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  • County plumbing inspection - grease trap for yeast

    Hello! Our helpful county (Onondaga County in NYS) plumbing inspector indicates that a grease trap is necessary for our floor drains because yeast is food.

    We have an official meeting to plead out case against needing a 250 gallon grease trap attached to our existing floor drains.

    I have prepared simple statements about yeast flocculation, reuse and our intended method of yeast disposal (with solid waste), but am hoping there is any empirical, or heck, even anecdotal, evidence anyone could provide for our benefit.

    Has anyone else had to have this fight?

    Thanks a ton.

  • #2
    The only breweries with grease traps that I am aware of have a kitchen attached to their operation. Perhaps there are others but I have not run into them.
    I would ask the inspector for precedence on yeast disposal specifically requiring a grease trap. I suspect he is using the "better safe than sorry" method.

    Prost!
    Dave
    Glacier Brewing Company
    406-883-2595
    info@glacierbrewing.com

    "who said what now?"

    Comment


    • #3
      You might also try this with him - If the water/discharge is moving in any way, any yeast that remains in the waste stream will be suspended in the liquid carrying it, it will NOT settle out in a grease trap with movement. It won't float or drop out like grease/food chunks. Remind him that yeast cells are 5–10 μm in diameter.

      Good luck
      R

      Comment


      • #4
        Good information. Thanks guys!

        The inspector, who was really just there to inspect new bathroom plumbing, only had our contracted plumber to ask questions of, so I imagine understanding what exactly will be going on will clear up a lot of issues, but I always feel the need to over prepare, just in case.

        We are strictly a manufacturing brewery with an "assembly space tasting room" that looks an awful lot like a bar, so I can understand assumptions being made.

        Comment


        • #5
          Inspector indicates a 99% necessity for a 1000 gallon grease trap with a manhole outside my facility. Again, there will be no food at all, so this is a 1000 gallon trap for my 2bbl brewery, haha.

          I expressed this, but apparently it didn't matter.

          I'm wondering if anyone has had this fight or even had to install one of these behemoths?

          Thanks.

          Comment


          • #6
            Is this inspector from Ag & Markets? Or is it the Health Inspector. If you don't serve food in NY state, you should be getting inspected by Ag & Markets. They are usually pretty good since they understand commercial production facilities (like farms & dairies).
            Hutch Kugeman
            Head Brewer
            Brooklyn Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America
            Hyde Park, NY

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by kugeman View Post
              Is this inspector from Ag & Markets? Or is it the Health Inspector. If you don't serve food in NY state, you should be getting inspected by Ag & Markets. They are usually pretty good since they understand commercial production facilities (like farms & dairies).
              We are adding a bathroom and putting in a three bay sink in the tasting room for washing glasses. Somehow the County plumbing inspector parlayed this into needing a huge grease trap, even though we've indicated there is no food.

              The second-in-command reported to the inspector there that all businesses require grease traps now (that seems false) as only 100% water can go down the drain and that if we didn't like that we could "take our brewery to another county."

              So relations opened frosty, but in the end i'd just like to not have to more than i have to; we're a brewery, resources are already stretched thin.

              Thanks!

              Comment


              • #8
                Cannot run brewery waste thru a food system, remember fat and caustic make soap.

                The inspector does realise that yeast is a mould ... show me a pipe that does not have some variety of mould in it ...
                Head Brewer Rocks Brewing Co.
                Sydney, Aust
                scotty@rocksbrewing.com

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by HitB Brewery View Post
                  We are adding a bathroom and putting in a three bay sink in the tasting room for washing glasses. Somehow the County plumbing inspector parlayed this into needing a huge grease trap, even though we've indicated there is no food.

                  The second-in-command reported to the inspector there that all businesses require grease traps now (that seems false) as only 100% water can go down the drain and that if we didn't like that we could "take our brewery to another county."

                  So relations opened frosty, but in the end i'd just like to not have to more than i have to; we're a brewery, resources are already stretched thin.
                  Depending how big of an issue you want to make of it, you may with to let your country commissioners, the folks who handle economic development for the county, as well as the country administrators be aware of the situation. Inspectors, in my personal experience in the construction industry for 20+ years, will sometimes view themselves as gods and try to bluff their way through things they don't understand.

