Brewers are always looking for new ways to incorporate sustainability practices into their operations. For some it is external pursuits or harnessing natural resources. Others turn to technology to create beers created from elements that would otherwise be lost or wasted. In Rochester, New York at Heroes Brewing, co-founder Greg Fagen recently announced that his brewery had created a Kรถlsch-style ale by using condensed air.
โBy using equipment and technology to condense water vapor from the air, we are capturing a di๏ฌerent water source,โ said Fagen, in a news release. โOnce we have a suitable amount stored, we filter, boil, and use the water just as we would municipal water.โ
According to Fagen, the Atmospheric Capture Process is when water vapor is collected from the air into a storage tank. When enough has been collected (around 200 gallons), it is filtered and then used as normal in the brewing process. Currently it takes about six weeks to collect the 200 gallons, he says.
Earlier this month the brewery, which was founded in 2020 and donates $1 of each 4-pack sold to a rotating local charity, released Skyfall, the first beer brewed through this method at the brewery. Fagen says the 5% ABV beer clocked in at 14 IBUs and featured notes of sweet grain and lemon peel.
This type of brewing is important not only to breweries like Heroes, but should be on the minds of other brewers looking to make an impact. This can also be helpful, especially as technologies evolve, to ease water bills and usage in breweries.
โTo bring sustainability into our brewing, we focused our energy on implementing creative water-use e๏ฌorts,โ he says. โWe conceptualized this method in 2016, and our team felt it was the right time to bring technology and old-fashioned ingenuity together to make it happen,โ he said.
He said that living in an area that has high relative humidity in the warmer months helped this kind of technology make sense and installed equipment that helps them capture the water vapor from the air.
Fagen, in the release, says the brewery intends to scale up the process even further.
โWe ultimately see an opportunity to have this water vapor collection process be a 100% o๏ฌ-grid, carbon neutral process.โ