Sewage beer - 'delicious' and could help us deal with water shortages

The brewers insist the drink is safe and consumers say it tastes great. It also offers a solution to water shortages because of climate change. But would you still grab a pint of this beer if you were told it was made from sewage?

"It's delicious," said Nadine Krogull after tasting Reuse Brew at a trade fair in Munich. "You don't realise that it's waste water." Another drinker added: "I don't notice any difference to a normal beer. It's really good."

This beer, engineered in Germany, is not yet available for purchase. Its main purpose is to demonstrate the possibilities of modern water treatment and how water can be used sustainably. 

"We are currently experiencing very frequent water shortages due to climate change," said Uwe Huebner of Xylem Water Solutions. "One way to counteract this is to reuse treated wastewater. But I can reassure you. You won't find anything from the sewage treatment plant. We have really done very intensive purification."

There are four main ingredients in the production of beer - malt, hops, yeast and water... or in this case, sewage.

Four purification stages are needed. It starts with a mechanical stage with a screening plant, a grit chamber and two primary clarifiers. In the biological stage, microorganisms convert the dissolved substances in the wastewater into solid, settleable substances. The chemical treatment stage removes phosphorus from the wastewater.

The fourth stage is unique to the Weissenburg treatment plant. It involves ozonizing the water by mixing it with ozone via a feed system, using ozone produced on site using oxygen and a generator. 

The ozonization of the waste water in the reactor produces by-products that can be harmful to the aquatic environment, so this process is followed by filtration. This uses a biological activated carbon filter, being trialed for the first time on an industrial scale, and a sand filter. This fourth purification stage removes up to 80 percent of anthropogenic trace substances.

Tobias Fruehauf, operations manager at Weissenburg's wastewater treatment plant, revealed the water is not yet safe to drink at this stage so has to be treated further.

Huebner added: "This makes the water cleaner than the drinking water quality law actually requires. It even includes partial demineralization." 

Reuse Brew is a joint project between Xylem, the Technical University of Munich and the German city of Weissenburg. 

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The PR team may have a job on their hands in convincing global consumers to dive into their beer, but the growing effects of climate change may just help to steer the market in its direction. 

"Reuse Brew is not merely an exceptional beer; it exemplifies the vast capabilities of water recycling in combating the pressing issue of water scarcity," said Roxana Marin-Simen de Redaelli of Xylem. 

"This project is a beacon of modern, sustainable wastewater recycling technologies and underscores the importance of utilizing local resources to mitigate groundwater pressure and ensure supply security during periods of drought."

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