Water use in the brewery industry is exceptionally high averaging ______ gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced.

Water use in the brewery industry is exceptionally high averaging ______ gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced.

• A. 5
• B. 7
• C. 15-20
• D. 30

Answer: (C)

Brewing uses a lot of water beyond what ends up in the beer because water is needed at many stages and for cleaning and sanitation. After mashing and lautering, the beer experiences evaporation during boiling, and then cooling and condensate recovery. But the biggest contributor is cleaning-in-place and sanitation for all equipment—fermenters, tanks, lines, and piping—requiring repeated rinses and hot water cycles. When you sum all these water uses, the total typically falls in the 15–20 gallons of water per gallon of beer produced. The other numbers are either too low to reflect all process and cleaning needs or too high for standard industry practice.

Brewing uses a lot of water beyond what ends up in the beer because water is needed at many stages and for cleaning and sanitation. After mashing and lautering, the beer experiences evaporation during boiling, and then cooling and condensate recovery. But the biggest contributor is cleaning-in-place and sanitation for all equipment—fermenters, tanks, lines, and piping—requiring repeated rinses and hot water cycles. When you sum all these water uses, the total typically falls in the 15–20 gallons of water per gallon of beer produced. The other numbers are either too low to reflect all process and cleaning needs or too high for standard industry practice.