Brewery & Food Production MEP in Kansas City, MO

Precision Environmental Control That Protects Your Product Quality & Production Uptime

Brewing a world-class beer or producing a consistently safe food product demands far more than great ingredients and skilled operators.

It demands an environment engineered down to the degree and percentage point. When your fermentation room drifts two degrees outside its target range, you don't just lose energy; you risk an entire batch. When humidity climbs in a packaging area, you invite contamination and regulatory headaches. For brewery owners and food production managers in Kansas City, where summer heat and humidity push mechanical systems to their limits, the margin for error is razor-thin.

5BY5 Engineering designs MEP systems purpose-built for the demanding realities of food and beverage production. We don't apply generic commercial HVAC templates to your facility. Instead, we learn your production process, fermentation schedules, cooling loads, sanitation protocols, expansion plans, and engineer mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems that serve your product first. Our work with Kansas City breweries, including City Barrel Brewery and Limitless Brewing, has given us a hands-on understanding of what production facilities actually need: precise temperature zones, humidity management that adapts to seasonal swings, washdown-ready infrastructure, and systems your team can actually operate and maintain without calling an engineer every week.

The result is a production environment where your team focuses on making a great product, not fighting the building. With over $1 million saved for clients in unnecessary construction costs and more than $300,000 in annual maintenance savings delivered across our portfolio, 5BY5 brings the same cost-conscious, reliability-first engineering philosophy to every brewery, kitchen, and food manufacturing facility we serve in the Kansas City metro.

✔ Saved clients over $1 million in unnecessary construction costs

✔ Helped clients simplify operations, saving over $300,000 yearly in maintenance fees

✔ Helped over 100 owners make buildings more efficient with well-designed MEP systems

✔ Proven experience with Kansas City brewery projects, including City Barrel Brewery and Limitless Brewing

✔ Founded in 2016 by Brock Centlivre, PE, Principal in Charge

Our Services

5BY5 Engineering provides full-scope MEP engineering services for breweries, food manufacturing plants, commercial kitchens, and beverage production facilities.

Our work encompasses the complete design of mechanical systems for process cooling and climate control, electrical systems for production equipment power and controls integration, and plumbing systems for sanitary water supply, drainage, and process waste management. Every design begins with a thorough understanding of your specific production requirements, facility layout, and operational goals.

Our process starts with immersion in your operation. We walk the production floor, study your equipment specifications, review your process flow, and sit down with your team to understand how the facility runs day-to-day. For a brewery, this means mapping glycol cooling loops to fermentation tanks, sizing makeup air units for brew kettle steam loads, and designing cellar temperature zones that hold within a degree of setpoint year-round. For a food production facility, it means understanding HACCP critical control points, designing sanitary drainage with proper floor pitch and trap sizing, and specifying washdown-rated electrical and mechanical components that withstand daily cleaning cycles.

From there, we produce construction-ready MEP documents coordinated with your architect and general contractor, minimizing conflicts and change orders during construction. We specify equipment that balances first cost against lifecycle operating expense, favoring systems with proven reliability and locally available service support. Our designs account for Kansas City's climate extremes, ensuring systems perform in both the humid summer months and cold winter conditions without excessive energy consumption.

The outcome is a facility where environmental conditions support, rather than compromise, your product. Temperature holds steady, humidity stays controlled, ventilation keeps workers comfortable and odors managed, and utility infrastructure stands ready to support your next equipment addition or production line expansion.

