California brewer Sierra Nevada has teamed up with microrefiner E-Fuel to turn wasted yeast into enough high-grade ethanol to power their delivery trucks and a few hundred other vehicles. As if there weren't enough excuses for drinking the craft brewer's Pale Ale and ESB, we can now add "saving American beer delivery trucks from dependence on foreign oil" to the list.
It turns out that for every delicious pint they brew, some "bottom of the barrel" high alcohol content waste product ends up being discarded. Every year, 1.6 million gallons of "waste beer" have traditionally ended up as dairy feed -- which explains why cow tipping is so darn easy. Now, the beermaker has installed Efuel100 Microfuelers, mini refineries that raise the alcohol content of the waste product enough that it becomes high-quality ethanol. The brewery hopes to provide that fuel to hundreds of Central Valley customers before the end of 2009.
“This has the potential to be a great thing for the environment and further our commitment to be becoming more energy independent," Sierra
Nevada Brewing Company co-founder and president Ken Grossman said in a statement. We're delighted to fill our mugs with Sierra Nevada as long as we're helping to fill their tanks with ethanol.
It's important to remember that the beer is craft made, but the fuel is home brewed. As we told you back in May, the Efuel100 Microfueler is a device that's remarkably similar to a washing machine. It's about the same size, requires the same drain set up, and hooks up to the same power outlet as your mother's Maytag. Unlike a washing machine, you add any kind of yeasty water (old booze will do) instead of clothes and sugar instead of detergent. After a week-long spin cycle, the machine produces up to 35 gallons of ethanol. The waste beer works particularly well because it already has an alcohol content of up to 8 percent and includes enough yeast for the Microfueler to remove water and raise the alcohol content to 15 percent.
"Using a waste product to fuel your car is friendlier to the environment and lighter on your wallet, easily beating prices at the gas pump," said E-Fuel founder and CEO Tom Quinn. It's a natural fit for the green-minded brewery, which already makes use of fuel cells and a massive solar installation. Still, if the idea of further refining "waste beer" into fuel catches on at larger brewers like SABMiller, we fear that High Life might become a thing of the past.
Photo courtesy flickr user philliecasablanca
