Hello,
At our brewery we are at the moment considering different methods of dry-hopping. The question about what to do with the spent hops has been raised.
For the spent hops process we will spend about 800 kg of hop pellets per batch.
We have the option to either flush the spent hops to the drain with water (a total of 12m3) or to remove most of the water with a decanter and then dispose of the spent hops for composting (will be quite expensive for us).
We have a waste water plant at the brewery, it removes most of the solids and adjusts the pH to around 7. There is a settling tank in this plant whith a constant Level of 350 m3 Waste water.
Our Waste water will then go from this settling tank to the municipal plant with a constant flow of 15 m3/hour.
The issue is the municipal waste water plant which is a activated sludge treatment plant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_sludge)
This plant relies on a biological process to treat the water and therefore it is vital that our Waste water has a neutral pH and that it does not contain substances with an antimicrobial effect.
I can't find research on the antimicrobial effect of spent hops and the technicians at the municipal plant don't know anything about hops.
The active substances of the hops will be diluted. First 800 kg spent hops to 12m3 of water and then 12 m3 to 350 m3 of Waste water in our settling tank before leaving for the municipal plant.
I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction or if you have som experience with this you could share with me.
Thank you!!
At our brewery we are at the moment considering different methods of dry-hopping. The question about what to do with the spent hops has been raised.
For the spent hops process we will spend about 800 kg of hop pellets per batch.
We have the option to either flush the spent hops to the drain with water (a total of 12m3) or to remove most of the water with a decanter and then dispose of the spent hops for composting (will be quite expensive for us).
We have a waste water plant at the brewery, it removes most of the solids and adjusts the pH to around 7. There is a settling tank in this plant whith a constant Level of 350 m3 Waste water.
Our Waste water will then go from this settling tank to the municipal plant with a constant flow of 15 m3/hour.
The issue is the municipal waste water plant which is a activated sludge treatment plant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_sludge)
This plant relies on a biological process to treat the water and therefore it is vital that our Waste water has a neutral pH and that it does not contain substances with an antimicrobial effect.
I can't find research on the antimicrobial effect of spent hops and the technicians at the municipal plant don't know anything about hops.
The active substances of the hops will be diluted. First 800 kg spent hops to 12m3 of water and then 12 m3 to 350 m3 of Waste water in our settling tank before leaving for the municipal plant.
I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction or if you have som experience with this you could share with me.
Thank you!!
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