Krones brewery for Tsingtao’s craft beer garden

With its new craft beer garden in Qingdao, Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. has created a thrillingly different experience for craft beer fans.

A clear trend towards craft beer has been observed in the Asia-Pacific region for some years now. In China, particularly, demand for premium and specially flavoured beers has soared. The country’s craft beer market is still relatively young but it promises beverage producers great potential because Chinese consumers can be expected to continue to set great store by having plenty of top-quality beers to choose from.

Highlight for beer lovers

Tsingtao is one of the country’s two biggest breweries and has meanwhile dedicated its efforts to also brew craft beer. In Qingdao, the beer capital of China, the tradition-steeped brewery founded back in 1903 has erected a new landmark for the country’s craft beer scene: the West Coast Craft Beer Garden, a veritable paradise for beer aficionados, where you can taste a wide selection of craft beers, watch how they are made and gather some first-hand impressions of Chinese beer culture. For example, part of the new craft beer garden has a glass bottom through which visitors can look at the brewery located in the cellar below. A total of 24 different types of beer are brewed there and served directly on-site in the craft beer garden.

*Tsingtao is one of China’s two biggest breweries and ranks among the top five worldwide.* Image credits:
Tsingtao Brewery

To find suitable vendors, the Tsingtao Brewery launched its first call for tender in early 2021. Since the project was seen as a sectoral benchmark, a great many suppliers, both domestic and international, submitted quotations. After several bidding rounds, Krones was finally chosen as project partner, with its subsidiary Krones Processing (Shanghai) handling engineering for the overall package.

Krones and Tsingtao Brewery – looking back on long years of successful collaboration

Krones has been a reliable partner for the Tsingtao Brewery for quite a long time now, since 1972 to be precise. During half a century of cooperation, the two companies have come to know and trust each other in regard to development philosophy, technical requirements, quality and project management. That is vividly demonstrated by brewing equipment, filling and packaging lines made by Krones, which are installed at various of the Tsingtao Brewery’s production facilities all over China. They contribute towards setting an example throughout the sector for digitalisation, flexible production, lifecycle service and sustainability.

CombiCube – best possible flexibility for craft brewers

*The CombiCube B can be individually configured and is therefore ideal for craft breweries.*

The Tsingtao Brewery has chosen Krones as supplier for its latest project, won over not least by the company’s persuasive line design and its CombiCube B brewing system. Moreover, the line has been specifically optimised to suit the customer’s existing processes, in order to make it as easy as possible for the operating staff to work with it.

Modular brewing systems like the CombiCube can be ideally configured to suit an ultra-wide variety of requirements. The modular principle makes it possible to put together any brewery for a custom fit – even when space is at a premium. So it is the perfect solution for craft brewers, most of whom would like to be flexible in regard to brewing processes and brew sizes on a relatively small footprint.

CombiCube B: the ultra-compact brewery

Brewery concept for 25 to 130 hectolitres of cold cast wort per brew
Pre-assembled system modules which can be installed and commissioned quickly
Structured pillow plates as heating surface, for efficient mashing with low energy consumption
Fully automatic Pegasus C lautering system, which can be used for high-gravity brewing processes, requires less maintenance and makes for maximally reliable production
Stromboli wort boiling system: reduced media and energy consumption
Botec F1 process control system: optimum batch-process management

A milestone for Chinese beer culture

Installation work at the Tsingtao Brewery in Qingdao started in April 2021. However, the Krones service team had to face and overcome many challenges since the project had to be interrupted repeatedly due to the regional pandemic situation in China. Nevertheless, the service technicians managed to install the brewery step by step – always in due compliance with local pandemic-related rules – and to successfully complete commissioning. “Krones and the Tsingtao Brewery have enjoyed a long-standing, mutually supportive relationship built on trust. Nor did Krones disappoint us in this project, despite the stringent requirements posed by our brewing process. That is because we share a common goal: to brew top-quality beer for our consumers,” to quote the project team at the Tsingtao Brewery.

*All the various beer types are served directly on the spot.* Image credits:
Tsingtao Brewery

On 26 June 2022, the big day had come at last: The West Coast Craft Beer Garden was opened and ceremonially inaugurated. On that occasion, Huang Kexing, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Tsingtao Brewery Group, emphasised yet again the importance attached to beer culture in Qingdao and stressed that the Tsingtao Brewery has made a major contribution by building the craft beer garden.