Brewery Wastewater Pre-Treatment Permitting & Design
Brewery Wastewater Treatment in Vermont: The Alchemist Brewery is a small, family run brewery specializing in fresh, unfiltered IPA. They are currently focused on brewing one beer perfectly – Heady Topper, an American Double IPA. For eight years, Heady Topper was served exclusively at a seven barrel brew pub in downtown Waterbury, Vermont. As the beer’s popularity increased, the family decided to expand production, and in early 2011 the Alchemist Cannery, a 15-barrel brewery and canning line, was built in Waterbury. Today they brew 180 barrels per week in twelve 15-barrel batches. Based on the success of their Waterbury brewery, the Alchemist constructed a second 9,000-barrel per year (bbl/yr) commercial brewery in Stowe, Vermont to expand production of their beers.
Weston & Sampson worked with the Alchemy Holding, LLC, assisting with permitting and design of a biological pre-treatment system for their wastewater discharge to remain compliant with state and local regulations. Wastewater generated by the facility contains high levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). Weston & Sampson designed a pre-treatment system to reduce the levels of these contaminants to be equivalent with domestic wastewater prior to being discharged to the Stowe municipal collection system.
Other work included the installation of automated flow and pH monitoring facilities to allow for more consistent and efficient monitoring. A detailed process control description and SCADA specification package was developed as part of this project.
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When we became aware of our need to treat our industrial waste water, we contacted Weston & Sampson to help us negotiate all the hurdles along the way.
Mike Smith was there from start to finish and then some more after the install. His knowledge and experience helped us find a reputable manufacturer, assisted with the pilot testing to confirm the system’s capabilities, and provided start-up assistance.
Our World Water Works industrial pre-treatment system operates at a very high efficiency, removing 98% of the COD load and 95% of the phosphorus load in our waste water stream. Due in part to these results, the State of Vermont recognized our efforts by nominating the Alchemist for the Green Mountain Water Environment Association’s Outstanding Industrial Waste Water Facility during our first year of water operations.
With all of these positive results, the Alchemist would definitely recommend contacting Weston & Sampson to assist in negotiating your waste water needs.
Steve Miller
Industrial Waste Water Manager
Alchemist Brewery
Stowe, VT