The hot water demand at breweries is high. And with good reason–a brewery lives and dies by its water. Water is needed for every step of the process, from making the beer to cleaning equipment, serving, and keeping the health inspector happy. But this demand can catch growing brewers off guard if they’re not prepared. Taprooms and production floors have dramatically different hot water needs. Design a system to support one space? You may leave the other high and dry.
Key Takeaways:
- Taprooms and production floors have very different hot water needs. If you’re running both, you need to consider both.
- Shared hot water systems present big risks like failed CIP cycles, health code violations, and unhappy customers.
- Size for your peak demand, including weekend service rush and brew day.
- When you add a taproom or food service, you need to reassess your hot water infrastructure.
Why Breweries Are a Unique Hot Water Challenge
Whether you’re opening a taproom as part of your production facility or scaling up to a separate space, it’s essential to understand how the two sides of your business compete for hot water. The recognition of what you need is the first step to ensuring your system can handle both.
After all, breweries are unique—they aren’t exactly restaurants, and they aren’t solely manufacturers, yet in some ways they do both jobs simultaneously. So, you have two completely different operational contexts under one roof, and both demand ample hot water.
The production side of a brewery is high-volume. The schedule is demanding and intense, and must be followed with precision and attention to detail. The taproom side, on the other hand, varies. A taproom is demand-driven and customer-facing. Hot water needs can ebb and flow.
The problem is that many breweries start off small with a production-only focus. As the operation grows and brew fans gather, they add on a taproom, yet they don’t reassess their hot water infrastructure. As the craft brewery has boomed over the last few decades, it’s outpaced infrastructure planning for many operations.
Hot Water on the Production Floor
The production floor of a brewery runs on a very specific schedule. Timing must be just right to get the perfect brew. Production is often high-volume, and there’s very little room for error.
Hot water runs through every operation. Key hot water uses on the production side include mashing and brewing, where water temperature is absolutely critical–water must stay in the 150–160°F range.
Cleaning-in-place (CIP) cycles for tanks, lines, and kegs are the big hot water draw. Keg washing and sanitizing call for hot water. Equipment and floor sanitation are a must, especially post-brew. Specialty processes like wort cooling and heat exchanger operations can also involve hot water systems.
Fortunately, with a brewery production floor, demand is predictable and schedulable. You know when brew day is coming up, and that helps with hot water planning. But as every brewer knows, when that day hits, it hits hard. CIP cycles can simultaneously demand large volumes of hot water at a sustained high temperature. The temperature and pressure consistency matter enormously for the quality outcome of the product.
So, if you face a dip in hot water during a demanding CIP cycle, it can result in a failed sanitation cycle, which has major consequences in terms of regulations, productivity, and even the taste of the final product.
For your equipment, it means brewing usually requires high-capacity, high-recovery commercial water heaters. High-temperature applications can also demand commercial boilers and boosters. Sizing is a mandatory consideration. You need a water heating system that can account for peak loads, like those times when you’re brewing, doing CIP, and keg washing all at the same time.
Hot Water in the Taproom
A brewery taproom is a whole different animal from production. It’s unpredictable. While precision isn’t as crucial a consideration in a taproom, hot water is in no way optional. It’s used in nearly every aspect of the taproom, too.
Your commercial dishwasher usually does a high-temp final rinse. That process requires 180°F water consistently, so it can quickly become the biggest hot water demand.
But there are certainly other concerns and water needs, too. Handwashing stations are a requirement to ensure your taproom complies with the health code. Patrons (and staff) need restrooms with hot water. Hot water is needed for even light bar glass washing and cleaning.
Serving nibbles at your brewery? Expect a meaningful increase in your hot water demand. Even a limited menu will call for kitchen access to hot water. If you serve food, you’ll need to prepare for restaurant-level hot water demands.
