t blew, sending 32 thousand liters of premium cream ale foaming into the street. Only one minor injury was reported, but the vat's blown along with the nearby loading dock door and hundreds of bottles. Worksafe and the brewry, a Sleaman's subsidiary, will investigate, but it's thought to have been a buildup of carbon dioxide . One brewry official marveled the storm sewers could handle the flow. Fire crews came to flush the streets but weren't needed as a sudden rainstorm did their job.-----------
It would have been a sudsy sight to behold. A fermenting vat at the Okanagan Spring brewery had a hydraulic explosion sending 32,000 litres of cream ale across the floor and out into the street early Thursday afternoon. There were no major injuries in the incident that occurred about 1:10 p.m. and the brewery was planning to have an investigation conducted. “One employee had a minor hand injury,” said Okanagan Spring director of operations Larry Kerwin. “We’re going to contact WorkSafe BC as soon as possible and get them in to commence an investigation.” Kerwin suspected an excess buildup of carbon dioxide was the cause of the explosion. The beer flood was soon washed away as heavy rain fell Thursday afternoon. The suds quickly receded into sewer lines though beer foam was still visible in puddles across the street. “I’m surprised the sewer system took it all,” said Kerwin, adding an engineer was on the way to assess any structural damage. The aluminum loading door nearest the fermenting vat was crumpled and several hundred smashed beer bottles lay strewn about the area. Vernon firefighters responded to the incident but the brewery’s first aid department had already taken care of the injured employee. “Obviously, from our point of view, it’s a significant loss but there were no significant injuries,” noted Kerwin. “We’re always concerned with our staff first.”
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