INDUSTRY · BREWERY & WINERY · 600 MI FIELD RADIUS
Brewery and Winery Equipment Installation
Crush and peak production are fixed dates. Everything else on the project has to move around them.
Miller 3 Engineering sets tanks and process equipment, fabricates the platforms, catwalks, and supports around them, runs process and utility piping, and designs custom cellar equipment where nothing off the shelf fits. Installation and rigging reach 600 miles from Sacramento.
The calendar decides, and it does not negotiate
Wineries and breweries run against fixed dates. Fruit arrives when it arrives. Peak season demand lands when it lands. Every capital project, every expansion, every equipment replacement has to fit into the gap between those dates, and the gap is never as long as the project wants.
Inside that window, the work is genuinely difficult. Tanks are large, awkward, and have to go through a building that was not designed around them. Setting them means an access route, a crane or rigging plan, a floor that can carry the loaded weight, and anchorage that a structural engineer has actually looked at. Catwalks and platforms so a cellar worker can reach the top of a tank are almost always fabricated to the tank layout, which means they cannot be ordered until the tanks are located, which means they arrive late.
The full detail
Then the utilities. Glycol, process water, compressed air, CO2, drains, and CIP supply and return all have to reach equipment that just moved. Floors slope to drains that were placed for a different layout. Washdown is constant, which decides what the support steel and the fasteners have to be made of.
Meanwhile the cellar keeps working around the contractor, or the contractor keeps working around the cellar, and whichever one loses that argument is what shows up in the schedule.
Equipment set, steel around it, utilities landed, before the fruit arrives
Tanks and process equipment are set on engineered supports, anchored to a design that carries the loaded condition, and aligned and leveled where the equipment calls for it. Where the jurisdiction requires a stamp on tank anchorage or support steel, the drawing has one.
Catwalks, platforms, stairs, and guardrail are fabricated to the actual as-installed tank layout and put access where cellar workers need it: sample ports, manways, valve trees, and the top of the tank. Everything is specified for washdown, because everything gets hosed.
The full detail
Glycol, process water, compressed air, gas, drains, and CIP lines are routed, supported, and labeled, with the runs designed around the space instead of threaded through it.
Barrel and material handling is mechanical instead of manual where it makes sense, on equipment built for the barrel and the rack you actually use.
And the work fit into the window. Prefabricated in the shop, staged, and installed in a sequence built around the production calendar.
One team for the equipment, the steel, and the piping
Engineers and fabricators under one roof. No disconnect between design and fabrication.
Most winery and brewery projects fail at the seams: the tank vendor's scope ends at the tank, the steel is a separate purchase, and the piping is a third contractor with a fourth schedule. M3E covers all three, plus in-house rigging to get the equipment into the room.
The full detail
The install method is consistent with everything else we do. Pre-installation site walks and constructability review, including the access route and the floor. Installation sequencing aligned with plant operations, built around your calendar. Fabrication of custom supports and modifications as required, in our Rancho Cordova shop. Precision equipment setting, anchoring, and alignment. Utility coordination and installation. Commissioning support and punch-list closeout.
Where a piece of cellar equipment does not exist in a catalog, we design and build it: custom processing equipment, skid-mounted process systems, automated material handling, sanitary equipment for washdown environments, structural frames and machine bases, and custom access systems integrated into machinery. Automation is designed in from day one, including PLC coordination, sensor integration, pneumatic and actuator-driven systems, safety interlocks, and emergency stops.
Our focus is minimizing downtime, eliminating trade conflicts, and protecting your operation.
What we install and build for wineries and breweries
| Scope | Typical work |
|---|---|
| Tank setting and anchorage | Rigging, placement, support steel, anchorage design, leveling |
| Process equipment installation | Presses, destemmers, sorting equipment, filtration, brewhouse and cellar equipment |
| Catwalks, platforms, and stairs | Tank access, valve and sample port access, guardrail, ladders |
| Custom cellar and handling equipment | Barrel handling, purpose-built machines, skid-mounted process systems |
| Conveyors and material handling | Fruit, grain, case, and barrel conveyance with guarding |
| Process and utility piping | Glycol, process water, compressed air, gas, drains, CIP supply and return |
| Sanitary and washdown fabrication | Corrosion-resistant materials, smooth surfaces, minimal debris traps, drainable geometry |
| Structural steel and mezzanines | Equipment platforms, elevated floors, support structures |
| Dust collection and air handling | Grain and dry-goods dust collection, ductwork, fans, make-up air |
| Rigging and relocation | Receive, offload, stage, place. Line moves and cellar reconfiguration |
Custom processing equipment design and build · Equipment installation and integration
What we design and sequence around
- The production calendar is the schedule. Crush, peak brew season, and bottling runs are fixed. The install plan is built backward from them, with prefabrication moving as much work as possible off site.
