Expired P2E2 Roundtable: Tour of Susquehanna Brewing Company – Dec. 14, 2017

Pollution Prevention and Energy Efficiency Roundtable (P2E2) Meeting/Holiday Mixer at Susquehanna Brewing Company, Luzerne County.

On the evening of December 14, the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Professionals (PAEP) P2E2 Roundtable held its fourth quarterly meeting at the Susquehanna Brewing Company (SBC).  The owner of the brewery is a descendent of the Stegmaier family and personally provided the one hour tour for our group. The production of beer is very energy-intensive and requires significant amounts of water, compressed air, lighting and refrigeration. According to the Brewers Association, refrigeration, packing and compressed air consume 70% of U.S. breweries’ electricity use.  The SBC Pittston-based brewery is very popular in the region and has incorporated water conservation, recycling and energy efficiency practices into their process operations. SBC uses direct injection of pressurized steam at twice the speed of sound for a 3-dimensional boil.  This allows for 100% of heat transfer. SBC also utilzes a heat exchanger to heat the product from 38F to 140F, a one-hundred year old brewing practice that developed to minimize the amount of wood the brewer would have to chop and coal they would need to provide to fuel the process.  SBC is tuned into process efficiency, they are aware that if they can extract 10% more sugar in the process, they can decrease their raw material purchases, chemical purchases and reduce their carbon emissions. SBC is continuously looking for ways to decrease their production costs but will not sacrifice quality.  In addition, Dr. Marleen Troy, Wilkes University, was presented with an award for her 20 years of service to the Roundtable. A holiday mixer hosted by the RT co-chairs followed with pizza, specialty SBC craft beverages and soft drinks. The event lasted from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and everyone had a relaxing time networking in SBC’s tasting room. Raspberry white chocolate beer was the featured holiday brew. The brewing industry is making strides in satisfying beer lovers and energy efficiency enthusiasts alike! Like peanut butter and chocolate for us environmentalists!  Anyone interested in the beer making process can read more at http://blog.beeriety.com/2009/07/06/how-beer-is-made/.  Also, SBC stated that they are very happy to be serving on the PA legislative committee for breweries.