Water Usage - Real Numbers???

[noodle]

Hi,

Can you help me by providing real numbers for water usage? I know the standard is from 4 to 10 times BBL's produced but that seems high. We've been brewing on a very small scale for a few years and are about to open our production facility. Our current water usage is low and we believe that it will be relatively low with our new system. We will reclaim knockout water to the HLT. We are working with the local sewer plant and they are asking for real data to caculate our usage. They have suggested putting a deduct meter into our system to know how much water is used for prodect versus waste. If they meter our incoming water and then deduct our production amount, this will tell they our actual usage. The issue is that they also charge a connection fee based on projected usage that will be reviewed in three years. As you can guess, the higher the projected usage, the higher the connection fee is. Anyone have real usage numbers they care to share? Anyone have a deduct meter in their facility?

thanks,

e

[noodle]

???

Thanks, do these numbers include cooling water? This seems very high.

[gitchegumee]

Totally agree with WaterEng. Use 8 until you can prove otherwise. You will use more than you think. Visit, or better yet work with an established brewery to learn more. Your figure will also depend largely on what type of brewery you have: Packaging or brewpub. The former uses much more water than the latter. It also depends on your particular CIP schedule. And not sure by what you meant by "cooling water". Are you referring to the water that is heated via Hx on the way to the HLT? Of course that will be included as foundation/mash liquor the next day. If you are referring to the cooling water used by evaporative cooling towers, then this figure will not include such water. Stick with 8 for now and prove us all wrong by using less! Cheers and good luck.

[noodle]

Thanks

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, cooling water from the hx reclaimed to the HLT.

I just find it hard to believe that I will use/waste 8000 gallons of water to
brew 1000 gallons of beer.

We will be packaging to kegs only to start along with growler filling.

Thanks

[brewmatt333]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, cooling water from the hx reclaimed to the HLT.

I just find it hard to believe that I will use/waste 8000 gallons of water to
brew 1000 gallons of beer.

We will be packaging to kegs only to start along with growler filling.

Thanks

There are just a lot of places where you need to water. CIP of your fermenters, brewhouse, HX, and kegs. Then you have all the water you lose to the mash, to evaporation, to trub in your kettle and your fermenter. And there are the miscellaneous tasks like washing floors or soaking fittings. It tends to add up very quick.

[noodle]

I agree

Yes, I agree that there are a ton of areas that water is used and wasted but this is also an area that needs to be made as efficient as possible otherwise you are just flushing money down the drain.

Maybe it is just accepted that there is a huge water loss and waste in this industry. I am surpised that no one has provided actual numbers but maybe no one tracks it and just pays their water and sewer bill.

Is anyone using a deduct meter to determine actual waste water?

All you really need is monthly or quarterly production and the monthly or quarterly water bill.

Thanks for you help and discussion on the subject.

e

[Beer Makesalot]

Actual Numbers

according to:

http://www.greenretaildecisions.com/news/2013/02/07/millercoors-reports-lowest-water-to-beer-ratio-to-date

Brewery Water Units:Beer Units
MillerCoors 3.82:1
AB In-Bev 3.71:1
Eden Brewery 3.34:1

If you can reach those ratios pat yourself on the back, you work for one thrifty brewery. I agree that most brewpubs/breweries are on average with 8 to 10:1 but probably much higher on smaller systems.