Water Usage and Treatment atBrewDog Brewing Company

Eric Fessler AOPTim Hawn BrewDog

Water – Why do we care?• We are an international company.

o It must be the same to make the same beer.o It is between 80 – 97% of what is in your bottle, can or glass.

• It must be plentiful and easily treated both pre and post brewery.o City discharge.o Land Applicationo Reuse

• Water Quality has dictated what type beer is made where:o Munich brew dark, malty lagers – High Temporary Hardness (Alkalinity)o Burton-on-Trent brew hoppy ales – High Sulfateso Bohemia brew pilsner beer – Low Minerals (soft water)o Midwest US brew pilsner beer – soft watero Scotland Soft Water

Four ingredients (according to the

German Law) [In order of weight]1. Water2. Malt/Adjuncts3. Hops4. Yeast

How does water quality effect beer quality?

• Calcium – extracts fine bittering from hops

• Magnesium – accentuates beer flavor; when excess harsh bitterness

• Sodium – excess creates harsh taste

• Carbonates – promote round malt flavor, high levels create bitterness

• Sulfates – give beer full flavor

• Chloride – accentuates bitterness/enhances flavor

• Chlorine/Chloramine –creates chlorophenols which has chemical flavor even at low concentrations

BrewDog –Influent (city) Water Quality

• Calcium 103 mg/L as CaCO3

• Magnesium 69 mg/L as CaCO3

• Sodium 195 mg/L

• Alkalinity 380 mg/L as CaCO3

• Sulfates 200 mg/L

• Chloride 39 mg/L

• Chlorine 1 mg/L

Water Treatment Requirements

• Chlorine Removal• Duplex Carbon Filtration

• Carbon Adsorbs the chlorine and THMs

• Quality Control Monitoring• Routine Sampling

• Residual Chlorine Tests

Water Treatment Requirements

• Sodium Removal

• Reverse Osmosis Filtration

• Removes 98+% of all constituents

• Quality Control Monitoring

• Chlorine feed water monitoring

• Membrane performance monitoring

QA/QC Monitoring

• ORP Monitoring

• Measures oxidation/reduction potential

• Protects damage of membrane surface

• Too high indicates oxidation (Chlorine)

• Too low indicates reduction (BiSulfite)

• Maintain ORP<300 mV

• Conductivity Monitoring

• Identifies membrane failure

• TDS<50 mg/L

• Flow & Pressure

• Identified fouling

• Need for CIP

Brewery Instrumentation• Flow meters

• Primarily Mag Meter.• Certain Applications Mass Flow.

• Conductivity• Cleaning in place

• Density Meter – Sugar Content

• Load Cells• Turbidity Meter• Oxygen Meters• Pressure Sensors

Craft Breweries typically produce 3-8 L of Wastewater per L of Beer

Craft Breweries typically produce 3-8 L of Wastewater per L of Beer

Craft Breweries typically produce 3-8 L of Wastewater per L of Beer

Brewers Association: Water and Wastewater Treatment/Volume Reduction Manual

Brewery Wastewater

This is where it started

Parameter Range City Limits

Flow (gpm) 0-200 <50

BOD (mg/L) 0->10,000 Surcharge

TSS (mg/L) 0->5,000 Surcharge

pH 4-10 >5

BrewDog Plant Effluent

Current Wastewater Management

Plant Drains

Lift Station

Equalization/Pretreatment

Sampling/City Discharge

Equalization/pH Adjust

Level and Flow Control

Looking Toward the Future

Equalization/pH Adjustment

Biological Treatment/Loading EliminationSolids/Loading Reduction

Membrane Filtration/Recycle

Thanks for your attention

• Questions?Tim@BrewDog.com

edf@aopwater.com