Opportunities for Energy Efficiency Improvements in Craft and Micro-Breweries

Rising energy prices and increasing competitiveness in the brewing industry challenge beer producers to reduce costs. To address this issue — and the environmental concerns over climate change — more energy-efficient brewing processes are required. The brewhouse consumes around one-quarter of the total energy demand in a brewery, especially wort boiling, where heat energy in the form of vapour is often wasted and presents a large potential for recovering energy. Although the technology for heat recovery during wort boiling is commercially available for large breweries, the development of equipment technology for craft and micro-breweries still lags behind. Based on a survey of Australian local craft and micro-breweries and a nano-brewery case study, we compare the evaporation rates during wort boiling for different operational parameters and use the results to verify a proposed mathematical model of evaporation from a kettle. We also propose and analyse options for re-utilising the recovered energy, such as pre-heating water for use in a subsequent process or storage for a later brew. Our study shows that the vapour released during the production of one litre of beer has the potential to heat 0.6 to 1.6 litres of water from ambient to 65°C. As for the potential energy savings and environmental impact, the case study nano-brewery can save approximately 5% of the brewhouse’s energy consumption or 2% of the energy required by the entire brewing process, while each surveyed brewery can spare 16 to 133 tonnes of CO2-e from being released into the atmosphere each year. These results reinforce the potential of recovering waste energy from wort boiling vapours in assisting breweries to become more energy-efficient, competitive and environmentally responsible.