The rapid development of the craft beer industry in recent years has brought both opportunities and challenges, and these challenges are not only in terms of staffing and business competition but also in terms of infrastructure. including its plumbing system.

While many elements of the brewing process have endured for centuries, the piping industry has transformed the efficiency and reliability of the systems used to produce and transport products.

Just as many brewery owners are making their marks with exceptional, unique products, polypropylene piping is revolutionizing the way craft breweries are piped. As a chemically inert material, polypropylene will not leach into or affect the taste or smell of the liquids it is transporting.

In many craft brewery applications, polypropylene represents a significant upgrade from metal pipes, such as copper or steel. Polypropylene does not react with water, glycol, or other products and ingredients found in breweries. It will never scale or corrode, and it does not become brittle over time or fail when exposed to extreme temperatures.  

Traditional piping materials either require welding, which can be time-consuming, expensive, and may release harmful VOCs into the environment, or rely on foreign substances, such as glue or solder, or mechanical connections, such as gaskets and threads, to join the pipe and fittings. Polypropylene pipes, on the other hand, are joined using heat fusion — a fast, reliable process that makes seamless connections. To form a connection, the material is heated, joined together under pressure, and then allowed to cool. The joined materials become one solid and homogenous piece with no leak paths. When properly installed, operated, and maintained, polypropylene pipe has an anticipated lifespan of 50-plus years.

Of course, it has additional benefits, Polypropylene is up to 70% lighter than steel pipe, can be easily installed in overhead locations common to breweries with fermenting vats. To accommodate system expansions as craft breweries grow, polypropylene offers fusion outlets that can be added by drilling into the pipe and heat-fusing a fitting directly into the pipe wall.

By way of background, certain parts of the brewing process require temperatures as low as 24°F. This requires brewers to use glycol in lines that connect the process chillers to the fermenting vats. The key is to find a material that can transport the chilled fluid without using fluxes or glues. The flux used when brazing copper can cause impurities in the line, and glycol can degrade the glue that is used to join certain other piping materials, such as chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC). That makes heat-fused polypropylene pipe an ideal fit.  

Finally, as many craft breweries and their customers are environmentally aware, they can appreciate the fact that polypropylene pipe is cleaner to manufacture than steel pipe and also is 100% recyclable at the end of its long life

Polypropylene pipe has been selected by craft brewers across North America. Comments from the brewers themselves attest to the effectiveness of polypropylene in brewery applications. He saves brewers' costs and helps brewers make higher quality wines.