Craft beer brewed from wastewater www.foodtechnology.co.nz 53 A San Francisco brewery in the US is utilising NASA technology to make beer with water from sinks and showers, while other brewers are finding new ways to go green. In autumn of 2014 – three years into California’s devastating drought– architect Russ Drinker became fixated on brewing beer from recycled greywater (that is, water that’s been treated after use in sinks, showers and for washing clothes). He was increasingly frustrated that the media paid little attention to water recycling. “They were focused on conservation instead. But if Californians really want to have an impact on our water use, we have to recycle our freshwater … and get over our psychological resistance to that.” While some microbrewers have been working hard to get their water usage down – some to three gallons of water for every gallon of beer – the industry has a high water-to-beer ratio. Despite this, it took Drinker about a year to find a brewer up for the challenge. But when he broached the idea with the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, a craft brewer located south of San Francisco, owner Lenny Mendonca didn’t hesitate. Last October the brewery unveiled a version of its regular Mavericks Tunnel Vision IPA made with recycled water after a blind taste test at an urban sustainability conference in the Bay Area. Made using the same NASA water recycling technology as astronaut Scott Kelly used during his year long stint on the International Space Station, the tasting panel couldn’t detect which of the two pints was made with recycled water. Brewing beer from recycled water is a novel approach. But a growing number of craft breweries in the US are finding new ways to reduce their environmental footprint. Weak wort, a type of sugar wastewater generated by Colorado-based Avery Brewing Co, will be donated to the city of Boulder for use in its wastewater treatment plant to break down nitrogen. This will save the city US$500 per day on the acetic acid it would have purchased to do the same job, says Chris Douville, Boulder’s wastewater treatment manager. “We were looking for a local carbon source that others see as a waste,” he says. “It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.” Boulder is currently outfitting its plants to treat nitrogen using weak wort, says Douville, and should be ready to put the new equipment online by the end of the year. B R EW T E C H Small and independent brewers continue to grow in the US The Brewers Association (BA), the trade association representing small and independent American craft brewers, last month released 2015 data on US craft brewing growth. With more breweries than ever before, small and independent craft brewers now represent 12 percent market share of the overall beer industry. In 2015, craft brewers produced 24.5 million barrels, and saw a 13 percent rise in volume and a 16 percent increase in retail dollar value. Retail dollar value was estimated at US$22.3 billion, representing 21 percent market share. “For the past decade, craft brewers have charged into the market, seeing double digit growth for eight of those years,” says Bart Watson, chief economist, Brewers Association. “There are still a lot of opportunities and areas for additional growth. An important focus will remain on quality as small and independent brewers continue to lead the local, full-flavoured beer movement.” Additionally, in 2015 the number of operating breweries in the US grew 15 percent, totalling 4269 breweries – the most at any time in American history. Small and independent breweries account for 99 percent of the breweries in operation, broken down as follows: 2397 microbreweries, 1650 brewpubs and 178 regional craft breweries. Throughout the year, there were 620 new brewery openings and only 68 closings. One of the fastest growing regions was the South, where four states – Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas – each saw a net increase of more than 20 breweries, establishing a strong base for future growth in the region. Combined with already existing and established breweries and brewpubs, craft brewers provided nearly 122,000 jobs, an increase of more than 6000 from the previous year. “Small and independent brewers are a beacon for beer and our economy,” says Watson. “As breweries continue to open and volume increases, there is a strong need for workers to fill a whole host of positions at these small and growing businesses.”
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