Fire Maker Brewing Case Study: Driving Efficiency and Quality with PLAATO
“Saving time with PLAATO Insights allows 2 to 3 more batches per year, per tank, increasing capacity and revenue without new equipment.”
Saving batches and time with PLAATO
Firemaker Brewing, a family owned craft brewery in Atlanta, Georgia, has used PLAATO Insights and our fermentation sensor across 10 fermentation vessels for nearly two years. We talked with Kevin Wright, Beverage and Operations Director, about what that's actually changed: how many batches they can run, how often someone has to be in the brewery on weekends, how yeast gets managed, and how they catch problems before they become lost batches.
More batches per tank
PLAATO Insights' real time monitoring and data have helped Kevin and his team plan each day with more confidence. Kevin explains:
"I know when I'm coming into work that day: I can dry hop right now, I can harvest right now, I can crash right now. So I just get one day faster on everything, that means I get two or three more batches a year into each tank, so now my capacity is bigger because I've got more batches through."
Across all 10 of Firemaker's fermentation vessels, that adds up to an extra 20 to 30 batches a year, without adding a single tank.
"For our beer production, that would really be my stretch goal for next year, to make everything more efficient. The data that I get from PLAATO already gives me that ability. Anytime I can shave a day off, or even half a day, that's what we're looking for."
"We used to have brewers in the brewery every weekend.”
Remote monitoring replaces weekend on site checks
With PLAATO Insights, Firemaker's brewers no longer need to be in the building over the weekend. Kevin explains:
"We used to have brewers in the brewery every weekend, and now I never have a brewer in on the weekend anymore. To me it's a little more important than just saving days, it's saving almost entire tanks, because our glycol system isn't super reliable, especially in the summertime. Getting a notification that this tank's at seventy six degrees at ten o'clock at night on a beer we just brewed that day, I know the glycol's broken. And I'm five minutes away, so I can come here real quick, reset the glycol, and we'll be fine. Otherwise we might lose the entire batch of beer, which is a lot of money and time."
Kevin now gets that same warning from home instead of a brewer having to physically check the tank.
"I've saved at least two tanks. Sitting at home and getting a notification that they're at whatever temperature they shouldn't be at, and thinking, I need to come here and do something about it."
“PLAATO paid for itself instantly by saving a batch in the first month, with real-time temperature alerts!”
Catching problems before they cost a batch
Firemaker uses PLAATO Insights' batch comparison feature to compare fermentations side by side and catch issues early. It's already caught problems Kevin might not have found otherwise, including a recurring issue with an expired brewing enzyme that had been quietly extending fermentation times.
"I'm delighted with the results so far!" says Kevin. "I prevented one fermenter from overheating due to a temperature controller mishap and rectified it promptly, leading to a fantastic fermentation. Additionally, I uncovered that one of our brewing enzymes had expired. I quickly discovered this thanks to easy side by side comparisons of fermentations, saving future batches from unexpected extended fermentations. I'd say we've already gotten great value for our investment in just 2 months!"
PLAATO’s batch comparison feature helps to identify and resolve issues early, saving time and resources
Getting more out of every yeast batch
PLAATO Insights' real time fermentation monitoring also changed how Firemaker manages yeast. By tracking fermentation progress in real time, the team can find the right moment to harvest, which extends how long a yeast batch stays usable.
"Knowing when I hit terminal gravity right away is great," Kevin shares. "I get the yeast at the best spot. And then that means I have way faster fermentations in the future. I have almost no lag time. At one point, I was using the same yeast strain, the same yeast that I purchased in January all the way through July, $200 worth of yeast."
An easy case to make internally
Kevin isn't the only one who's noticed. When he brought PLAATO Insights to Firemaker's owners, it turned out to be an easy case to make.
"When I want equipment I have to submit the numbers to our owners like, 'Hey, this is how much it's going to cost us, here's our return on investment, how long I think it's going to take for us to get a return'... I remember PLAATO Pros were the easiest one in the world to sell to them. I was like, here's the numbers, but we're going to get it because you can't say no. And they saved a tank of beer within the first month of having them. So it really was an easy one to justify."
Firemaker keeps growing and experimenting, beer now makes up 60 to 70% of what they produce, with the rest split across other drinks. PLAATO Insights is part of how they run production every day, across all 10 fermentation vessels, and Kevin still checks it first thing every morning to decide what to do that day.
