How MadTree Brewing ensured water quality as part of its expansion

Maintaining quality while expanding capacity and production is probably the toughest task ahead of today’s established craft brewers. MadTree Brewing knows this well. The fast growing Cincinnati craft brewer is undergoing a planned expansion and in order to ensure water quality in this new era, it has chosen Veolia Water Technologies’ Sirion Mega Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology solution.

Co-founder Jeff Hunt says that maintaining product quality was his over-riding objective while expanding production.

“Since water makes up 95 percent of beer, water quality plays an important part influencing our beer’s flavor profile. As we planned for our new, expanded production facility, it was critical to us to be able to control the incoming water of our brewing process to ensure we maintained consistent quality and taste of the beers. As such, we didn’t want a standard RO unit.”

Veolia Water Technologies is part of one of the largest water companies in the world and currently has more than 150 brewery customers globally. Veolia’s more than 350 proprietary technologies support its solutions and service value across the entire spectrum of the brewing process — from product and process water to water recycling and wastewater solutions.

The 100-gpm (gallons per minute) RO unit from Veolia produces high purity water, removing up to 97 percent of dissolved inorganic and more than 99 percent of large dissolved organic material, colloids and particles — providing consistent water quality for MadTree’s beer production process. Any excess output from the RO will be directed to the boiler as water makeup, thereby further delivering increased water and energy efficiency in operations.

“What we found most appealing about Veolia’s RO technology was its ability to provide feedback, which will allow us to fine-tune the incoming water as needed to be able to produce the high quality of beers our customers expect,” Hunt continued. “Moving ahead we are fortunate to be able to call upon Veolia’s industry experience and technological expertise to help make sure we maintain the high-quality standards that have fueled our growth.”

Currently producing approximately 25,000 barrels of beer a year, the MadTree expansion will increase production to 35,000 barrels annually with enough room to support future growth by adding potential capacity to boost output to 180,000 barrels.