Originally published at: Someone made a beer out of air conditioner condensation | Boing Boing
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Um yeah. Secondarily and thirdly too.
I mean yay to saving some water, but you could just water some plants with it.
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They could have made a Legionnaires’ Lager perhaps?
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Interesting, at least they are cleaning the water they collect. Water condensed from the air is full of all kinds of dirt, pollen, bacteria, fungus etc.
Ro water on the other hand is insanely pure, (minus the concentrated waste water produced) it’s also expensive so I would expect this beer to come at a premium price point. Unfortunately I would bet this is less craft beer nerds find a way to make it more expensive and more group of people ahead of the curve on moisture farming.
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Just turn on the tap. 
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The airport washrooms flush away much more water than that. Why not recycle it, astronaut style? If it’s then used for beer, the loop will be closed. 
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Beer made from airport condensation seems kind of elite. Why not something down-to-earth like Transit Sweat Ale?
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Arrakis Pale Ale. Salty and dry.
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“Mmm, tastes like Jamis!”
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So it’s really really purified after coming out of th a/c… got it.
I wonder how much lead they reclaimed from the RO process? I’m guessing the a/c are not young enough to be using lead-free solder, but again, that’s just a guess.
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Pffft. Those are just rare, artisanal wild yeasts! It’ll be fine, trust me!
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I would pay a premium for Artesian brewing water but not much to brag about with air conditioner drain water.
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so rather than letting all that water go to waste
But you know, fuck the homeless, per the San Diego attitude.
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“Wow, you can really taste the Legionnaire’s Disease!”
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“This water is extremely soft…”
Since it is effectively distilled, yeah. In fact, I suspect that they have to add a whole lot of brewers salts to it to get the beer to work right. For those who don’t brew, most tap water contains a fair amount of dissolved solids, mostly salts but also calcium carbonate (lime), various metals from the local aquifer, an so on. As such, most beer making doesn’t require additional nutrients to ensure proper yeast development, but for areas with really pure water, it is a requirement to get the beer to ferment out to completion in a timely fashion.
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Mmm this Listeria IPA is really hoppy.
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Yep, RO is close to being just the H and the O2. But expensive? Even smaller distilleries are using RO now. 1000GPD systems, which should cover a 7.5bbl system’s needs, are available for around $4k. It does expel a lot of unused water (usually 3-4+ gallons into the drain for every 1 of useful water). Is that what you mean?
I mean, if you’ve run it through RO and distilled it anyway, the source of the water is meaningless. In fact, this is a waste of energy because of how much effort it takes to purify it for human consumption. It would be genuinely environmental to water plants with that water, or use it as grey water in toilets, irrigation, etc. There are many many ways to close that loop with no additional energy inputs. All they’ve done is make the carbon footprint of the air conditioning even worse.
Stupid gimmick is stupid.
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It’s not just the expensive of the unit, it’s the expense to operate and maintain the unit. New filters, pumps, seals, cleaning chemicals, power, water testing regiment to ensure water quality, somebody to do all this work never mind a hot spare to avoid downtime. It adds up, especially when the alternative is have the local government do all that and just run a pipe through the wall and stick a meter on it.
Also where is this brewery in relation to the airport? Are they going to truck the water over or run a pipe or something?
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I’m with @VeronicaConnor – all they’ve done is create an environmentally-unfriendly gimmick.
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