P-24
Wastewater improvements in a regional brewery
Presenter: Julie Felske, Magic Hat Brewing Co, South Burlington, VT, USA
Co-Author: Todd Haire, Magic Hat Brewing Co, South Burlington, VT, USA

Magic Hat Brewing Company moved from Burlington to South Burlington in 1997, greatly increasing the brewing capacity. After the move was complete, the state informed us that the city could not accept our wastewater. All production wastewater except from the bottling line had to be trucked to the Burlington treatment facility. Magic Hat incurred high and unplanned costs from trucking up to 12,000 gallons per day to Burlington for treatment. We started diverting our yeast and trub to a farmer's tank with the spent grain to be composted. This reduced the biological oxygen demand (BOD) substantially. In December 2001, the state permitted us to use the South Burlington treatment facility but with a daily average limit of 600 lb of BOD and 13,200 gallons of hydraulic flow. We were required to monitor flow daily and test BOD weekly. These results were to be reported to the state monthly, with an annual permit review. At this point we could handle the permitted levels because it was a slow time of year. In July 2002, a peak production time, daily BOD averaged 578.3 lbs and daily hydraulic flow averaged 10,904 gallons while producing 3426 barrels. Projected growth of 20% each year would soon exceed permitted levels. We started researching anaerobic digesters and searching for funding for this $1 million investment. In the meantime, we had to stay within our permitted levels and that required dramatic and on-going improvements. Last runnings and tank sediment were also diverted to the farmer's tank, further reducing BOD levels. CIPing multiple tanks at one time, monitoring and reducing water usage, and recycling bottling-line rinse water helped to cut water usage. With these improvements, July 2004 daily BOD averaged 279.2 lb and daily hydraulic flow averaged 8293 gallons while producing 4423 barrels. With more improvements on the way, greater reduction in BOD and flow are anticipated while indefinitely postponing the anaerobic system.

Julie Felske received a B.S. degree in zoology (minor in microbiology) from Iowa State University in 1992. She completed training and became certified in medical technology in 1993. After working in clinical and hospital labs for 6 years, Julie found her way into brewing sciences and started working for Magic Hat Brewing Company in quality control. She thoroughly enjoys working with brewing samples as opposed to human samples.