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how you benefit

In brewing and food production, temperature and humidity aren't comfort metrics; they're production variables that directly affect your product. A fermentation cellar that swings three degrees can alter ester profiles and attenuation rates, turning a carefully developed recipe into an inconsistent product. A packaging room where relative humidity creeps above the target invites condensation on equipment surfaces, creating contamination risk and potential regulatory findings. In Kansas City, where outdoor conditions range from sub-freezing winter days to 95°F summers with 80% relative humidity, maintaining tight indoor environmental control requires mechanical systems specifically designed for the task.
5BY5 Engineering designs HVAC systems with the precision your production process demands. We size and select air handling units, split systems, and dedicated process cooling equipment to maintain temperature setpoints within tight tolerances across every production zone in your facility. Humidity control is integrated from the start, not added as an afterthought, using dedicated dehumidification equipment, proper coil selection, and control sequences that respond to both outdoor conditions and internal process loads like boil kettles and open fermenters.
Our work at City Barrel Brewery and Limitless Brewing in the Kansas City area required exactly this level of precision. Each zone, brewhouse, cellar, taproom, and storage has distinct environmental requirements, and the mechanical systems must manage transitions and simultaneous loads without compromise. The result is a facility where your brewmaster or production manager sets the target conditions and the building delivers them, batch after batch, season after season, giving you the consistency your customers expect.
Food safety regulations from the FDA, USDA, and local Kansas City health departments aren't suggestions; they carry the force of law, and a single compliance failure can shut down production, trigger costly recalls, or permanently damage your brand. Your MEP systems must be designed from the ground up with sanitary principles in mind. This means specifying materials, drainage systems, electrical enclosures, and HVAC configurations that not only meet code but actively support your HACCP plan and sanitation protocols.
5BY5 Engineering designs plumbing and drainage systems with proper floor slopes, sanitary floor drains with accessible trap primers, and backflow prevention that protects potable water supplies from process contamination. Electrical systems are specified with NEMA-rated enclosures appropriate for washdown environments, and conduit routing is designed to eliminate horizontal surfaces where moisture and biological material can accumulate. Mechanical ductwork and diffusers are selected and positioned to minimize condensation risk and facilitate cleaning access.
We understand that in Kansas City's food production sector, from craft breweries to commercial kitchens to packaged food manufacturers, regulatory inspections are a routine part of business. Your facility infrastructure should make passing those inspections effortless, not stressful. Our designs anticipate inspector scrutiny and build compliance into the bones of your building systems. When your sanitation team runs a washdown cycle, the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems are ready for it, no damage, no unplanned maintenance, no surprises.
Process cooling is the backbone of any brewery or temperature-sensitive food production facility. Glycol chiller systems serving fermentation tanks, walk-in coolers for ingredient and finished product storage, and refrigeration for cold rooms all represent significant mechanical and electrical loads that must be carefully coordinated. Poorly designed cooling systems lead to oversized equipment, excessive energy consumption, uneven temperatures, and premature equipment failure, all of which cost you money and threaten product quality.
5BY5 Engineering approaches process cooling as an integrated system, not a collection of individual components. We coordinate glycol loop sizing, pump selection, and piping layout with your specific tank configuration and fermentation schedule. We evaluate whether centralized or distributed refrigeration architecture makes more sense for your facility, considering factors like redundancy requirements, maintenance access, and future expansion. Heat rejection equipment, condensers, cooling towers, and dry coolers are selected and located to perform efficiently in Kansas City's variable climate while meeting local noise ordinances and zoning requirements.
Energy efficiency in high-cooling-load environments is a major focus of our design work. We evaluate opportunities for heat recovery from refrigeration systems to preheat domestic or process hot water, reducing your utility bills while improving overall system efficiency. Variable-speed compressors and pumps are specified where load profiles justify the investment, and control strategies are designed to optimize part-load performance, because your facility rarely operates at full design load. The result is a cooling infrastructure that delivers the precise temperatures your production requires while minimizing the energy and maintenance costs you pay to achieve them.
Breweries and food production facilities generate significant airborne loads, steam from brew kettles, heat from ovens and fryers, volatile organic compounds from fermentation, grease-laden exhaust from cooking operations, and particulates from grain handling. Without properly engineered ventilation, these loads compromise indoor air quality, create uncomfortable or hazardous working conditions, generate odor complaints from neighboring businesses, and accelerate equipment degradation. In Kansas City's mixed-use commercial districts, where breweries often share walls or neighborhoods with retail and office tenants, odor and exhaust management is particularly critical.
5BY5 Engineering designs ventilation systems that address each airborne contaminant at its source. Brew kettle hoods and steam exhaust systems capture moisture and heat before they spread to the broader facility. Kitchen exhaust hoods are designed and specified to meet NFPA 96 requirements for grease-laden vapors, with properly sized makeup air systems that maintain building pressure balance and prevent backdrafting. Grain dust collection and particulate filtration systems protect workers' respiratory health and reduce explosion risk in milling areas.
Equally important is the replacement air strategy. Every cubic foot of air exhausted must be replaced, and poorly designed makeup air systems create uncomfortable drafts, pressure imbalances that swing doors and disrupt temperature control, and wasted energy from conditioning unchecked outdoor air. Our designs balance exhaust and supply volumes precisely, temper makeup air to avoid thermal shock in conditioned spaces, and incorporate energy recovery where exhaust volumes and operating hours justify the investment. Your team works in comfort, your neighbors stay happy, and your facility meets all applicable air quality and fire code requirements.
Production equipment in breweries and food manufacturing facilities carries substantial electrical, water, gas, and compressed air requirements. A typical craft brewery may include brew kettles, mash tuns, fermentation temperature controllers, glycol chillers, canning lines, grain augers, pumps, and a taproom point-of-sale and lighting system, each with distinct power, plumbing, and sometimes natural gas connections. Failing to coordinate these utility requirements early in design leads to costly electrical panel upgrades, undersized water services, gas pressure problems, and construction change orders that blow budgets and delay opening day.
5BY5 Engineering conducts detailed equipment utility coordination as a foundational step in every food and beverage production project. We collect cut sheets and utility requirement data from every piece of production, refrigeration, and support equipment, then design electrical distribution, plumbing services, and gas piping systems sized to handle your full operating load with appropriate capacity for future additions. Electrical panels are organized logically, with dedicated circuits for critical production equipment and provisions for emergency or standby power if production downtime carries significant financial risk.
For Kansas City breweries and food producers planning phased growth, starting with a smaller production volume and scaling up as demand increases, this forward-looking utility planning is essential. 5BY5 designs infrastructure that supports your day-one operation without wasteful oversizing, while including provisions like spare panel spaces, capped utility rough-ins, and conduit pathways that make future expansion straightforward and affordable. You invest in infrastructure once and grow into it, rather than tearing out and replacing systems every time you add a fermenter or a packaging line.
Kansas City's craft brewing scene and food production sector are growing, and many of the businesses we work with are scaling rapidly. What starts as a 10-barrel brewhouse with a small taproom can evolve into a regional production facility with canning lines, distribution coolers, and event space within just a few years. If your MEP systems aren't designed with growth in mind, every expansion becomes a painful and expensive retrofit, new chillers because the originals can't handle additional fermentation tanks, electrical service upgrades because there's no spare capacity, or HVAC redesigns because the original system can't condition a larger footprint.
5BY5 Engineering builds scalability into every production facility design. During our initial project engagement, we discuss your business plan and growth timeline to understand not just what you need today, but where you're headed in three, five, and ten years. Mechanical systems are designed with modular capacity, additional chiller modules, expandable air handling units, and piping infrastructure with valved connections for future zones. Electrical systems include spare capacity in switchgear and panelboards. Plumbing systems are roughed in with future connection points for additional equipment.
This approach has saved our clients significant capital over time. Rather than paying for a complete system replacement during expansion, they connect to pre-planned infrastructure at a fraction of the cost. For Kansas City brewery owners and food producers operating in a competitive market where speed to market matters, the ability to expand production capacity quickly, without months of mechanical redesign and construction disruption, is a genuine competitive advantage. 5BY5 helps you build the facility you need now with the infrastructure to support the business you're building.

