Solar Hot Water System Used at Portland Brewery

Sundog- Lucky Laborador Brewing Company

Visit the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon and you can enjoy more than just a great pint of beer.  You can take comfort in knowing that your support of the handcrafted beer maker will encourage a (pardon the irresistible pun) “brewing” solar hot water system industry.  Since I live only 3 hours away from Portland, on the opposite side of the Cascades, I cannot wait to go check out the beer… I mean… solar system at the brewery, soon!

Lucky Lab Brewery’s signature beer is the “Solar Flare,” named in part because the restaurant and brewery, located at 915 SE Hawthorne, in Southeast Portland, is now outfitted with sixteen solar thermal collectors on its roof.  You can also enjoy “Solar Powered Light Ale” at the Lucky Lab Brewery.

But let’s get back to the solar hot water system before we talk about the beer!  In December 2007, Lucky Labrador decided to install solar thermal collectors in the roof of its Hawthorne location to support the “liquor back” process of beer making.  This requires water to be heated to 180 degrees F and then piped into a mash tank where sugar is dissolved out of malted grain.  Thanks to the new solar hot water system, the water going to the liquor back at Lucky Labrador comes from a solar storage tank where it has already been warmed by solar energy.

Here is a very basic video showing how it works:

Lucky Labs’s solar hot water system generates more than 1,000 therms, or 30,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable solar energy each year.  The process works as follows:  collectors get heated by sunlight and then they become hotter than the solar tank, a pump circulates a solution of water and propylene glycol through the solar hot water system.  Once it returns to the storage tanks, the heat is released where it warms the brewing water for the liquor back.  In rainy, cloudy Portland, the water can be heated to abou 110 degrees F.  When it is sunny, the water in the solar hot water system tank is heated up to 185 degrees F.

Glycolchiller (liquor back) at Lucky Labs

What does it cost, and is it viable for my business or home?  Those are the same questions I asked.  For a business, how about a mere $70,000?  Not much considering the savings in energy and lower impact on the environment as a result of using a solar hot water system rather than natural gas or electricity.  The owners of the brewery expect to pay for their investment in a mere 2-4 years, thanks in part to federal and state tax credits and renewable energy grants.  Says one of Lucky Labrador’s co-owners:

“It makes sense because of the incentives and the level of the technology now. And it’s just the right thing to do, especially here in Portland.”

What other businesses should consider solar hot water systems?  How about swimming pools, car washes, universities/dorms, apartment buildings.  The possibilities are endless!

Would you consider a solar hot water system?  I have heard so much about the energy savings for individual households, I think we are definitely in the market.

Tags: lucky lab brewery, solar hot water system, solar thermal collector