John Mercer

Distillery General reading

Improvements in distillery wastewater

I attended a fascinating talk at the 2025 American Craft Spirits Conference. Rox Tiburolobo of Lallemand gave a talk about front end improvements (efficiency) that improves wastewater output. Most of the talk was about stillage and dewatering stillage- the liquid…

JohnMarch 20, 2025

General reading Mechanical Treatment

Brewery wastewater compliance when combined with domestic wastewater

The Issue: An existing brewery must start pretreating wastewater, typically for pH, solids, and temperature to achieve discharge compliance. The Problem: Process wastewater pipes combine with domestic wastewater from restrooms, kitchen, etc., under the slab. No one wants to dig…

JohnSeptember 12, 2023

Chemicals Pumps Safety Tanks

Magnesium hydroxide for pH adjustment

Caustic (NaOH) works great for pH adjustment at a brewery. It works fast, staff are accustomed to working with it, it’s easy to get, and there is usually a lot of it around. But it’s dangerous! A different and safer…

JohnApril 18, 2022

Distillery General reading Water

Distillery Wastewater

I have helped many distilleries with their wastewater challenges over the years. One common feature they all have is they’re all different! The wastewater coming out of a distillery will also differ a lot of one place to another. Most…

JohnFebruary 7, 2022

Capacity General reading Mechanical Tanks

EQ Tank

An equalization tank can be a great solution for a medium sized brewery- or even large ones. This type of tank offers a lot of options at a low cost. This page describes EQ tank operation. See this page for information…

JohnNovember 8, 2019

Capacity General reading Lab stuff Treatment

Common brewery wastewater restrictions

Let's hope you have no wastewater restrictions, this is still quite common. However here are some common brewery wastewater restrictions and what you can do about them. This list is kind of in descending order, most common at the top.…

JohnApril 7, 2016

General reading Lab stuff Side streaming

Real world side streaming results

Let the data speak for itself. The graph above is actual BOD data from a craft brewery client of mine in Canada, before and after side streaming. As most of you know who read this website, you know that I…

JohnAugust 25, 2016

Lab stuff Treatment

Brewery Wastewater BOD values

Here is a table with some typical brewery wastewater BOD values, as well as COD, TSS, and pH. Sorry for the weird format, there is a lot of data here. pH COD, mg/L *BOD, mg/L TSS, mg/L Generalizations Low High…

JohnMarch 24, 2015

Septic Treatment

Brewery on septic

I hesitate to even write this. A brewery on septic just is asking for trouble. However, it's my #1 most frequently asked question, so here goes.... First of all, don't do it! Don't put brewery wastewater in to a septic…

JohnSeptember 2, 2015

Mechanical Piping

Brewery wastewater pipe diameter

You're building a brewery, you're designing your drainage system and you want to know what size brewery wastewater pipe diameter to use. Do not use pipe smaller than 4", even for a small brewpub. ABS and PVC pipe is generally…

JohnAugust 12, 2015

John

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