OUR SERVICE Categories

Brewery MEP Engineering

5BY5 designs complete mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems for craft breweries and production brewing facilities. From glycol cooling loops and cellar climate control to taproom comfort systems and brewhouse steam exhaust, we engineer every system to support consistent product quality. Our experience with Kansas City breweries like City Barrel and Limitless Brewing means we understand the real-world demands of production brewing environments.

Food Production Facility

Engineering Food manufacturing and processing facilities require MEP systems designed for sanitary operation, regulatory compliance, and production reliability. 5BY5 engineers plumbing systems with proper sanitary drainage, HVAC systems that maintain HACCP-required temperature zones, and electrical infrastructure rated for washdown environments. We design facilities that pass inspections and protect your product.

Process Cooling & Refrigeration

From glycol chiller plants serving fermentation tanks to walk-in cooler refrigeration and cold storage systems, 5BY5 designs process cooling infrastructure that delivers precise temperatures with energy-efficient operation. We coordinate refrigeration system architecture, heat rejection, and controls for reliable performance across Kansas City's full range of seasonal conditions.

Commercial Kitchen Ventilation

Grease exhaust, steam capture, and makeup air systems for commercial kitchens and restaurant operations require careful engineering to meet NFPA 96, IMC, and local Kansas City fire and health codes. 5BY5 designs kitchen ventilation systems that protect worker safety, maintain building pressure balance, and manage odor, all while minimizing energy waste from conditioned makeup air.

