The state of Kentucky is filled with historic and beautiful barrel warehouses, often called rickhouses. The challenge with these old warehouses is well, they are old and they are responsible for holding thousands of barrels of bourbon. To help put this in perspective, each barrel weighs more than 500 lbs. That means a 20,000 barrel warehouse may be holding up to 5,000 tons of barrels and millions of dollars worth of bourbon.
To help identify issues with a barrel warehouse Green River Distilling Co. in Owensboro, Kentucky has teamed up with StrucuRight a new company that specializes in Structural Health Monitoring Systems. The new real-time app-based technology continually monitors; distance, angle, vibration, temperature, and humidity in the rick houses. All data, including any change notifications, is transmitted to a cell phone via the app.
“We are always looking for new ways to improve operations at our Distillery and are confident this new technology will do just that,” said Master Distiller and Director of Operations at Green River Distilling Co. Jacob Call.
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“After the recent partial collapse of Warehouse H, which was a weather related event, we immediately began looking for better ways to monitor buildings to have the best possible measures in place to ensure the safety of our employees, neighbors and the community. StructuRight’s Smart Sensing Unit will provide us just that.”
StructuRight says they provide a brand new approach to internal and external structural and health monitoring for all types of structures. By installing their patent-pending Smart Sensing Unit inside or outside a structure, one can easily monitor what’s going on in terms of climate, humidity, moisture and more.
“StructuRight gives the structure a pair of eyes and ears in places such as rick houses that are typically more difficult to monitor,” said StructuRight President and CEO Jeff Phelps. “This is especially good news for master distillers who are looking for tools to enable them to craft their liquids with the best and most reliable data.”
StructuRight will work in conjunction with the structural engineers at Green River Distilling Co. (formerly O.Z. Tyler Distillery) to make certain the monitoring points are exactly where they need to be for maximum effectiveness inside the rick houses.
Call noted that the industry as a whole should always be looking for better and more efficient ways to monitor buildings.
“As a signature industry for Kentucky, we all have a responsibility to keep our buildings safe, secure and to protect the environment,” commented Call. “I hope other distillers will follow suit and adopt the new monitoring system.”
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