Home Brewing.... Is It Helping The Sustainability Cause

[m3taL]

Just seen the latest Soda Stream add, that implys that using a soda stream saves bottles, there for helping with sustainability.....


Got me to thinking... are we doing our bit for the environment by Brewing at home.... People who KEG and drink often, would be cutting down on a lot of Transport, Cooling, and Bottles in Landfill / Recycle plants. Also saving on the Big brewerys running costs & Carbon footprint....

Im guessing those who do AG brewing are also cutting down on Kits/Extracts in all the same measures....


Just somthing for all of us to ponder.... How many Miles has your beer done to make it too your glass??

 

[Hippy]

I've often that about the carbon footprint my brewing practices create, not just the amount of fossil fuels used in creating the wort and given off during fermentation, but the fact that I go through the best part of about 20kg of compressed CO2 a year for carbonation and filtering etc. Would be interesting to know how that would compare to just drinking commercially brewed beer or a non carbonated drink like wine. Then there's the energy used to keep it all chilled.
Ah **** what a depressing thought, I'm gonna have a beer. :drinks:

 

[rotten]

It's helping my sustainability

 

[m3taL]

I never by any means wanted it to be depressing hahaha....

and i guess there is still a lot of Energy used to make a brew i guess..... maybe it doesnt save a whole lot....

Maybe Looking at weather or not to use Electric Elements to heat Water and boil wort or LPG Gas or Natural Gas......

The amount of water used to brew (Cleaning, Sainitizing, Wort content, chilling)

I dont know why i'm even on this thought train but i like to think im a modern day hippy and trying to do my best for the enviroment and stick it too the man in taxes that are used to pay High profile pollys who do **** all anyway and get a modest 3 figure income then preach about tough times for familys as the raise electricity prices to pay there wages.......

Im far too sober i should take up drinking on week nights again!!!

 

[bum]

and get a modest 3 figure income

THOSE FATCATS!!!

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Be nice if the sustainability was on some more important commodity like clean air and water.
Buy a HERM-IT it saves the planet! Really a bad way to flog a product
Nev

 

[goomboogo]

I'm doing it tough on a 2 figure income. I don't know how people survive on a 1 figure income.

 

[thedragon]

The thought has passed my mind on more than one occasion. Think about the energy that goes in to making a bottle, all for a single use. Those of us that still bottle get multiple uses out of our bottles. My brewing mates all generally pretty good on water use, especially those of us that no chill.

I'm sure that there are significant efficiencies to be had by brewing thousands of litres at once, however that's gotta be off set by the bottling, factory overheads and transport. Not to mention the hot air that goes in to the advertising. I've not got an evidence to support my assertion, I just reckon it sounds reasonable... But happy to be proven wrong.

 

[citizensnips]

Yeah a lot of my studies involve sustainability so I often get thinking on the topic. You question how much water, sanitiser and so on you use but at the same time I doubt commercial breweries would use any less.......and especially taking into the savings your making as jamey mentioned with no transportation, reusing bottles/kegging and so on I think it would be in a sense sustainable to homebrew. My mind works in an annoying way where if it doesnt seem economical and sustainable... I question why I am doing it..........Yet what I have realised and what I think it comes down to is the fact that its your hobby, you cant sacrifice what for what many of us is our biggest pleasure just to save a few litres of water, at the end of the day its about sustaining yourself through small amounts of pleasure and gratification you get from performing a task, but if at the same time you can be sustainable... then great thats a bonus.

I type all this then in a few days time Ill be using a shit load of water on brewing day feeling guilty as hell and say to myself................who are you h34r:

cheers and beers :chug:

 

[labels]

I wouldn't worry about the CO2 aspect of it. From what I've read and led to believe the CO2 we buy is mainly captured fro large breweries. The cycle is short. The barley grows and absorbs CO2, it's malted, we mash it, the CO2 is released by the yeast. Worst part is the CO2 from fossil fuel used to kiln the malt.
Steve

 

[bignath]

High profile pollys who do **** all anyway and get a modest 3 figure income then preach about tough times for familys as the raise electricity prices to pay there wages.......

I haven't been on a 3 figure income since i stopped getting pocket money! Ahh those were the days...

 

[dent]

I think it is a bunch of feel-good bullshit for the most part, us here living in Australia. Most of us use up more than our body weight in petrol every few weeks. The most sustainable thing one could do as a brewer is not have any children. If there really was a hell we should all go to it IMO. Luckily, there isn't.

 

[manticle]

I don't have kids and I ride a bike almost everywhere.

Can I stay away from hell? I do eat a lot of hamburgers.

 

[Mardoo]

I don't have kids and I ride a bike almost everywhere.

Can I stay away from hell? I do eat a lot of hamburgers.

As long as you don't fart you should squeak by...

 

[manticle]

Actually Michael Gira just told me the sex in my soul will damn me to hell so don't worry about it.

 

[bum]

The most sustainable thing one could do as a brewer is not have any children.

Not having kids certainly is a more sustainable thing to do than having them.

 

[dent]

Find enough women and you could keep pumping them out indefinitely! I believe in you.

 

[hsb]

The talk about reduced freight for commercial breweries is definitely offset by the malt to store to your door equation. Plus the use of European and US malts and hops that commercials might not.
Jump in the Japanese car for another trip to the big green shed to buy Chinese plumbing, then online for some more airfreighted US hops.

I prefer to think of homebrewing in craft terms rather than sustainability. Nothing about my lifestyle sustains the earth sadly.

 

[bum]

Find enough women and you could keep pumping them out indefinitely! I believe in you.

But can Centrelink afford all those single parent pensions?

It just isn't practical.

 

[m3taL]

Yeah a lot of my studies involve sustainability so I often get thinking on the topic. You question how much water, sanitiser and so on you use but at the same time I doubt commercial breweries would use any less.......and especially taking into the savings your making as jamey mentioned with no transportation, reusing bottles/kegging and so on I think it would be in a sense sustainable to homebrew. My mind works in an annoying way where if it doesnt seem economical and sustainable... I question why I am doing it..........Yet what I have realised and what I think it comes down to is the fact that its your hobby, you cant sacrifice what for what many of us is our biggest pleasure just to save a few litres of water, at the end of the day its about sustaining yourself through small amounts of pleasure and gratification you get from performing a task, but if at the same time you can be sustainable... then great thats a bonus.

I type all this then in a few days time Ill be using a shit load of water on brewing day feeling guilty as hell and say to myself................who are you h34r:

cheers and beers :chug:

Hahahah Water the garden with it sanitize the roses hahaha