in realizing the new one. The working method remains the same, which is reassuring. This is how we support each other in business development.”
Gilles, one of the brewers, confirms:
“There’s much more automation compared to the old brewery. We have far fewer manual tasks. This brings many advantages because during brewing, we can focus on other things. We now brew between 2,000 and 4,000 liters per day, five days a week. In the future, as we grow further, we will be able to run three brews per day and brew up to 6,000 liters per day. We now have a separate mash tun and a separate boiling kettle. In addition to the new brewery, we also have a new steam boiler and a new CIP system with recovery.”
The collaboration with Coenco went very smoothly, as Bernard explains:
“The software development for automation was also done by Coenco. Together with our brewmaster, we worked on several optimizations and the brewing process to get the most out of our installation.”
Regarding the installation, Bernard is also satisfied:
“The brewery was installed in ten days. This included not only the brewhouse but also the new malt mill with a higher capacity, the new hot water tank, and four additional fermentation tanks.”
Bernard concludes:
“We are very grateful to Coenco; they are hard workers who respond quickly to requests. Together, we are growing to the next level.”
Do you, as a brewer, also have plans to continue growing? Contact Coenco to discuss your project!
Thanks to Fedor Vogel (Brouw!) for the interview.