Beer and Brewer Magazine

It aint easy brewing green, reckons Mountain Goat Brewery's co-founder Cam Hines, but the future is about eco-beers that deliver lobal warming... without the hangover.

Breweries, alas, tend to be environmentally aggressive monsters. To brew a single litre of your favourite elixir takes around 8 litres of water, huge amounts of mains power and gas, vast stores of barley and, mostly, the importation of packaging materials like glass bottles and labels from overseas - all at enormous expense to both the brewer - and, more vitally, the planet.

Now, at the end of a harsh summer filled with soaring temperatures, endless drought and raging bushfires and half-way into an election year where environmental welfare policies may decide the next Prime Minister, Australians have become ultra-aware that our world is in very real strife. So what can brewers do to reduce their environmental impact?

Take their cues from abroad for starters. where some fantastic initiative are being shown, particularly in the United States.

The New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado is a trailblazer, having installed ponds to clean their water on-site without having to burden their municipal system. They've now reduced their total water use to about half the industry standard through recapture and re-use. Oh, and they're 100% wind powered.

Sierra Nevada Brewing has leapt on the bandwagon too. They recycle almost all their waste and also have their very own low-emission fuel cell producing in-house electricity as well as heat and water.

These are all big businesses with significant budgets to throw at innovation. But can we Australians produce "Green Beer" without so high a level of investment? At Mountain Goat we've put a host of things in place that greatly lessen the environmental impact of the brewery - some very cheap and easy to use, others a little more elaborate, and a few achieved with a little help from our friends.

SITE AND RENOVATIONS

A big issue for us was finding the right site in inner-Melbourne. The building we eventually made our own was a disused warehouse shell on River Street in Richmond, with 10-metre ceilings and an aspect which faced due north, giving us lovely winter sunlight. In the course of furnishing it, we tracked down a huge range of reclaimed materials. These included corrugated iron for internal walls, old window frames and doors, timber for the bar and the three big tables, plus various cupboards and cabinets, a cool room and even a urinal.

STORMWATER

One of the first things you notice when you walk in our front door is a huge rainwater tank by the bar. It holds 11,000 litres which we catch from the roof, filter and use as drinking water and to flush toilets. In our first 18 months this tank saved 200,000 litres of mains water.

ORGANIC BEER

All Mountain Goat's beers are naturally brewed and avoid all preservatives and additives. In fact, our India Pale Ale was Australia's first certified organic beer by spending 12 months registering with the Biological Farmer's Association (now known as Certified Organic Australia).

PAPER PRODUCTS

Whenever we order boxes they are made from recycled paper. All our office paper is recycled stock and re-used whenever possible.

STEAM AND ODOUR

These are very common emissions from all breweries but we've fashioned a copper vapour condensing unit and attached it to our brew kettle. This almost completely eliminates steam and odour when we are boiling the wort.

SOLAR HOT WATER

In June 2006, we won a government grant to help us install nine solar panels on the roof. These panels preheat all our brewing water to around 55 degrees celsius and minimise our use of mains power in the brewing kettle.

GREEN POWER

We buy Green Power through Energy Australia that is 100% renewable energy.

WASTE WATER

Before any waste from the brewery floor goes to the sewer it is PH and temperature neutralised in a specially-designed holding tank.

RIDE TO WORK

Every Christmas our staff are paid a bonus based on the number of times that year they rode a bike or caught public transport to work.

When we first looked at these initiatives I'll admit I was concerned about upfront cost. And, after estimating how long it would take to recoup our investment on installing rainwater tanks, it still didn't add up financially.

However, as brewers, we had to acknowledge our massive water-use and act responsibly. Until now water has been cheap, but you don't need to be Al Gore to figure this won't last.

Green Power on the other hand can be secured at little or no extra cost by shopping your electricity supply around ad applying for sustainability project grants, of which there are more and more on-line every day.

Mountain Goat's solar project required a $7,500 investment by us, a figure the Victorian Government matched dollar-for-dollar. Because it's linked to our plant's requirement for hot water to start mashing with, the more we brew, the quicker we recoup that investment.

In the end, we like to think we're a small brewery doing our bit in the big picture. It's Australia's major breweries with the greatest opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment. Need they be reminded that green initiatives are a great marketing tool?

And not only does "green beer" taste great. it promises not to leave your environmental conscience with a hangover the next day!

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