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  • Brewery Wastewater Issues

    So I have been working with a brewery here in Birmingham, AL and they have been having issues with the county sewer department charging outrageous surcharges for sewer impact. I have done everything I can to prevent as much BOC and COD from entering the sewer as possible. The only remaining impact they have is of course hot side trub and spent CIP chemicals. Which according to the sewer department pushes BOD/COD, phosphates, and pH over the normal threshold. I had a solution for the spent CIP chemicals, which are suppose to be phosphate-free, by collecting them all in one tote and then blended down the pH. Of course this primarily addresses pH and not necessarily COD. A central CIP system would probably cut down on the overall amount of chemicals used but they are limited on space. As far as the hot side trub I have considered purchasing a small centrifuge to remove all the particulate before entering the sewer.
    We were consulting with a company that manufactures waste water treatment systems but they have backed out on providing a solution due to some issue with their current technology. I have also read the recent article in TQ but a bio-reactor maybe a little overkill for their operation.

    I have taken measurements of the amounts of all effluent from their points of impact and have came up with the following numbers. At two batches a day and five days a week, the volume of hot side trub (including rinse water) is about 1000 gallons. The volume of spent CIP chemicals produced on a weekly average is about 1550 gallons. So we're looking at about 2550 gallons of wastewater a week with a decent amount of organic particulate.*

    At these volumes does anyone here have any recommendations or experience they can share to provide a solution for this issue?*
    Kade Miller
    Owner/Brewer
    Scarum Brewery Consulting
    kade@scarumbrewconsult.com
    251-654-2309

  • #2
    Why not side stream the trub and rinse water? Let it settle in an above ground storage, the solids will settle, you can let the liquids drain and the solids go to the dump or compost. As for the CIP, its useful to neutralize the effluent, but that can create salts that will increase your TSS. BOD and COD shouldn't be affected by most cleaners as they are not digested by the sewage plant, what does increase the BOD and COD would be yeast and beer, so its important to side stream the spent yeast as well or make sure it is dead when it leaves the brewery through the sewer.

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    • #3
      Nothing on the cold side goes down the drain unless of course there's a bad batch (all yeast and cold side trub goes to the farm). I have thought of and have designed a settling tank system but would prefer to get a quote on a system from someone who is a subject matter expert. I do appreciate your reply nonetheless.
      Kade Miller
      Owner/Brewer
      Scarum Brewery Consulting
      kade@scarumbrewconsult.com
      251-654-2309

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Scarum View Post
        Nothing on the cold side goes down the drain unless of course there's a bad batch (all yeast and cold side trub goes to the farm). I have thought of and have designed a settling tank system but would prefer to get a quote on a system from someone who is a subject matter expert. I do appreciate your reply nonetheless.
        FYI, our local municipality is particularly spooked about dumping a bad batch... high BOD *and* alcohol.

        I haven't seen any references to John Mercer brewerywastewater.com on this thread (I probably missed it) but if not - he's The Guy.
        Justin Smith

        President & Business Development
        Ten Sleep Brewing Co., Inc.
        2549B Highway 16
        PO Box 406
        Ten Sleep, WY 82442
        tensleepbrewing@gmail.com
        www.tensleepbrewingco.com
        www.facebook.com/TSBCo

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