Food and drink business water efficiency

Breweries, cideries, and distilleries are always looking for ways to minimise waste and reduce their environmental impact. Here are some practical tips for conserving water and cutting water use and liquid waste (effluent) costs in your business.

Efficient water use

To reduce water usage and costs, breweries should avoid overfilling the mash tun and store surplus wort for future brews, if brews are fairly frequent. Additionally, avoid water jets and use dry methods to remove grain from the mash tun. Implement fine mesh baskets in the floor to reduce grain entering the drainage system.

Cleaning-in-place (CIP) uses much less water than a hose and can significantly reduce water consumption. If CIP is not available, use a high-pressure hose.

Fermenters and temperature control

Consider installing jacketed fermenters if you’re replacing fermenter vessels, and choose an appropriate pump size that can cope with the flow when all fermenters are in use. This can contribute to effective waste reduction.

Furthermore, install an automatic temperature control loop to optimise wort and cold liquor flow. For ale heat exchangers, aim to use 1.0-1.1 volumes of cold liquor per volume of wort.

Cask, keg and bottle washing

If quality standards allow, pasteurise returned beer and blend it into another brew to minimise waste. Otherwise, store spoilt beer with trub, ullage and other high-strength liquids for separate disposal or collection by a farmer.

For glass bottle washing, pasteurising, and filling, keep overflow points visible, and meter water use to ensure no water is lost when the machine is not in operation. Collect rinse water in a tank dedicated to reuse.

Refrigeration efficiency

Consider connecting a solenoid valve to the cooling water supply to cut off the supply when the compressor stops operating. Reuse the compressor cooling water as feed to a hot-water washing system.

You can also use off-peak electricity for defrosting cold radiators in tank rooms for more energy and water savings.

Optimise effluent treatment 

Install an interface detection system to minimise beer going into drains and water addition to the product. Consider purging pipes with carbon dioxide instead of leaving them filled with rinsewater. For high gravity brewing, incorporate a controlled amount of chase water in the product as part of the dilution process.

Additionally, avoid excessive retention times in the balancing tank and adjust the tank level to cope with peaks in effluent flow or strength.

Additional considerations

Talk to your water treatment contractor about optimising the regeneration cycle for your boiler water softening system to reduce backwash.

Read more about waste options for breweries, cideries and distilleries.