The owners of the Milwaukee Ale House decided Milwaukee is the right place to make great beer, and the best place to expand their small microbrewery – Milwaukee Brewing Company.

A microbrewery’s grain handling procedures associated with “milling in” barley, hops and yeast produce dust that might settle around electrical systems, creating the potential for dust-induced explosions.  Local standards require these electrical systems to be constructed to ensure a high degree of safety.

Knowing that the cost to install a certified “explosion proof” environment would cost $60,000, the owners wisely decided to involve city inspectors, who signed off on their concept for designing a cost effective dust control solution as the avenue towards Class 2 Standard Equipment Operation classification.

Their steam-fitting vendor offered a very expensive, over-engineered solution, so Milwaukee Brewing’s very talented staff decided to take on the project themselves. After investigating many local distributors that sell spiral pipe, they reviewed the Air Handling Systems catalog. They were delighted to benefit from AHS design tips, online ordering and quick delivery of standard and custom parts, with the confidence in buying direct from the manufacturer.

The dust control system was designed to collect the finest particles at the point of cracking open the grain at the mill as it moves between two large rollers. Key components included AHS spiral pipe, elbows, blast gates, transitions and vacuum kit with flex hose.

“We were introduced to AHS through their service and support”, said owner Jim McCabe. “AHS builds win/win relationships and is easy to work with. Their thing is all about service. It’s probably their core competency. That’s what convinced us to buy from them. We bought their products sight unseen and were delighted with the gauge accuracy and high quality of their products. Everything went together very quickly and works great!”