Case study · industry archetype · food & beverage

Brewery: energy and water per hectolitre, one record from brewhouse to filler

BREW WEEK 45
SHEET 1 OF 7

A family-owned regional brewery with a soft-drink line. Batch brewhouse, 48 fermenters, two pasteurisers, three filling lines, and the utilities that carry the cost: steam, cold, compressed air, water, CO2. Eleven equipment makers, three decades of controls. The Technical Director is measured on kWh and m³ per hectolitre and on the energy bill per batch; the QA lead is measured on the retailer audit and on HACCP records that hold up.

This study is written as an archetype: a plant assembled from public figures and typical equipment, not a named site. It shows how Pragmatos reads the plant through Loom, shows it on Pragmatos Live, proposes through Orbis, turns an approved proposal into work through Flow, and keeps the chain in Decisions. Pragmatos reads, people act: nothing writes to a control, no recipe and no limit is changed by the software.

Every figure that looks like a result carries the stamp MODELLED and its inputs are printed on Sheet 7, each tagged ASSUMED, DERIVED or S-SOURCE, with the half-and-double case beside it.

A fermentation cellar: a row of cylindro-conical tanks with sight glasses above a floor run of colour-banded pipes — Cellar, brew week 45. Composed scene, no product screen.

The week's brew plan, as a tank board

Brewhouse

10 vessels
400 hl per brew
28 brews this week

Cellar

48 fermenters
12 bright-beer tanks
11,200 hl in process

Pasteurisers

flash: glass, kegs
tunnel: cans
PU per batch recorded

Line 1 · glass

returnable bottles
40,000 bph
3 changeovers

Line 2 · cans

beer and soft drinks
30,000 cph
5 changeovers

Line 3 · kegs

300 kegs per hour
2 shifts
1 changeover

Steam

2 gas boilers
heat 48 kWh/hl
meter: gas, steam

Cold

ammonia plant
3 screw compressors
42 % of electricity

Air

3 compressors
10 % of electricity
flow, kWh, pressure

Water

0.40 m³/hl
treatment in, pre-treatment out
meter per area

CIP

5 circuits
120 cycles this week
conductivity, temperature, time

CO2

recovery plant
bought-in top-up
kg per hl recorded

550,000 hl

a year, beer and soft drinks together

32.7 GWh

electricity 6.3 GWh and heat 26.4 GWh a year; above the EnEfG §8 threshold of 7.5 GWh^S5

€4.82 /hl

energy today at the prices on Sheet 7, €2.65 million a year

Written for

The Technical Director or Head of Operations, who signs the energy budget and the maintenance plan, and the QA lead, who signs the HACCP plan and sits across the table from the retailer's auditor. The quantities on these sheets are theirs: kWh and m³ per hectolitre, CIP time and chemical per cycle, line changeover and stops, product loss in points, € energy per batch.

SAMPLED public sources S1–S8CHECKED product facts 2026-10-27CS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 1 of 7

Sheet 2 · the plant, utility by utility

Eleven makers, three decades of controls, one read path per area

MAKERS A–K
SHEET 2 OF 7

Area	Equipment	Controls	What Loom reads	Read path
Brewhouse	10 vessels, 400 hl per brew	A · 2009	step, vessel temperatures, steam to kettle, brew number	S7 read, read-only
Cellar	48 fermenters, 12 bright-beer tanks	B · 2001, C · 2014	tank temperature, tank state, glycol valve state	PT100 via I/O box; OPC UA on the newer group
Flash pasteuriser	glass and keg beer	D · 2016	holding temperature, flow, PU per batch	OPC UA
Tunnel pasteuriser	cans and soft drinks	E · 1998	zone temperatures, belt running, steam valve	4–20 mA and volt-free via I/O box
Line 1 · glass	returnable bottles, 40,000 bph	F · 2003	filler running, counts, stop lamps	volt-free contacts, pulse counter
Line 2 · cans	beer and soft drinks, 30,000 cph	G · 2019	state, counts, fault codes, changeover timer	OPC UA
Line 3 · kegs	300 kegs per hour	H · 2011	state, counts, steam and water per keg	Modbus TCP
CIP plant	5 circuits, caustic and acid tanks	I · 2012	return conductivity, return temperature, flow, step time	4–20 mA via I/O box
Steam	2 gas boilers	J · 2006	gas, steam, feed water, condensate return	pulse meters; steam meter Modbus TCP
Cold	ammonia plant, 3 screw compressors	K · 2010	kWh per compressor, suction and condensing temperature	pulse sub-meters, PT100 via I/O box
Air	3 compressors, one dryer	K · 2010	kWh per compressor, flow, header pressure	pulse sub-meters, 4–20 mA
Water, CO2	treatment, pre-treatment, recovery	–	m³ per area, kg CO2 recovered and bought	pulse meters

