Solar Power + Craft Beer = Sustainable Beer, Pubs in Portland Oregon
Sure, the sun grows the hops and grain – but did you know that the sun powers brewing at the Lucky Lab?
We need a lot of 180 degree hot water to brew our craft beer. In order to keep prepped for each brew, we keep 900 gallons of water heated in a tank ready to go. The brewers need a large amount of hot water for each batch, so in the morning a timer will go off and fill a hot liquor back around four in the morning. If the water isn’t hot enough, a boiler will kick in to bring it the rest of the way up.
From the Sun to the Water to the Beer
We brought in a solar-power hot water contractor to build a new solar hot water system using Heliodyne solar collector panels. The neat thing about this solar systems is how few steps there are between a ray of sun and a pint of beer. Glycol runs through each solar panel, soaking up the energy of the sun and circulates it down below to a heat exchanger, handing over that energy to our water supply. We transfer heat from the sun to our water in just two steps—no electricity needed.
Our solar conversion helps us keep our costs down, and that means we serve larger pints for less money. Why not save some energy and a nickel at the same time?
Even in the winter, when the sun is out, our 900 gallon solar water reservoir reaches an amazing 120 degrees! The system is dependent upon the solar radiation, not necessarily the ambient temperature. During the summer our water gets up to 180 degrees almost every day.