- Access route before tank size. The route into the room decides what can be set in one piece and what has to be assembled in place. It gets walked before the quote, not after delivery.
- Loaded weight, not empty weight. Floor capacity, support design, and anchorage get checked against the full tank, which is the condition it spends its life in.
- Constant washdown. Support steel, fasteners, platforms, and guarding get specified for the cleaning chemistry, not for a dry warehouse.
- Drains and floor slope. Where a leg can land and where an anchor can go is usually decided by the drain layout, which is why we look at floors early.
- Access to the top of the tank. Catwalks fabricated to the as-installed layout, with guardrail, so cellar work does not depend on a rolling ladder.
- Glycol and utility routing. Runs designed around the space, supported and labeled, rather than threaded wherever there was room on the day.
- Fall protection. New elevated access carries guardrail requirements, and in California fixed ladders over 20 ft are already in scope under Cal/OSHA 8 CCR §3277(g)(2), stricter than the federal 24-foot trigger.
Coverage for wineries and breweries
| Scope | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Installation, field services, and rigging | 600 miles from Sacramento |
| Preventative maintenance programs | 300 miles from Sacramento |
| Full EPC delivery | 300 miles from Sacramento |
| Engineering and design | Nationwide |
| Fabrication and shipping | Nationwide |
The 600-mile field radius from Sacramento covers Napa, Sonoma, Lodi, the Central Coast, the Sierra foothills, the Central Valley, and the Reno and Willamette Valley regions.
Divisions
Related services
Custom Processing Equipment Design and Build
Custom processing equipment, skid systems, and automated material handling. Sanitary washdown design, PLC-ready. Engineers and fabricators under one roof.
Industrial Equipment Installation and Integration
Industrial equipment installation inside live plants. Structural supports, rigging, utility tie-ins, and commissioning support. 600 miles from Sacramento.
Utility Tie-Ins and Process Piping
Process utility piping, industrial plumbing, secondary containment, air and environmental systems. Bundled with a project or contracted standalone.
Portfolio
Related project work
Coverage
- 600 mi
- Field services, installation, fabrication delivery, and rigging from Sacramento
- 300 mi
- Full EPC delivery and preventative-maintenance programs
- Nationwide
- Engineering, design, and fabrication for shipment
Common questions
Can the work be done between harvests?
That is how most of it gets scheduled. The install sequence is built around your production calendar, and prefabrication is the tool that makes a short window workable: platforms, supports, piping spools, and equipment frames are built and staged in our Rancho Cordova shop, so on-site time is assembly and tie-in rather than fabrication. Tell us the date the window opens and the date it closes and we will tell you honestly whether the scope fits.
Do you set tanks, or only the steel around them?
Both. Rigging is fully in house within 600 miles, so we receive, offload, stage, and place equipment in its designated location with our own personnel, then set, anchor, and align it. Support steel, anchorage, catwalks, platforms, and guardrail are fabricated in house as well, which is what allows the access steel to be built to the as-installed layout rather than to a layout drawing that shifted during the set.
Will you build a piece of equipment that does not exist?
Yes, that is a defined service line. Custom processing equipment, skid-mounted process systems, automated material handling, sanitary washdown machinery, structural frames and machine bases, custom access systems integrated into machinery, and prototype development through production-ready equipment. The barrel handler in our portfolio is exactly that kind of project. Design work is available nationwide, and design-build-ship is too.
Is your fabrication suitable for constant washdown?
It is specified for it when we know what the washdown is. Sanitary design considerations, washdown-compatible construction, corrosion-resistant material selection, smooth surfaces, and minimal debris traps are standard design considerations on our food and beverage work. Tell us the cleaning chemistry, temperature, and pressure and we select material and finish accordingly rather than defaulting to painted carbon steel.
Do you run glycol and process piping?
Process utility piping systems, industrial plumbing services, and secondary containment are a defined division, available bundled with an installation or as a standalone scope. Air and environmental systems, process utility systems, material handling systems, and process equipment integration sit alongside it. Send us the equipment schedule with the utility requirements and we will define the scope split in writing before anyone quotes it.
We are a small operation. Is there a minimum project size?
Every division can be contracted on its own, and plenty of clients start with one platform, one piece of custom equipment, or one rigging job. What we would rather not do is quote a job we have not seen, because the access route and the floor are what decide the price on this kind of work. Call (916) 842-7402 and describe it, and we will tell you whether a site visit is worth anyone's time.
Give us the window and the layout
The dates you can work, a layout or a sketch, and photos of the access route. Tank projects and cellar equipment projects both get priced off those three things.