More beer, less energy with sustainable brewing

Melbourne’s oldest independent brewer, 3 Ravens is setting the standard for efficient, electrified and, yes, sustainable brewing processes.

An energy upgrade to its Thornbury, Melbourne brewing facility should enable 3 Ravens to quadruple production without increasing its energy consumption.

In addition to upgrading the building fabric and installing 74 kW of solar panels and a ‘cool roof’, the brewery has installed a highly efficient CO2 chiller heat pump (pictured) which can capture and use waste heat and cooling from the brewing process to supply other parts of the facility.

The new system is also driven and managed by Industry 4.0 technology which automates processes to maximise energy efficiency.

The planning for the upgrade was assisted by the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP) and funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) through its Advancing Renewables Program.

Director at consultancy Regenerate Engineering Jon Fettes said: “Brewing beer is extremely energy intensive, using a lot of energy for cooling and heating processes.

“Previously at 3 Ravens this heating and cooling was done by separate machines with unused heating and cooling from the processes being wasted – or lowering the comfort in the brewing space.”

Fettes said the type of chiller heat pump used could simultaneously create heating and cooling at useful temperatures for various parts of the brewing process from a single refrigerant cycle.

“In this instance, it is also delivering a further waste heat stream to other rooms to help manage internal temperatures and comfort.”

With more than 600 independent brewers in Australia, there is potential for replication of this project to deliver emission and energy cost savings for small businesses across the country.

Picture: 3 Ravens brew hall with new CO2 chiller heat pump