Case Study: Deschutes Brewery achieves 20% higher production capacity and millions in added profit with Microsoft Azure

Brewing up a smarter way to make beer

Deschutes Brewery, a family- and employee-owned craft brewer in Bend, Oregon and the seventh-largest craft brewery in the U.S., needed to boost production as it expanded into new markets but could not grow its Bend facility. Installing density meters on 50 vessels would have cost about $750,000, so the brewery looked to its existing data from the PI System to find a lower‑cost way to increase throughput without sacrificing quality.

Partnering with OSIsoft and Microsoft, Deschutes used the PI Integrator to send sensor and ADF data to Cortana Intelligence Suite and built predictive models to pinpoint the optimal transition from fermentation to free rise. The automated solution adapts to different brands and vessels, shortens fermentation by about 48 hours (roughly two days), delivers about six extra fermentations per vessel per year (~20% more capacity), avoids major capital expense, and improves consistency and innovation.

Deschutes Brewery

Brian Faivre

Brewmaster