State-of-the-art technology for a century-old brewing process

“We are big craft” – that is the motto chosen by the family-owned and operated Spanish company Hijos de Rivera for its Estrella Galicia brewery. Established in 1906, Estrella Galicia continues to brew according to traditional methods. After expanding its beer sales from its home region of Galicia into the broader Spanish market, it is now tackling the international beer market – with the help of a new facility that is increasing its production capacities many times over. “Big craft” here means preserving the over-100-year-old brewing process, slow as it is, but all the same producing large volumes and staying competitive. 

We produce our beers exactly the way we did one hundred years ago. Larger volumes, yes, and more automated processes. But that’s about all that’s different. Nicolás DeusDirector Global Operations at Hijos de Rivera

“Slow cook” is what Estrella Galicia calls the brewing process for making its top-quality beers. For each of its beer types, the brewery prepares a separate wort that is gently boiled. It does not perform high-gravity brewing. Estrella Galicia uses only top-quality natural ingredients for its beers and allows them to ferment and mature in separate dedicated tanks for a lengthy period. “Obviously, that is more expensive. But it is also our most important distinguishing feature making our beers stand out from competitors’ products,” emphasises Nicolás Deus, Director Global Operations at Hijos de Rivera. And his colleague Miguel Calvo, Director of Engineering, adds: “Maximum levels of flexibility and efficiency enable us to perform the tricky balancing act of keeping our “slow cook” process while at the same time meeting the requirements posed by today’s market. We’ve built a plant that will remain viable for the long term, that’s reconciling all these needs in a sustainable way.”

Mammoth project for the future 

Until just about 20 years ago, Estrella Galicia sold its beers almost exclusively in its home region. Now that the brewery has expanded into the whole of Spain, it is tackling the rest of the world, exporting to more than 70 countries. But the old brewery’s annual output of a good five million hectolitres of beer was not nearly enough to cover the new expansion plans – a second production facility, many times larger than the existing one, was a definite must. 

One thing soon became clear: The new brewery would be located in Estrella Galicia’s home region. This strong commitment to its origin is part of the company’s DNA, as highlighted by its president Ignacio Rivera when opening the new site: “Our commitment to our homeland goes far beyond words and is reflected in the decisions we make every day. With our new plant, we are investing 500 million Euros in Galicia and generate over 600 direct and 10.000 indirect jobs in the future.” Besides the aspect of origin, there was another vital argument in favour of Galicia: It was imperative that the beer’s unique taste be retained. As the old and the new production facility are not far away from each other, the latter gets its water from the same top-quality water reservoir as the old brewery. The beer’s taste was also the reason why the company got in touch with Steinecker when it came to brewing technology, because Steinecker brewhouses are also used at the old site. “We want the beer to taste the same, so it makes sense to use the same equipment if the price is right. What’s more, we know Steinecker, we know Krones, and we’re happy with them,” explains Nicolás Deus. 

The new brewery is being built in the Morás industrial estate in Arteixo, not far away from company headquarters in A Coruña, on a site approximately 450,000 square metres in size. A brewery comprising a total of four brewing lines is being erected in four stages. When the final phase is complete, the annual beer output will come to ten million hectolitres. It is the biggest project in the history of Hijos de Rivera, with a total investment volume of 500 million euros. 

Hijos de Rivera started planning the project in 2019. Krones was involved here as well because its factory planning department was commissioned to support development of the new production facility. The mountainous terrain posed quite a few challenges. The team drew up several different scenarios for the future plant, which were assessed on the basis of jointly specified criteria.

The new brewing lines: maximally flexible and efficient 

When you’re driving from A Coruña to Morás, you’ll catch sight of the new brewery’s gleaming stainless steel tanks from afar. Once you’ve arrived, the round main building will strike your eye, whose architecture emulates the shape of a beer can. From the 40-metre-high malting tower, you can see right across the land as far as the Atlantic Ocean. When you’re walking through the buildings, large windows offer a view into the brewhouses and of the complex piping leading to the cellar or the bottling hall. “That’s intentional,” explains Miguel Calvo. “We want to offer our visitors window sightseeing during their tour through the brewery.” Mind you, the new facility is a very specialised affair not only in terms of size and architecture, it also offers a number of further unique features. “You won’t find another brewery like this,” says Miguel Calvo and adds: “We’ve always been a craft brewery and will remain one, but now we’re tackling the future with 21st-century technology.” 

