There are four main ingredients in the production of beer: malt, hops, yeast and... sewage? That last one might not sound like the most intuitive choice, but it's the one that's already being made - with sewage water, of course, having gone through a total of four purification stages. The first three treatment stages are mechanical, biological and chemical. The mechanical treatment stage includes a screening plant, a grit chamber and two primary clarifiers.
Yet, this water is still not safe to drink, said Tobias Fruehauf, operations manager at Weissenburg's wastewater treatment plant. So, the water has to be treated further. "This makes the water cleaner than the drinking water quality law actually requires it. It even includes partial demineralization," explained Uwe Huebner of Xylem Water Solutions. State-of-the-art technology makes it economical and efficient to use sewage water to brew beer.
We are currently experiencing very frequent water shortages due to climate change," said Huebner. "And one way to counteract this is to reuse treated wastewater." All these purification efforts culminate in satisfied beer lovers. "It's delicious," said Nadine Krogull after tasting the beer at a trade fair in Munich. "You don't realize that it's waste water." "I don't notice any difference to a normal beer.