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Interest in craft beers is increasing worldwide due to their flavor and variety. However, craft breweries have high water, energy, and carbon dioxide (CO2) demands and generate large quantities of high-strength waste and greenhouse gases. While many large breweries recover energy using anaerobic digestion (AD) and recapture CO2 from beer fermentation, little is known about the economic feasibility of applying these technologies at the scale of small craft breweries. In addition, compounds in hops (Humulus lupulus), which are commonly added to craft beer to provide a bitter or “hoppy” flavor, have been shown to adversely affect anaerobic microbes in ruminant studies. In this study, biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays and anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) studies were used to investigate biomethane production from high-strength craft brewery waste, with and without hop addition. A spreadsheet tool was developed to evaluate the economic feasibility of bioenergy and CO2 recovery depending on the brewery’s location, production volume, waste management, CO2 requirement, energy costs, and hop waste addition. The results showed that co-digestion of yeast waste with 20% hops (based on chemical oxygen demand (COD)) resulted in slightly lower methane yields compared with mono-digestion of yeast; however, it did not significantly impact the economic feasibility of AD in craft breweries. The use of AD and CO2 recovery was found to be economically feasible if the brewery’s annual beer production is >50,000 barrels/year.
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Managing a Craft Brewery: Competitive, Legal, and Environmental Forces
The number of craft breweries and the volume of beer they produce continue to increase in the United States. Small entrepreneurial craft brewery businesses produce limited quantities of specialty beer, also known as craft beer. As of 2018 the state of Montana had the second most craft breweries per capita in the United States. In addition to competitive industry forces, legal and environmental forces are two of the most salient concerns for craft brewery businesses in Montana and throughout the United States. A case study about Montana Hop Brew, a Montana-based craft brewery, is presented. The case highlights the entrepreneurial nature of small craft breweries and describes competitive industry, legal, and environmental forces that Montana Hop Brew faces. Teaching notes complete with learning objectives, required and supplemental readings, a student exercise, and discussion questions are available to assist with delivering the case.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1951290
- PAR ID:
- 10547172
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy
- Volume:
- 4
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2515-1274
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 492-499
- Size(s):
- p. 492-499
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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