Poll rates: 60 s on the I/O boxes and control reads, 900 s on the meters. A supervisor approves each connection before it goes live; the person who installs is never the person who approves. Readings buffer at the edge when the network drops and catch up afterwards. Edge computer from a hardware partner; Loom is the software on it. Protocols are the ones the plant already speaks; nothing is added to a control to make it readable.

A pipe bridge with six runs banded in the DIN 2403 colours for water, steam, air, alkali and acid, with valves and gauges — Pipe bridge between the brewhouse and the utilities. Composed scene, no product screen.

Where the utilities go today

Utility	A year	Per hl	Largest user
Electricity	6,270 MWh	11.4 kWh	refrigeration, 42 %^S3
Heat (gas)	26,400 MWh	48 kWh	brewhouse, then pasteurisers and CIP
Water	220,000 m³	0.40 m³	CIP and bottle washing
Compressed air	627 MWh	1.1 kWh	filling lines, packaging

Per-hectolitre figures from the Bavarian environment agency's brewery guide^S3; the plant total is an assumption on Sheet 7. The guide puts refrigeration at 40–45 % of a brewery's electricity and compressed air at up to 30 %.

What the Technical Director cannot see today

Energy is one meter at the gate and a monthly bill. Which brew, which line, which CIP circuit took the kWh is a spreadsheet exercise once a quarter. The 1998 tunnel pasteuriser and the 2003 glass line keep their own records on paper; the three makers of controls on the cellar do not share a screen. The EnEfG §8 energy management system needs a measures list with a DIN EN 17463 valuation^S5, and the retailer's auditor asks for the HACCP monitoring record of a given batch within minutes.

SAMPLED S3 LfU Bayern 2024CHECKED read paths from product factsCS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 2 of 7

Sheet 3 · cost lines per hectolitre

What a hectolitre costs in utilities, and what is pushing each line

LEDGER · €/HL
SHEET 3 OF 7

Cost line	Quantity today	€/hl today	€ a year	What moves it	Source
Heat: brewhouse, pasteurisers, CIP, bottle washer	48 kWh/hl	2.88	1,584,000	Gas producer prices stand 15.0 % above a year earlier, energy overall 14.9 %^S1. One 400 hl brew takes about 8,640 kWh of heat, €518 at today's gas price.	S1, S3
Electricity: refrigeration, air, lines, brewhouse	11.4 kWh/hl	1.94	1,065,900	Electricity producer prices 8.2 % above a year earlier^S1. Refrigeration alone is 40–45 % of the kWh; the guide's optimised plant runs at 8.3 kWh/hl^S3.	S1, S3
Water and wastewater	0.40 m³/hl	1.80	990,000	The EU best-available-techniques range for breweries is 0.15–0.50 m³/hl^S4; this plant sits in the upper half, CIP and bottle washing first.	S4
CIP: water, heat, caustic and acid	6,000 cycles	0.28	153,000	Each cycle is validated to a fixed time and concentration; a circuit that runs past its validated time is only seen if someone is watching the return line.	Sheet 7
Unplanned line stops	45 days	0.05	29,250	Stops on the 2003 and 1998 equipment are logged by hand; the reason code arrives a shift later, if at all.	Sheet 7
Product loss, brewhouse to filler	4.0 points	1.00	550,000	Tank-to-tank balance is read once a month; the outlier tank or the outlier changeover is found late or not at all. Each half point is 2,750 hl.	Sheet 7
Market: beer volume	−6.0 %	–	–	German beer sales fall 6.0 % in 2025 to about 7.8 billion litres, the steepest drop since 1993^S2; 1,415 breweries remain, 53 fewer than a year before^S2. Fixed cost per hectolitre rises as volume falls.	S2
Regulation: EnEfG §8, §9	32.7 GWh	–	–	Above 7.5 GWh a year an energy or environmental management system is required, with measures valued to DIN EN 17463; above 2.5 GWh, implementation plans for economic measures^S5.	S5
Audit: IFS Food v8, HACCP	1 KO clause	–	–	IFS Food v8 makes the monitoring of each CCP a knock-out requirement, with records kept^S6; Regulation (EC) 852/2004 Art. 5 requires documents and records proportionate to the business^S7.	S6, S7
People: who reads the plant	13.3 million	–	–	13.3 million people in Germany, 30.0 % of today's workforce, reach retirement age by 2040^S8. The brewer who knows the 1998 pasteuriser by its sound is among them.	S8

