Quality Begins with Water at a Startup Craft Brewery

Challenge

Brewing high-quality craft beer is a challenge in any part of the country. In Texas, where water quality can vary as the climate whipsaws from drought to flood and back again, it can be especially challenging. Because with craft brewing, the quality begins with the water.

Consistent Quality is Key:

That’s why the founder and CEO of this facility, made water quality a paramount priority in designing and building his brew house in a historic industrial building. “If the water isn’t consistent, you can’t count on it having the same quality and flavor going in, and you can’t get consistent quality on the back end,” says the founder. “Your brewmaster has to work overtime to get the water right, even before you start making beer.”

Back in April 2015, the founder set out to find the most efficient way to get a consistent supply of high-quality water for both brewing and other processes in his plant. That turned out to be municipal water, already tapped into the building. But even municipal water can need help meeting a brewery’s high quality needs in an area like central Texas. Its makeup and taste can vary significantly as local groundwater conditions change.

After doing a Web search for water treatment suppliers, the founder contacted Evoqua, based on Evoqua’s depth of experience, support and capabilities. “We needed someone who could work within our startup business model and meet our aggressive construction schedule with a high quality solution.”

Evoqua’s application engineering team in Houston and project management team from Oklahoma City met with the facility to analyze water quality and process requirements. A key challenge was the plant’s 16-point distribution loop, which would apply the source water to both ingredient and process applications. Evoqua contracted with a local mechanical contracting firm to develop a comprehensive plan.

Solution

To remove hardness and calcium, Evoqua’s solution included the Vantage® PTC Softener. The Vantage PTC Softener is a flexible, reliable and feature-rich system for softening feed water by filtering the water through a cation resin bed.

To remove chlorine and chloramines, Evoqua recommended a Vantage PTC Carbon filter. These two systems will work together as pretreatment, conditioning the water to maximize the effectiveness of downstream reverse osmosis (RO) filtration. Evoqua’s RO recommendation was the Vantage M43 reverse osmosis system for removing minerals and dissolved solids. Designed for small industrial and commercial applications, the Vantage M43 RO system is pre-engineered, pre-assembled and factory-tested for fast installation and start-up. It features a compact footprint and easy serviceability through cleaning in-place connections. Water from the 18 gpm Vantage M43 system will be pumped into a storage tank, then UV disinfected before distribution to brewery processes.

In addition to meeting technical requirements, Evoqua recommended a service solution to meet the facility’s business requirements: a five-year Water One® service agreement. Exclusive to Evoqua, the Water One outsourcing contract provided the facility with a complete turn-key solution within their business timeline, plus the service commitment needed to guarantee production, all for a flat monthly fee and with zero capital investment. The Water One service agreement brings all of Evoqua’s experience and resources together to eliminate operating and expense risks, ensure safe and compliant operation, improve cash flow, and maximize the life and efficiency of operating facilities.

Results

For the brewmaster, the Evoqua system’s consistent water quality will be a beer maker’s dream come true. “It will save me a ton of time because I don’t have to worry about getting the water to taste right,” he says. “It’s already taken care of. I can focus 100 percent on making great beer.”

The tap room will be designed so that visitors can see the water purification system through an observation window while they’re sampling the product. “We want them to know how important it is,” says the founder and CEO. “Great beer begins with great water.”