Grundfos’ smart technology supplying craft brewer with quality water

4. February 2021

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Consistency is paramount in brewing operations. Careful attention to water quality control ensures every beer tastes the same everywhere it’s distributed. This is especially true for MadTree Brewing, Ohio’s first canned craft brewer. Since the company’s inception in 2013, reverse osmosis (RO) has been used for all its process water.

Reverse osmosis can customize the water source, a critical process in producing MadTree’s critically acclaimed portfolio of beers. From a German Kölsch to a French Saison, each beer maintains a consistent mineral profile and an accurate brewing water profile.

The solution

To achieve its vision for a more efficient and growth-ready facility, MadTree tapped Veolia Water Technologies to provide an RO skid system that met the brewer’s needs.

Two Grundfos SMART Digital Dosing pumps and a Grundfos CRN vertical multistage centrifugal pump were specified for the 100 gpm (gallons per minute) RO packaged system. Rowe added that the dosing pumps were selected for their accuracy across a broad range for chemical injection at two key points in the process.

In addition to the RO system, MadTree utilizes two Grundfos CRN pumps for its water supply and recirculation skid and two Grundfos CR pumps for its steam generator feedwater skid.

The outcome

The Grundfos pumps have been issue free since they went into service in 2017. Rowe recommends Grundfos based on ease of use, including ample ability to adjust flow rate through a simple interface, minimal maintenance and high reliability.

Early on in the RO system’s life, adjustments were needed to dial in the precise amount of chemical injection needed to eliminate the chloramines in the brewer’s incoming water supply. Rather than requiring a Veolia tech to come out and make the adjustments, Rowe’s team was able to precisely dial in adjustments over the 3,000:1 turndown range of the pump to meet system demands themselves.