Production Facility Expansion Engineering

Growing breweries and food producers need MEP infrastructure that scales with their business. 5BY5 designs systems with modular capacity, pre-planned utility connections, and expandable distribution architecture so your next phase of growth connects to existing infrastructure rather than requiring a costly system replacement.

OUR process

STEP ONE

Learn Your Production Process & Facility Goals

Every 5BY5 engagement begins with learning. We visit your facility, or your planned facility site, and immerse ourselves in your production operation. For a brewery, this means understanding your brew schedule, fermentation protocols, cooling requirements, packaging workflow, and taproom operations. For a food production facility, we review your HACCP plan, sanitation procedures, equipment list, and production line layout. We sit down with ownership, production staff, and facility managers to understand not just what the building needs mechanically, but how your team actually works in it day-to-day. This step typically takes one to two weeks, depending on facility complexity and ensures every design decision that follows is grounded in your real operational requirements.

STEP TWO

Collaborate With Your Project Team

MEP systems don't exist in isolation; they integrate with architecture, structural systems, equipment vendors, and construction logistics. 5BY5 coordinates directly with your architect, general contractor, equipment suppliers, and any specialty consultants to ensure mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are fully integrated into the building design. We participate in regular design coordination meetings, flag potential conflicts early, and provide value engineering suggestions that protect your budget without compromising system performance. This collaborative phase runs concurrently with design development and typically spans four to eight weeks.

STEP THREE

Engineer & Document Your MEP Systems

With a thorough understanding of your process and a coordinated team in place, we produce detailed construction documents, mechanical plans, electrical one-lines, plumbing layouts, equipment schedules, control sequences, and specifications. Every document is coordinated across disciplines to minimize field conflicts and change orders. We size systems for your actual loads, specify equipment with proven reliability and local service support, and design control strategies that your operations team can understand and manage. Document production typically requires six to twelve weeks, depending on project scope.

STEP FOUR

Support Construction & Commissioning

5BY5 stays engaged through construction, answering contractor RFIs, reviewing submittals, and conducting site observations to verify systems are installed according to design intent. When construction is complete, we support commissioning activities to verify that every system performs as designed, temperatures hold setpoint, airflows balance, controls respond correctly, and your production team understands how to operate the building. This phase continues from construction start through facility occupancy, ensuring you open with confidence.

Our APPROACH

At 5BY5 Engineering, our core philosophy is simple: building systems should serve the people and processes inside the building, not the other way around.

For brewery owners and food production operators, this means your MEP systems should make your job easier, not harder. Temperature should hold steady without constant manual intervention. Humidity should stay controlled without mysterious swings that threaten product quality. Equipment should have the power, water, and gas it needs without tripping breakers or waiting for pressure to recover. And when something does need attention, your maintenance team should be able to diagnose and address it without calling the engineer who designed it.

This philosophy directly shapes our engineering methodology. We don't design to impress other engineers; we design for operators, maintenance technicians, and business owners. That means selecting equipment with straightforward controls and widely available replacement parts. It means routing ductwork and piping where it can be accessed for maintenance without scaffolding or production shutdowns. It means writing control sequences in plain language that your building automation contractor can program, and your facility staff can troubleshoot. It means providing clear, organized as-built documentation that lives in your facility manager's office, not in a filing cabinet at our headquarters.

For the Kansas City food and beverage production market specifically, this approach addresses a real gap. Many production facilities, especially growing craft breweries and small food manufacturers, are operating in spaces that were never originally designed for their use. They've outgrown their systems, inherited equipment that doesn't match their process, or built out spaces with minimal engineering input and are now paying the price in energy costs, maintenance headaches, and inconsistent product quality. 5BY5 brings clarity to these situations. We assess what exists, identify what's working and what isn't, and design targeted solutions that respect your budget, your timeline, and your production schedule. Whether it's a ground-up new facility or a renovation of an existing space, we bring the same learn-collaborate-perform discipline to every project, because production downtime costs real money and product consistency builds your brand.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

5BY5 Engineering, founded by Brock Centlivre in 2016 and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, specializes in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering that simplifies building operations and improves facility efficiency. With proven experience across more than 100 building projects, including Kansas City breweries City Barrel and Limitless Brewing, 5BY5 brings practical, reliability-focused MEP design to production facilities throughout the Kansas City metro area.