                  My 3bbl brewery is hooked into our municipal water and sewer, and we've come to the agreement of us playing "wait and see" to see if it's even a problem that exists (there's no other similar business in my County.) I've given them my word I'll install a holding tank if there was a problem that arose, but was adamant that I would pull the plug on the project if they made me try to solve a problem that, frankly, won't exist.
                  Kevin Shertz
                  Chester River Brewing Company
                  Chestertown, MD

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Whats out there

                    Originally posted by WaterEng
                    Agreed, yeast is not going to be effectively removed or trapped by a grease trap. The specific gravity of yeast is too close to water and will be carried through with the water flow. Dissolved air floatation can be used to remove yeast from the flow, but that is a big mess.

                    Yeast does not agglomerate on pipe walls and in manholes like fats, oils, and grease does. You need to speak with someone else in the inspector's department to push the issue up the line. PS: not all inspectors are bright or knowledgible.
                    If you go looking around, you are going to find that more than a few breweries have a tank on the brewery effluent out line that catches solids. They do fill up and they do have to be pumped out and they are required in certain areas. IS the requirement nonsensical? I don't know currently.
                    Possibly someone might want to have some of that slurry analyzed to determine exactly what it is.

                    As Morgan has stated you don't mix any other effluent lines in with the Brewery.
                    Warren Turner
                    Industrial Engineering Technician
                    HVACR-Electrical Systems Specialist
                    Moab Brewery
                    The Thought Police are Attempting to Suppress Free Speech and Sugar coat everything. This is both Cowardice and Treason given to their own kind.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Sounds to me like this official is overstepping his codes. Ask for him to produce the code which mandates the use of a grease trap on effluents containing yeast and then ask him what is the acceptable parts per million (ppm) post trap flow. Remember, in order for us as brewers to remove yeast in suspension we must temperature crash our product so that this can happen effectively, otherwise the yeast will simply flow with the liquid.
                      Also, about the 1000 gallon grease trap- 1000 gallons refers to the flow through the grease trap not the standing volume within the grease trap. Depending on your local codes you may not have to "sink" the trap into the ground, flush to grade level. Again, depending on local code, you may quite possibly be allowed to set the trap inside, above grade at any location as long as it allows all production effluents through it. Again, this is all code related to your area.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thank you!

                        Thanks, everyone, for all the advice. I feel much more confident moving forward with this situation now. Hopefully we can get through it more amicably and without a trap.

                        To answer a couple questions that popped up, this was not an AG inspection, this was the county plumbing inspection that was there for an entirely different reason (new bathroom). I initally thought it would be 1000g throughput too, but they wanted the tank to be able to physically hold 1000g, which is just nuts. I think the problem is that the building is 5000sf so it seems like something big could go on there, not my comically small 2bbl system.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by kugeman View Post
                          Is this inspector from Ag & Markets? Or is it the Health Inspector. If you don't serve food in NY state, you should be getting inspected by Ag & Markets. They are usually pretty good since they understand commercial production facilities (like farms & dairies).
                          Exactly the same here in Michigan. Ag inspection was just done here and just like above they was more into the dairy side. I asked about a county health department inspection. He said since we are not making a food product they have no jurisdiction here. BTW awesome group to work with
                          Mike Eme
                          Brewmaster

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            At the risk of sounding stupid, I had not heard of a required agriculture and markets inspection, nor has anyone I've ran my plan through indicated i'd need as such. Is this a necessity? I'm unsure what they'd be looking at and now am reticent to contact anyone if it's not absolutely necessary.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by HitB Brewery View Post
                              At the risk of sounding stupid, I had not heard of a required agriculture and markets inspection, nor has anyone I've ran my plan through indicated i'd need as such. Is this a necessity? I'm unsure what they'd be looking at and now am reticent to contact anyone if it's not absolutely necessary.
                              Arig and Markets is if you filed a wholesale license. Essentially all breweries do. In NY state the license is "Artice 20-c" license. Look that up. Also if you are in NY and do a Farm Brewery license you are exempt for the 20c but still need an initial inspection from Arg and Markets. They want this done after state licensing but before you open.

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