Ainscough cranes on beer production

Two of Ainscough Crane Hire’s 700 tonne capacity Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 cranes replaced wort kettles at Heineken’s Manchester brewery in the UK.

The team worked on night shifts to accommodate adverse conditions (Photo: Ainscough Crane Hire)

The project took place in February 2022.

Due to the complexities of the beer production process and the requirement for silos to fill with grain, there was only a window every 21 days to work on the kettle drums. Ainscough completed the job over five days and Heineken remained operational throughout.

On site, the wheeled mobile telescopic cranes were positioned against a 25 metre high building and saw Ainscough lifting at a height of 52 metres.

Andy Banks, contract lift manager at Ainscough’s Manchester depot, said, “This was a major task to replace tired equipment and ensure the brewery remains efficient. The LTM 1650-8.1 cranes made light work of an intricate job – particularly given the terrible weather.”

Night work
The team worked on night shifts to accommodate adverse conditions and benefited from the wind speed capacity tables incorporated into the model’s design.

At a site 80 metres away from the main crane, two 13.5 tonne kettles were built and welded before being lifted from the scaffold to a zebra crossing and finally transferred to the cranes which lifted the kettles into the brewery.

Banks concluded, “This was more than a general maintenance job and required a high level of planning. Leaving a three-week gap between the two replacements ensured that disruption was kept to a minimum and wouldn’t have been possible without these cranes. They afforded significant flexibility and avoided a main road closure.”