An Automated Take on Craft Brewing at New Belgium Brewing Company

A host of automation supports the complex brewing processes behind craft favorite Fat Tire Ale.

New Belgium Brewing Company is one of the largest craft brewers in the United States and brews and distributes favorites such as Fat Tire Amber Ale and a growing number of seasonal favorites.

Automation serves as a foundation for the brewery's operations: New Belgium’s 50-acre, multi-building facility is outfitted with control systems that handle all of the facility’s brewing processes, as well as the water process systems and virtually all other building management and facility systems. The brewery has established eight “zones of control.” Opto 22’s programmable automation controllers control seven of the eight zones, including the complex brewing processes. More than 10,000 individual digital and analog I/O points are monitored and controlled, playing a major role in New Belgium’s state-of-the-art cogeneration system and unparalleled sustainability efforts.