Energy per hectolitre today

€4.82

heat €2.88 plus electricity €1.94, the two largest lines; €2,649,900 a year at 550,000 hl.

Per 400 hl brew

€518

of gas in the brewhouse alone, 45 % of the heat going to mashing, lautering and boiling. Shown per brew number; not counted among the results.

Sources

S1 Destatis PD26_373, 20 Oct 2026 · S2 Destatis PD26_037, 2 Feb 2026, and PD26_32, 4 Aug 2026 · S3 LfU Bayern, brewery energy guide, 2024 · S4 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2031, food, drink and milk BAT conclusions · S5 EnEfG §8, §9 · S6 IFS Food v8, 2023 · S7 Regulation (EC) 852/2004 Art. 5 · S8 Destatis N039, 23 Jun 2026. Full references on Sheet 7.

SAMPLED S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8CHECKED €/hl arithmetic on Sheet 7CS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 3 of 7

Sheet 4 · one record, brewhouse to filler

Read taps on every vessel, the CIP loop, and the one step a person takes

FLOWSHEET · LOT 45-17
SHEET 4 OF 7

Lot 45-17, a Tuesday: the record as it builds

Loom readsBrew 45-17 starts at 05:10. Steam to the kettle, cold to CCT 23, the line 2 counter and the CIP return line on circuit 3 all arrive as readings with the lot number attached, through the read paths on Sheet 2.

Pragmatos Live showsOne screen for the shift: brewhouse step, 48 tank states, line 2 running at 27,400 cph, kWh and m³ per hectolitre for the week so far, the five CIP circuits with their step and elapsed time. Hall by hall, machine by machine.

Orbis proposesCIP circuit 3 is 14 minutes past its validated caustic time and return conductivity has been flat for 11 of them. Proposal: end the step at validated time on the next cycle. Shown with the readings, the rule used, how much data, the risk, and what it cannot tell.

A person decidesThe CIP supervisor approves, the QA lead is named on the record. Nothing writes to the CIP control; the validated programme stays as QA set it. A rejected proposal is kept with its reason.

Flow turns it into workAn approved proposal becomes a task for the CIP technician and, where the plant wants it, a maintenance order handed to the ERP by the interface the plant already runs, REST or CSV. The hand-over for a particular ERP is agreed per plant.

Decisions keeps the chainReading, proposal, approval, work and result as one record under lot 45-17. QA chooses which of these to attach to the HACCP file for the retailer audit, and which go into the EnEfG §8 measures list with a DIN EN 17463 valuation.

Pulse adds one sentence to the week: specific power of screw compressor 2 is drifting against the other two at the same suction temperature, a condition for the refrigeration contractor's next visit. The HACCP plan, the critical limits and the release of every batch stay with QA and the brewer; Pragmatos holds the readings and the record beside them.

Bottles on a conveyor approaching a filler carousel in a green hall — Line 1, glass, approaching the filler. Composed scene, no product screen.

Three readers of the same record

The QA lead attaches the pasteuriser PU and holding-temperature readings of lot 45-17 to the HACCP file, with the person who approved each step named.

The Technical Director takes kWh per hectolitre by utility and the measured effect of each approved proposal into the EnEfG §8 measures list, where the DIN EN 17463 valuation is done.

The retailer's auditor asks for lot 45-17 and gets the monitoring record by lot number, the way the brewery filed it.

