Crane contractors services used the Terex AC 100/4L crane to expand a brewery in Chicago

As part of its expansion efforts, the brewery added a 120-barrel brewhouse and multiple 800-barrel fermenters. "The fermenters were 40ft long with a diameter of 14ft," says Crane & Aerial Lift Sales Representative, TJ Wicklander, for Central Contractors Service Inc., a division of the ALL Family of Companies. "With a 70ft long parking lot as a work space, this does not leave much room for our crane equipment."

From the street entrance to the concrete business behind the building to the storage facilities flanking both sides of the business, space was extremely tight for positioning the tanks.

The major challenge was to find the right crane capacity and the space to make the fermenter picks.

"Only the AC 100/4L could physically drive through the building, due to its compact size, and still offer Central Contractors enough capacity to make all the necessary lifts," explains Dave Kuhlman, senior sales manager and major accounts team for Terex Cranes.

The AC 100/4L all terrain crane is the only 120t capacity class, four-axle crane with a vehicle width of only 8.4ft.

Once on site, the operator took advantage of the crane's all-wheel steering to position it for entering the tunnel.

Central Contractors' skilled crane operator carefully drove the AC 100/4L crane through the 9 x 13ft doorway and down the narrow 200ft long tunnel to get to the back of the building. The crane's suspension was lowered and the side mirrors were drawn in, so it could slip through the passage.

In less than two days, Central Contractors lifted and positioned four 800-barrel fermenters and one each silo, chiller and carbon dioxide tank, along with supporting structures.