![]() In this case, it means spent yeast from brewing tanks, spent hops from dry hopping, unfermented wort and lots of sugar. This process, known as sidestreaming, keeps high-strength organic matter from going down the drain. When the liquid brewing waste became a problem, they began taking it - daily, in 55-gallon drums - as well. Grow Compost had been taking food waste from the Alchemist's pub. "The Alchemist has been one of our most important generators of organic material since they were just the pub," Grow Compost cofounder Lisa Ransom said. Launched in neighboring Moretown, the company's mission is to prevent organic material from going to the landfill and to put those resources back into the state's soil. The couple turned to their relationship with Grow Compost of Vermont, a company run by farmers Lisa Ransom and Scott Baughman. "There was a guy from the state standing in the brewery telling us, 'You just can't put everything down the drain anymore,' and we didn't know what to do, because it's how we'd always done things."įiguring out how to navigate the opaque permitting process - which included a well-timed conversation with James Ehlers, executive director of Lake Champlain International - set the Kimmiches on a path toward meeting state regulations. "We were really caught unaware," John said. The brewery had started producing and canning Heady Topper that year as production grew, the Kimmiches got a crash course in state wastewater permitting. When the waste flow from those offices went down, the high-strength brewing waste at the Cannery became a problem. "Everything I brewed, any waste I had - all the yeast, all the spent hops - everything went down the drain and into the town of Waterbury's waste treatment facility," John said.Īfter Tropical Storm Irene hit the town in August 2011, Waterbury's town offices were forced to close. The focus on minimizing the impact of its wastewater is a more indirect investment, but it has a huge impact on the capacity and function of the towns' waste systems.īack in its humble brewpub days, the Alchemist had no state discharge permits. Using municipal water is one way the Alchemist is investing in the infrastructure of its communities in Waterbury and Stowe. "We have great water, and it's a nice benefit, because we've lived in parts of the country where water is not so great, and that would make it much more difficult to create the flavors we want in the brewhouse." The municipal water is treated, but only minimally, giving the brewery "a great head start," John said. "So if you're buying it from the municipality, that's good for the town." "The municipality spent a lot of time and money making sure everyone has access to clean water that's safe," Jen said. But, John insisted, "Vermont's water is outstanding." The Alchemist's brewery in Stowe is built over the town aquifer and, rather than digging their own well down into it, the Kimmiches made a conscious decision to take their water from the town. That might give pause to some beer drinkers. The million-dollar investment reduces the amount of high-strength effluent - wastewater containing organic material left over from the brewing process - that flows into the towns' waste-treatment facilities.īoth Alchemist locations rely on municipal water for brewing. That waste reduction combines sidestream waste processing with the Stowe facility's in-house high-tech water-treatment system. Owners Jen and John Kimmich have made significant investments in processes and systems to reduce the environmental impact of the waste from both the Alchemist Cannery in Waterbury and the Alchemist Brewery and Visitors' Center in Stowe. But eco-minded fans might like to know that the company's approach to wastewater treatment is as good as its beer. On the other end of the brewing process, it's also what keeps things clean - and it's the bulk of the waste.Īt the Alchemist, people are more likely to line up for Heady Topper than to get a glimpse of the brewery's moving-bed biofilm reactor. At about 90 percent of every lager, stout or IPA, it's the canvas for flavor and the medium that binds together grain and hops into something drinkable. Steve Miller observing one of the Alchemist's on-site wastewater treatment tanks in Stowe.
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