SAMPLED lot 45-17CHECKED read-only: nothing writes to a controlCS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 4 of 7

Sheet 5 · what the readings show

kWh per hectolitre, stacked by utility, against the published bands

WEEK 45 · kWh/hl
SHEET 5 OF 7

Electricity and heat per hectolitre and the optimised-plant values are the Bavarian guide's figures for a 250,000 hl brewery^S3, applied to this archetype's 550,000 hl. The split of heat between brewhouse, pasteurisers and the rest is an assumption on Sheet 7. The band is the EU BAT-associated range for total energy in breweries, 0.02–0.05 MWh/hl^S4.

What Pragmatos Live shows in week 45

Reading	This week	Beside it
kWh per hl, electricity	11.9	52-week mean 11.4; brew count down, cold load flat
kWh per hl, heat	47.2	condensate return 71 %, boiler 2 on standby 38 h
m³ water per hl	0.41	glass line washer 0.09 of it
CIP circuit 3, caustic step	+14 min	return conductivity flat for 11 of them
Compressor 2, specific power	+6 %	against 1 and 3 at the same suction temperature
Air compressors running	2 of 3	Sunday 02:00–05:00, no line running
Tunnel pasteuriser, PU	target +9	zone 4 holding above setting since Monday
CCT 31, loss on transfer	1.8 %	cellar mean 0.9 %
Line 2, changeover to soft drink	58 min	last six: 41–63 min

The values in this table are the archetype's week, drawn to show the kind of reading, not a measured plant. Each one is a reading next to its own history; the proposals on Sheet 4 start from rows like these.

Water, beside the band

0.40 m³/hl today against a BAT range of 0.15–0.50 m³/hl^S4. The readings split it by area for the first time: CIP, bottle washer, pasteuriser overflow, brewhouse, cooling tower make-up. The ledger line on Sheet 3 is €1.80/hl; where it moves is now a question with a meter behind it.

SAMPLED S3, S4CHECKED week values are the archetype'sCS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 5 of 7

Sheet 6 · rollout as a CIP cycle · results as tank gauges

Sixteen weeks in five steps, and four tanks filled to the modelled level

CYCLE 16 WK · 4 GAUGES
SHEET 6 OF 7

The rollout, drawn as the CIP cycle

Every step ends with the supervisor approving the connections added in it. The monthly evidence pack from week 16 on is the EnEfG §8 measures list and the HACCP monitoring records for the audit, drawn from the Decisions record. On premise, in the plant's own cloud, or both.

Results, as tank gauges MODELLED

Result	How the model gets there	Half	Double
R-01	Unplanned line stops from 45 to 15 line-days a year, reasons recorded at the stop, at €650 a line-day	9,750	39,000
R-02	10 % of CIP water, heat and caustic across 6,000 cycles, circuits ended at validated time	7,650	30,600
R-03	4 % of refrigeration kWh and 15 % of compressed-air kWh, 199 MWh at €170/MWh	16,915	67,660
R-04	Half a point of product loss found at the tank and the changeover, 2,750 hl at €25/hl	34,375	137,500
Total	€137,380 a year, €0.25 per hectolitre against €4.82/hl of energy and €1.80/hl of water today	68,690	274,760

R-04 is the largest and the weakest: every input to it is an assumption, and loss per hectolitre depends on the product mix. R-03 rests on the Bavarian guide's shares^S3; R-01 and R-02 on plant counts a Technical Director can replace with their own in an afternoon.

SAMPLED R-01 to R-04CHECKED inputs on sheet 7CS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 6 of 7

