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Save Water, Drink Craft Beer –
New conference for brewers on water conservation
Farm fields are brown by the end of July, plants twisted and withered by drought. From the looks of it, we could be in a western desert, but actually, we’re in northern Wisconsin, where a state of emergency was declared on August 19.
Pleas to save water come from conservation groups across the region. Beyond installing rain barrels and using a shower timer, what can be done?
Craft brewers have an opportunity to learn from their peers who brew in ar eas where water restrictions are common. A new conference, the Great Lakes Craft Brewers & Water Conservation Conference, www.conserve-greatlakes.com, is the first independent conference devoted to water savings and sustainable brewing.
The conference will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 26-27, 2009 and focuses on sharing best practices in water conservation for small to medium-sized breweries. Craft brewers, policy makers and nonprofit organizations will gather for education and discussion about water conservation.
Sponsors include the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., Chippewa Falls and Milwaukee, WI, as platinum sponsor, with special support provided by Beer Capitol Distributing Inc., Wauwatosa, WI. The National Wildlife Federation is providing outreach support through its Great Waters Restoration program.
Dick Leinenkugel, Secretary of Commerce for the State of Wisconsin, will give the keynote address, on the economic impacts of the Great Lakes Compact and projects including the Milwaukee 7 Water Council.
Jake Leinenkugel, president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., will speak at the Monday evening reception at the Discovery World museum on Pier Wisconsin in downtown Milwaukee.
For generations, the Leinenkugel family has supported conservation in its brewing practices and continues to make new improvements, with progress made across water, energy and waste reductions in recent years.
Marc Smith, state policy manager for the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center, will outline opportunities for collaboration with conservation groups.
Other participating conservation groups include Clean Wisconsin, Gathering Waters Conservancy, and Milwaukee Riverkeepers.
Participating breweries include Bridgeport Brewing Co. (Jeff Edgerton), MillerCoors Pilot Brewery (Troy Rysewyk), New Glarus Brewing Co. (Dan Carey), Odell Brewing Co. (Doug Odell) and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Fred Strachan).
Jeff Edgerton of Bridgeport Brewing Co. will discuss water reclamation and re-use, procedures for cleaning and sanitation to save water, elimination of water gassing, and conclude with cost-benefit analysis and the annual savings obtained both in water and money. Edgerton is the Assistant Brewmaster, Bridgeport Brewing Co., Portland, OR, began brewing in 1989 at the Blitz-Weinhard brewery and became the brewery’s microbiologist in 1994. Jeff left Blitz in 1998 to join BridgePort Brewing Company and ran the QA program at BridgePort until 2003, when he because the Assistant Brewmaster. Jeff is secretary-treasurer for NW Section of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas and has authored papers for the MBAA Technical Quarterly and the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.
Fred Strachan of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will show how to conduct water audits and how to work with water utilities to track usage and savings. As the Supervisor of Water Process and Systems, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA, Strachan has helped both the brewhouse and pub kitchen implement conservation projects. Strachan attended the University of California-Davis School of Brewing Studies, is a member of the board of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, and has delivered many papers and presentations on the topic of water analysis.
Dan Carey will conduct a tour of the Hilltop Brewery’s new wastewater treatment facility on Tuesday, October 27. Carey, Master Diploma Brewer and co-founder, New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI, has worked in the brewing industry since the age of 20, and won numerous gold medals for the dozens of different beers brewed each year, and many industry awards, including the Association of Brewers 2003 "Small Brewer of the Year" Award, the 2005 and 2006 "Mid Size Brewer of the Year" Awards, as well as the 2006 "Russell Scherer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing.
Doug Odell, Co-founder, Odell Brewing Co., Ft. Collins, CO, describes himself as the 'chief water guy' at the brewery, achieving significant water savings in 2009, using on average, 2.9 gallons of water to make a gallon of beer. Odell began as a homebrewer, making beer in his Seattle kitchen, and relocated to Ft. Collins to be near family and start the brewery in 1989. Since then, the brewery has grown to make almost 40,000 barrels of beer each year.
Troy Rysewyk is manager of the pilot brewery at MillerCoors in Milwaukee. Used to develop, brew and test beer recipes in smaller batches, the 10-barrel pilot brewery was the first of its kind in the United States. Rysewyk will discuss current and future water conservation projects, as well as new water-saving technologies in development.
The Monday, October 26, 2009 reception is open to the public, with just 150 tickets available. It’s a chance for local fans of craft beer to meet the brewers and conservation groups participating in the conference, and features a special tasting with artisan cheesemakers, including farmstead Saxon Creamery, and Bob Wills of Cedar Grove Cheese Co., a leader in sustainable wastewater treatment. The $45 ticket includes a buffet dinner catered by the Bartolotta Catering Co., Pier Wisconsin., Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Brewers from all over North America are attending the event. Attendees include the Great Lakes Brewing Co. of Cleveland, OH, Bells Brewery of Kalamazoo, MI, Schlafly/ St. Louis Brewery of St. Louis, MO, Summit Brewing of St. Paul, MN, COOP Ales of Oklahoma City, OK, Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido, CA, Capital Brewery of Madison, WI, South Shore Brewery of Ashland, WI, Lakefront Brewery of Milwaukee, WI, and more. Allied companies attending include Briess Malts, Christwater-America, Alfa Laval, WaterWise Consulting, Symbiont, and NGOs such as Clean Wisconsin the Shedd Aquarium, and the National Wildlife Federation.
Conference details and tickets for the Monday evening reception are available online, at: http://www.conserve-greatlakes.com
As the conference organizer, I’ve been tracking changes in our Great Lakes and see the risks in complacency about our natural abundance of fresh water. Fresh, clean water is a truly precious natural resource now in very short supply, across the continent and across the world.
Portions of this article first appeared in Great Lakes Brewing News.
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