Arctic Fox Brewing

Arctic Fox and the Environment

Running a brewery involves using a fair amount of energy and a lot of water. At Arctic Fox we respect the environment in the brewing process and are engaged in a number of activities that aim to minimise our impact on the environment and reduce our carbon footprint.

Reducing water usage - We use a lot of water at the brewery, in the beer, washing equipment, cleaning the brewery. We have installed two 3000L plastic water tanks to hold water that we use to cool the beer as it gets transferred into the fermenters. This means we can reuse the cooling water, saving about 2000L per batch.

Water treatment - All of our wastewater gets pumped into a holding tank. The pH level and temperature of the wastewater are checked to ensure that it meets with EPA requirements before it is emptied. The wastewater is also monitored and periodically checked by the local water company.

Packaging - One of the reasons that we chose our 'Top-Lock' six pack holder was the fact that it uses about half as much cardboard as regular six pack holders. Our six pack holders and cartons are both made locally, which reduces the distance they have to be transported.

Brewing waste disposal - At the moment, all the spent grains and hops get bagged up and taken to Fabian's parent's property where they are dug into the vege garden. Apparently the birds come from miles around to rummage through the spent grains.

Recycling of packaging - Broken bottles, damaged cardboard packaging and other recyclable waste is placed in a recycling bin rather than put out with the rubbish. We also use recycled paper in our office.

Ingredients - We are trying to incorporate mostly Australian ingredients in our beers. This helps to lessen the cost to the environment through substantially reduced transport costs. We also feel that as an Australian company, we should try and support other Australian businesses, in this case, our farmers.

Arctic Fox in the Future

We have a few other plans to reduce our water consumption and our carbon footprint. Some of these ideas cost a lot more than others and they all take time to implement, so it may take us a while to do everything we want to do. A couple of the ideas are:

Installing a tank to collect rainwater for use in cleaning, further reducing the amount of water we use from the mains supply.

Solar heating of our water to reduce electricity usage.

Solar power for lighting.

Making our equipment more water efficient and improving our processes to reduce water usage.


Building the brewery	Photos of the brewery	Out and about with Arctic Fox