A Dorset brewery has found a sustainable solution for beer it was unable to sell during the pandemic by using it to help generate electricity to power its utilities.
Hall & Woodhouse used beer returned by pubs from its 180-strong estate across the south of England, which were forced to temporarily close during lockdown, to create enough electricity to power nearly 17,000 average homes for a day - or around 46 homes for one whole year.
Last year South West Water revealed it had received requests from more than a 1,000 pubs across Cornwall, Devon and small parts of Dorset and Somerset to allow them to pour beer down the drain.
READ MORE: {}
The family-owned business, which was founded in 1777 and has been based at its headquarters in Blandford Forum since 1900, was able to convert the unused beer into green energy by using a wastewater treatment plant at its new brewery.
Head brewer at Hall & Woodhouse Toby Heasman explained: “Brewing is a highly energy-intensive process, so as far back as 2015, we started to look at ways we could incorporate more green energy into the way we work.
“The decision was made to make sustainable energy production an integral part of our new brewery, which came into operation in 2017. In addition to solar (PV) panels, we installed a wastewater treatment plant, which creates biogas. The biogas is fed through a unit which generates electricity to power our packaging lines and utilities.
“Heat produced by the combined heat and power (CHP) engine is used to preheat the boiler feed water, which in turn produces steam to boil the beer.”
The business said that it had experienced a “boom in sales'' for its Badger Ales products in supermarkets with the closure of pubs.
Most Read
It added that a rise in demand stockists had also served to boost the amount of green electricity produced by the brewery, as all wastewater created during the brewing process is also processed through the sustainable electricity generators.
The company sets a monthly target for its use of self-generated electricity as part of its long term objective to become carbon neutral.
Sign up for more business news straight to your inbox
Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, email breaking news alerts and weekly round-ups. To sign up, find out more and see all of our newsletters, follow the link here
Matt Kearsey, managing director of Hall & Woodhouse, said: “As an independent family-owned brewer with a heritage stretching back nearly 250 years, innovating with new technologies and ways of working has been central to our continuing success.
"I’m pleased to say that we are continuing to look at new ways of maximising the creation of green energy to help conserve resources.
“We have a responsibility to operate consciously, and to take continual steps to improve sustainability, as part of ensuring that as a business we thrive for generations to come.”
Hall & Woodhouse was able to reopen 19 of its managed pubs in six different regions for outdoor dining in April, following the lifting of government restrictions on the hospitality sector.
Don’t miss
In total, across both its managed and tenanted estate, the business currently has over 100 pubs open for outdoor hospitality.
The company will begin the phased re-opening of the rest of its managed house estate from 17 May, in line with the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.