It’s not just a brewery. Source Brewing is a destination, a place to enjoy a craft brew in a scenic location. And while you’re there, look overhead – you’ll see some Viega products adding to the décor.
Source Brewing is a new destination-style microbrewery, and owner Philip Petracca uses locally sourced ingredients, the reason for the Source name. Located in Colts Neck, New Jersey, Source Brewing is in a 125-year-old converted barn. In trying to maintain some of the character of the barn, there are exposed beams.
Design configurations made Viega a good fit for the project. Matt Fleming, Vice President of All Star Plumbing, knew he’d be running copper and carbon steel lines in the building.
He also knew that some lines would remain exposed, so he suggested Viega, because of its clean look and for several other beneficial reasons.
“The owners liked the look of it, with the exposed lines and such,” Fleming said. “When this job came up, I thought, ‘Let’s press everything in here and see how it goes.’
“We pressed steam and gas piping. Otherwise we would have been cutting and threading, bringing in oily pipe. In an effort to save time and provide a leak-free and clean product, we chose Viega. The fact that we can press on low-pressure steam is really helpful for us.”
The flameless connection of Viega press technology was another benefit, since the crew was working in an old wooden structure. There was nothing to worry about, with no flame needed.
The brewery contains 12 tanks with glycol for chilling, and 2″ ProPress fittings were used on those copper lines. The 2″ carbon steel line feeding steam to three tanks was pressed with MegaPress fittings, and there are 3⁄4″ branches from the tanks also done with MegaPress.
For the gas, a 11⁄2″ line equipped with MegaPressG fittings runs to the steam boiler. There’s about 100 feet of 1″ carbon steel line with MegaPressG fittings going to the mechanical room.
Mike Glaser, President of Aqua Solutions, installed the water filtration system for the brewery. Nearly all of his Annihilator Ultra Systems are installed with ProPress, and have been for the past decade. He said he uses Viega, because he knows he can’t beat the product.
“Viega is always consistent,” he said simply. “The fittings don’t break, they are reliable, and we don’t have issues with ProPress. It’s a quality product and looks phenomenal with my finished installations.”
The filtration system uses 31 ProPress 11⁄4″ fittings, including 11 to create the custom bypass valve for Source. Water flows from a well drilled about 80 feet from the brewery. The water has iron and hydrogen sulfide, along with other impurities that the filtration system removes so the water is ready for use in the beer production.
While Viega has been the go-to for Glaser and his company for years, everyone at All Star Plumbing is seeing more and more how beneficial Viega can be to projects. All Star is run by Fleming and his dad, Michael, the Founder and President. They have discovered the advantages, and now they’ve added breweries to the list.
“We were doing work in surgery centers, and those have a lot of sterile areas. It’s really frowned upon to break out a torch and solder and make smoke,” Fleming said. “The Viega system is flameless and with the cleanliness and short downtime, it was a good option.
“My dad was old school, but once we started getting these projects I told him [Viega] was the way to go, and he immediately saw the benefit. It was also great for hotel projects – if you have to replace something on the first floor and you have five floors above, you have to drain the whole system and it’s a nightmare shutting down a whole hotel for a day. With pressing, just cut the line, pop on a new fitting, press, and you’re back in business.”
All Star Plumbing had previously been hired to plumb some other breweries around New Jersey, and Fleming said a lot of plumbers in the area aren’t too familiar with the specific needs of brewery plumbing, so the All Star name is now getting passed around as a company that’s well-versed in it.
“This is the first brewery that we’ve done everything with pressing,” Fleming said. “We’re realizing the time savings and efficiency, plus the lack of leaks. We’re not a big company, but we have five other brewery projects now on the forefront!”