We’ve always been a craft brewery and will remain one, but now we’re tackling the future with 21st-century technology. Miguel CalvoDirector of Engineering at Hijos de Rivera

The entire brewery has been consistently planned for maximum levels of flexibility and efficiency. Its individual sections have been arranged in a compact layout, following the logical sequence of beer-brewing. Wherever possible, gravity is used – for filling the mash mixers at the base of the malting tower, for example. From there, short lines lead directly to the brewhouse, and further into the cellar by the fastest route. All transfer pipes are kept as short as possible, so less energy is required for pumping. And of course, the entire facility is equipped with automation technology to the latest state of the art: the Botec process control system from Steinecker.

What’s new compared with the old brewery is the EquiTherm energy recovery system, which supplies the mashing process with heat recovered from wort cooling. “That makes a huge difference in energy consumption,” says Nicolás Deus. The brewery and all lines and systems have entirely been geared to maximising energy efficiency. Overall evaporation, for example, comes to only three to four per cent. The company also invested in a system for recovering the CO₂ produced during fermentation, thus reducing not only the amount of CO2 that the brewery has to buy but also its carbon footprint to a substantial extent. The system treats around four tons of raw gas per hour, making it one of the biggest ever built by Steinecker. Sustainability is the overarching target determining all the decisions taken, as Nicolás Deus emphasises: “We’ve set our sights not only on profits but also on our “Positive Impact” philosophy. Whenever we’ve needed extra money for sustainability-boosting measures, the board has approved it.” 

Another special feature is the complex piping layout between the brewhouses and the cellars, which enables the product to be passed from one brewing line to the other. For example the output of Brewhouse One can be fed into Fermentation Cellar Two, and vice versa. Steinecker appropriately modified the relevant software and used controllable valve technology from Evoguard to translate that special layout into shopfloor reality. “We intensively discussed this feature because it is a good deal more expensive,” recalls Nicolás Deus. But it gives Estrella Galicia exactly the flexibility they need because the brewery is now able to transfer the product from one brewing line to the other at almost any point: before and after the whirlpools, on the path to the fermentation tank or the yeast management system, when passing the beer to the bright-beer cellar, between the fermentation and maturation tanks, and between the filtration lines. Miguel Calvo explains the advantages provided: “For example, we’re not tied to one line because it has been planned for yeast pitching or just because it has some other limiting factors. We can then simply pass the product to the other line. We’ve already made use of that option many times since commissioning the line, so it’s paid off even now. And Steinecker really implemented that complex system very well.”

Maximum levels of flexibility and efficiency enable us to perform the tricky balancing act of keeping our “slow cook” process while at the same time meeting the requirements posed by the global market. Miguel CalvoDirector of Engineering at Hijos de Rivera

Big relief and great pride: all targets met

The beaming faces of Miguel Calvo and Nicolás Deus show that they are very pleased with how the project went because its three most important targets were met: budget, time schedule, and retaining the beer’s taste. The latter came as a big relief since it was a definite must to prevent customers noticing a difference in taste between the beers brewed in the old and those brewed in the new facility. “I remember vividly when Miguel and I drank the first beer from the bright-beer tanks in May 2024. It tasted the just same as the beer from the old brewery, and that was fantastic. We can be really proud of that,” says Nicolás Deus. 

Both of them regard the partnership with Steinecker as an important key to this success. “Of course, there’s bound to be ups and downs, but we always found our way back to common ground. What I really appreciate is their team’s strong commitment to achieving all targets set and their willingness to enter into discussions and solve all issues one by one together with us,” says Miguel Calvo. And with a wide-sweeping motion of his arm pointing at the new brewery, Nicolás Deus puts it all in a nutshell: “It was a fantastic partnership in this project – Just look at the result! Steinecker and Krones can be really and truly proud of what we’ve achieved here together.”

It was a fantastic partnership in this project – Just look at the result! Steinecker and Krones can be really and truly proud of what we’ve achieved here together. Nicolás DeusDirector Global Operations at Hijos de Rivera