Industrial

Family-Owned Distillery Saves on Energy Costs

A family-owned craft distillery, Jeptha Creed Distillery was born out of the owners’ background in farming and chemical engineering, and a desire to build a legacy. Holding true to its motto, “Don’t Forget Where You Came From,” the distillery uses old-fashioned brewing methods and locally-sourced ingredients, such as the its signature Bloody Butcher corn, as well as berries, apples and mint grown on the 64-acre property.

Challenge:

  • With large amounts of heat and steam used in the distillation process, the distillery had a great need for chilled water to cool the vapor to convert it back into liquid.
  • Control escalating utility costs.
  • An economical way to cool the mash, and to lower the BTU required to do so.

    • Solution:

  • The Trane team began the process of selecting the right equipment to handle the distillery’s process cooling needs, adhering to industry-specific process cooling requirements.
  • Harshaw Trane determined the right equipment.
  • Demand shifted to reduce energy cost.
  • Equipment commissioned for optimal flow.

    • Results:

  • Implementing a thermal storage system for process chilled water colling has resulted in significant energy savings for the Jeptha Creed Distillery.
  • The system has enabled the distillery to shift demand, allowing the use of a smaller 40-ton chiller combined with ice storage, instead of a larger 200 to 250-ton chiller to serve the distillery’s process needs.
  • The result is an energy savings of $20,000-$30,000 a year.