Understanding the consumption of water and energy resources in the brewing process is becoming increasingly important for brewers as they seek to reduce costs as well as respond to consumers’ raised expectations for craft breweries to be environmentally conscious. However, brewing beer is inherently energy- and water-intensive: many multiples of water relative to the volume of finished beer are utilized and discharged during the brewing process, which also requires several energy-hungry heating and cooling stages. Recovery of waste heat and tiered usage of water may benefit small and medium-sized breweries who suffer from reverse economies of scale. This study investigates a microbrewery in Davis, California to quantify its water and energy usage, understand how these resources become embedded in its beer, and identify unnecessary waste. A water-energy-nexus (WEN) approach is taken to consider how each resource is consumed throughout the unit operations of the brewery system. Resource efficiency measures are proposed based on the WEN analysis to deliver energy and monetary savings for the facility.

Nexus of beer, water and energy: California lager microbrewery as a case study of embedded water and energy in the brewing process

255th National Meeting (2018)

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