Portland's first commercial-scale batch of solar powered beer starts brewing today at Southeast
Portland's Lucky Labrador Brewing Company.
A system of insulated pipes,
installed on the roof of the Lucky Lab's SE Hawthorne location in December, draws down nearly enough
energy from the sun to to fuel the first stage of the beer-making process -- enough to heat up the
beer-to-be to 145 degrees F, even on a recent, cold January day.
The finished product will be called "Sun Beer," says Lucky Lab co-owner Gary Geist, and will be on
tap at the brew pub starting Feb. 21. "A light, refreshing summertime ale," Geist calls it. And no,
Geist says, the solar power won't affect the taste.
In California, Sierra
Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico and Anderson
Valley Brewing Company in Boonville use solar electric systems -- large arrays
of photovoltaic panels that convert
sunlight directly into electricity.
But Geist says the Lucky Lab is the first brewery in Portland to use the sun to brew beer.
Instead of using PV panels, the Lucky Lab hired Ra Energy
, near the Fremont Bridge
on Portland's eastside, to install a solar hot water system
that captures the sun's energy to heat the
brewpub's water. Sixteen panels, each four feet by ten feet, are made up of black metal tubes,
through which an anti-freeze solution circulates. The heated solution -- which can hit 230 degrees F --
is piped through a device called a heat exchanger that transfers the heat energy to a 750-gallon tank
in the brewery.
Last week, during Portland's blast of cold, blindingly sunny days, the system captured enough energy
to heat water in the tank to 145 degrees F, Geist said (some energy is lost in the transfer between the
roof pipes and the brew tank). That's nearly all the Lucky Lab brewers need for the first stage of the
beer-making process; they still require natural gas to get them the rest of the way. What's more, the
solar hot water system provides enough energy to supply hot water to the brew pub kitchen and bathrooms.
Come summer, Geist expects solar power to generate all the hot water he needs for the first brewing
stage. Beyond that stage, the beer-in-process must be brought to a boil, and the solar system isn't
equipped for the job. He compares the brewery's use of solar and gas-heated water to a hybrid car that
runs on a combination of gas and electric power.
"I don't want to imply that solar beer is done solely by the sun. It's definitely a complementary
system. You can't make a beer that's going to taste any good without actually boiling it," Geist says.
How much did the solar system cost the Lucky Lab? Between $70,00 and $80,000, Geist says,
before hefty federal and state tax credits
and a rebate from the Energy Trust of Oregon. He expects to recoup the investment and cut his
energy costs in the long run, but the savings will depend on how many sunny days await in 2008.
Coming soon: Geist says the Lucky Lab Web site soon will
feature a real-time gauge that will track how many units of heat power the system is capturing on a
given day and will show current temperature in the sun-powered tank. Also, Lucky Lab owners are at
work on plans for a similar solar system at the
brewery's
Northwest Portland location.
--Shelby Wood
More info:
•Ra Energy features a
photo stream of the Lucky Lab roof installation
•John Foyston's beer blog,
The Beer Here,
noted the Lucky Lab's solar project in December
