Water usage per barrel produced

[michaelrandrews]

When accounting for production & cleaning in a 50 Bbl brewery, how much water should I reasonably expect to use per barrel of product produced.

Thanks

[a10t2]

I think the industry rule of thumb is about 7 barrels of water per barrel of beer produced. Sierra Nevada operates at about 4:1 and they've put a lot of time and money into the problem, so the lower limit is probably somewhere around there.

The biggest consumption is probably going to be during knockout. That could be anywhere from 2:1 to 10:1 depending on the temperatures. So glycol or a cold liquor tank can have a huge impact.

[michaelrandrews]

Yes, but i should recover water used for knock out in the hot liquor tank that i can use for next brew and cleaning.

[a10t2]

Yes, but i shouldn't recover water used for knock out in the hot liquor tank that i can use for next brew and cleaning.

I would really recommend that you do, even if you don't have an HLT. Water holding tanks can be inexpensive since they don't have to be sanitary, or even steel for that matter.