In my vision of a perfect world, all breweries would have a calamity tank. What the heck is a calamity tank? It's a wastewater tank, normally empty, that can be used for spills, bad beer, and storage. Imagine this scenario,…
JohnJanuary 23, 2015
A lot of time breweries will need to adjust the pH of their wastewater. The EPA has guidelines of between pH 5-11, many states and municipalities are more strict than that. Adding pH adjustment chemicals to your wastewater is where…
JohnFebruary 16, 2014
The purpose of brewery wastewater pretreatment is to keep the brewery running. Period. Does that make sense? Brewery wastewater is not the same a domestic wastewater. Restrictions will often apply, so the purpose is to comply with those restrictions so…
JohnDecember 19, 2014
This is the first in a multi-series of posts related to my experience with brewery anaerobic digestion of brewery wastewater. (Sorry for some of the weird wording, blame it on SEO) If you are considering anaerobic treatment at your brewery…
JohnFebruary 12, 2015
This is part II of a 3 part story. The first part can be found here. The Newbio system was a downflow system; put water in at the top and remove it at the bottom- opposite of how most anaerobic…
JohnFebruary 17, 2015
This is the last in my series of articles on brewery anaerobic treatment for now. Here is part 1 and here is part 2. Anaerobic treatment definitely works for treatment of brewery wastewater. In general, anaerobic pretreatment removes about 90%…
JohnFebruary 25, 2015
Thinking of starting a brewery? Heck yeah. Good for you. In your search for the perfect property, please, pay at least a little attention to wastewater. Here are some questions to think about as you look at various properties: Is…
JohnFebruary 2, 2015
Breweries use a lot of chemicals. Of course not in the beer, but for cleaning, sanitizing, water conditioning in boilers and cooling towers, and wastewater pH adjustment. I'd say the big three are sodium hydroxide, nitric acid, and phosphoric acid.…
JohnDecember 1, 2014