UTS teams up with Young Henrys to make smarter beer

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Young Henrys Brewery are pairing cutting-edge brewing technology with award-winning brewing knowledge in search of a more sustainable pint.

The UTS Industry 4.0 Brewery, located at UTS Tech Lab, is the first of its kind in Australia and is said to be the world’s first 5G-connected microbrewery, powered by Nokia’s technology.

The brewery is an automated system that enables continuous monitoring of the brewing process and the beer. It analyses data collected throughout the brew to precisely control both the boiling and fermentation processes at the heart of beer production.

“The UTS Industry 4.0 Brewery is pushing the boundaries of what breweries can do,” said Dr Nick Bennett, from the UTS Centre for Advanced Manufacturing. “Automating the brewing process can reduce waste, save time and energy, and result in a product made entirely from locally sourced ingredients. Making beer production more efficient is key to making the industry more sustainable.”

Industry 4.0 technology is about smart automation and the use of robotic systems equipped with machine learning algorithms. It includes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise processing conditions and increase the predictability and quality of the final product.

Young Henrys is currently in the research and development phase of a new craft beer and utilising the UTS Industry 4.0 Brewery as a test facility.

“The nanobrewery helps us refine a digital recipe for the beer in an advanced time frame due to the sophisticated technology,” said Richard Adamson, Young Henrys’ Co-Founder. “Young Henrys is committed to working towards a greener future as well as making good beer, and we’re keen to explore ways the brewing industry can move closer to carbon neutrality.”

The collaboration between UTS and Young Henrys ensures the research findings and machine learning techniques are directly transferable to industry.

Resulting research findings will also be highly relevant beyond beer, for example, for smart and sustainable manufacturing processes and supply chain logistics.

Image: Nick Bennett (UTS Centre for Advanced Manufacturing), Jesse Searls (Head Brewer, Young Henrys), Laryssa Raffa (PhD student, UTS) and Richard Adamson (Co-founder, Young Henrys).