Hot water demands are quite variable in a taproom. Peaks often happen around service rushes on Friday nights or weekend afternoons. All those customers in your taproom? They notice immediately when hot water fails and results in a backed-up dishwasher, cold rinse, and health code concerns.
Your commercial dishwasher alone is a major draw. Commercial units typically cycle repeatedly during service. Your hot water recovery rate makes a huge difference. You need a tank that can handle the needs of your operations and keep up with the Friday dinner rush.
When breweries add taprooms with food service mid-growth, they often don’t revisit the water heater capacity. For equipment, that means you may not have consistent, reliable hot water at the right temps for health codes. In some cases, a taproom may require separate zoning or even dedicated hot water units for larger operations.
When a Taproom and Production Floor Compete for the Same Hot Water
Trouble comes when your taproom and production floor are competing for the same hot water. If you have shared hot water systems, without proper planning, you can run into a situation where one side is robbing the other.
The worst-case scenario is when there’s a service rush in your taproom on your brew day. The other is when your production floor tries to run a CIP cycle during taproom peak. Water temps crater and pressure can tank, making dishwashing and handwashing a challenge.
There are two major concerns that emerge from these scenarios. First, you’re running a regulatory risk. If the taproom handwashing or dishwasher temps fall below code, it becomes a health inspection concern. Secondly, there’s a product quality risk; if production-side hot water gets interrupted mid-process, batch quality will suffer.
Why do these situations crop up in the brewer production/taproom? There are several common mistakes we see in the commercial water heating industry:
- Sizing for production, but failing to upgrade when the taproom is added
- Assuming the system can handle it without calculating the actual demand
- Not accounting for taproom growth (for example, adding events or food service)
Fortunately, with all three of these problems, there are several water heater solutions to help you keep up with demand. The first, most reliable option is to plan a dedicated system for each side of your operation.
The second option is to have redundant multi-unit setups to ensure capacity without competing for the water. The other option is to plan zoning and controls to prioritize during peak demand.
For most commercial breweries and taprooms, the first option is the way to go. But in the brewing industry, it’s important to stay within your budget. At Reliable Water Services, we can help you get it right.
Sizing for a Dual-Purpose Brewery Operation
There are some key considerations to help you get the water heater sizing right for both sides of your brewery.
We start by helping our customers calculate peak simultaneous demand. Rather than looking at each side separately, we look at the total as a whole. On the production side, we factor in CIP volume, keg wash cycles, and the ways they may overlap. For the taproom, we need to factor in dishwasher cycle frequency, kitchen needs, and rush periods. Finally, the recovery rate is just as crucial as your tank size. How fast can the system reheat?
The most important rule is not to size for average demand. Size your water heater for peak demand and build in a buffer.
To get it right, work with a commercial hot water specialist with experience, like Reliable Water Services. The solution isn’t to just buy a bigger tank and hope. Fortunately, with our rental plans, you can scale equipment as your brewery grows without going off the capital investment cliff. With 24/7 service, when and if something goes down, you can relax, knowing help is on the way.
If you’re seeing any of the signs that your current system isn’t keeping up, it’s time to assess. Reach out to our team or do a quick diagnostic checklist to help you calculate.
Quick Hot Water Demand Checklist for Breweries
- The taproom dishwasher is running slowly or not reaching the right temperature during rush.
- Hot water is running out during or right after brew day.
- CIP cycles are taking much longer than expected.
- Staff reports inconsistent water temperature at the handwashing stations.
- A health inspector flags your water temperature compliance.
- You’ve added a taproom or foodservice to your brewery after your original installation.
Running a taproom and a production floor is already a juggling act, so your hot water system shouldn’t add to your stress. At Reliable Water Services, we specialize in commercial hot water for the food and beverage industry. Whether you’re sizing a new system, scaling up, or troubleshooting, we can help you assess your brewery’s hot water demands and build a solution to keep your delicious brews flowing.
Reach out today to get a quote or ask us any questions. We’re always here to help.