Coopers Brewery
Episode: SA Waterwise Special – Our Changing Climate
Presenter: Neville Passmore
Coopers have been in the business of brewing beer in South Australia for 145 years and they recently set up a world class facility at Regency Park and the innovation here has led to water and energy saving on a large scale.
Managing Director Tim Cooper has overseen all of these changes and he explains what is happening on the waterfront.
Dr Tim Cooper: “On the waterfront we now at Regency Park take all the water from bores which are 200 metres underground. Because the water is brackish all that water goes through reverse osmosis which means about a quarter of it is rather salty and that retentate is then pumped out into the intertitle zone of the wetlands to the north, about 6 kilometres. We had to drill a hole 6 kilometres sideways to the north”.
Neville: “The logical thing about water in a brewery is that it is most of the beer, is that the case?”
Dr Tim Cooper: “Yes, the flavour comes from the malt and hops, predominantly the malt but as you say the predominant constituent is water.
Neville: “What other uses are made of water in a plant like this?”
Dr Tim Cooper: “Roughly speaking about 5 times as much water is used as what the consumers will drink, so 5 to 1 ratio, and the water is used for cleaning, sterilising, for boiling to create steam which is used for heating the various processes and for refrigeration processes. There are a number of processes through the whole operation that requires the use of water.
Presenter: Neville Passmore
Coopers have been in the business of brewing beer in South Australia for 145 years and they recently set up a world class facility at Regency Park and the innovation here has led to water and energy saving on a large scale.
Managing Director Tim Cooper has overseen all of these changes and he explains what is happening on the waterfront.
Dr Tim Cooper: “On the waterfront we now at Regency Park take all the water from bores which are 200 metres underground. Because the water is brackish all that water goes through reverse osmosis which means about a quarter of it is rather salty and that retentate is then pumped out into the intertitle zone of the wetlands to the north, about 6 kilometres. We had to drill a hole 6 kilometres sideways to the north”.
Neville: “The logical thing about water in a brewery is that it is most of the beer, is that the case?”
Dr Tim Cooper: “Yes, the flavour comes from the malt and hops, predominantly the malt but as you say the predominant constituent is water.
Neville: “What other uses are made of water in a plant like this?”
Dr Tim Cooper: “Roughly speaking about 5 times as much water is used as what the consumers will drink, so 5 to 1 ratio, and the water is used for cleaning, sterilising, for boiling to create steam which is used for heating the various processes and for refrigeration processes. There are a number of processes through the whole operation that requires the use of water.
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