Sheet 7 · calculation sheet

Every input, its tag, and the arithmetic behind each gauge

INPUTS C-01…C-25
SHEET 7 OF 7

No.	Input	Value	Tag
C-01	Output a year, beer and soft drinks	550,000 hl	ASSUMED
C-02	Electricity per hl	11.4 kWh	S3
C-03	Heat per hl	48 kWh	S3
C-04	Electricity a year = C-01 × C-02	6,270 MWh	DERIVED
C-05	Heat a year = C-01 × C-03	26,400 MWh	DERIVED
C-06	Electricity price, all-in	€170 /MWh	ASSUMED
C-07	Gas price, all-in	€60 /MWh	ASSUMED
C-08	Energy a year = C-04×C-06 + C-05×C-07	€2,649,900 · €4.82/hl	DERIVED
C-09	Refrigeration share of electricity	42 %	S3
C-10	Water per hl (BAT range 0.15–0.50)	0.40 m³	ASSUMED
C-11	Water and wastewater price	€4.50 /m³	ASSUMED
C-12	Cost of one unplanned line-day	€650	ASSUMED
C-13	Unplanned line-days, today → with reasons recorded	45 → 15	ASSUMED
C-14	CIP cycles a year, five circuits	6,000	ASSUMED
C-15	Water per CIP cycle	3.0 m³	ASSUMED
C-16	Heat per CIP cycle	120 kWh	ASSUMED
C-17	Caustic per CIP cycle	8 kg	ASSUMED
C-18	Caustic price	€0.60 /kg	ASSUMED
C-19	Share of CIP cost found by ending at validated time	10 %	ASSUMED
C-20	Compressed-air share of electricity (guide: up to 30 %)	10 %	ASSUMED
C-21	Refrigeration kWh found (idle, approach, drift)	4 %	ASSUMED
C-22	Compressed-air kWh found (idle running, leaks)	15 %	ASSUMED
C-23	kWh found = C-04×C-09×C-21 + C-04×C-20×C-22	105 + 94 = 199 MWh	DERIVED
C-24	Product loss found, brewhouse to filler	0.5 points	ASSUMED
C-25	Value of one hl of lost product	€25	ASSUMED

No.	Result and formula	Value	Half · double
R-01	(45 − 15) line-days × C-12 €650	€19,500	9,750 · 39,000
R-02	(18,000 m³ × €4.50 + 720 MWh × €60 + 48,000 kg × €0.60) × C-19 10 % = €153,000 × 10 %	€15,300	7,650 · 30,600
R-03	C-23 199 MWh × C-06 €170	€33,830	16,915 · 67,660
R-04	C-01 550,000 hl × C-24 0.5 % × C-25 €25 = 2,750 hl × €25	€68,750	34,375 · 137,500
Σ	Total a year; per hl = total ÷ C-01	€137,380 · €0.25/hl	68,690 · 274,760

Weakest metric: R-04. Shown on Sheets 3 and 5 but not counted: heat per brew (€518), CIP minutes returned to production (900 h a year at C-19), changeover minutes, CO2 per hl, pasteuriser PU records. Half and double apply to the one uncertain input in each line; the results add, they do not compound.

Sources

S1 Statistisches Bundesamt, press release PD26_373, 20 Oct 2026: producer prices for industrial products, September 2026; energy +14.9 %, natural gas +15.0 %, electricity +8.2 % on the year.
S2 Statistisches Bundesamt, PD26_037, 2 Feb 2026: beer sales 2025 −6.0 % to about 7.8 billion litres; and PD26_32, 4 Aug 2026: 1,415 breweries, −53 on the year.
S3 Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt, energy efficiency in breweries, 2024 edition: refrigeration 40–45 % of electricity; compressed air up to 30 %; 250,000 hl brewery 11.4 kWh/hl electricity and 48 kWh/hl heat, optimised 8.3 and 31.
S4 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2031, BAT conclusions for the food, drink and milk industries, Section 3, breweries: total energy 0.02–0.05 MWh/hl; water 0.15–0.50 m³/hl.
S5 Energieeffizienzgesetz (EnEfG) §8: energy or environmental management system above 7.5 GWh a year, measures valued to DIN EN 17463; §9: implementation plans above 2.5 GWh.
S6 IFS Food version 8, 2023: clause 2.3.9.1 (KO) monitoring of each CCP; 2.3.9.2 records; 5.6.5 traceability tests.
S7 Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Article 5(1) and 5(2)(g): HACCP-based procedures, documents and records proportionate to the business.
S8 Statistisches Bundesamt, N039, 23 Jun 2026: 13.3 million people in employment, 30.0 %, reach the statutory retirement age by 2040.

Product facts as of 2026-10-27. Deployment: on premise, in the plant's own cloud, or both. Energy data kept for four years. Designed for the EU AI Act's requirements on transparency and human oversight; a person approves every proposal before it becomes work.

SAMPLED 25 inputs: 17 assumed, 4 derived, 4 sourcedCHECKED arithmeticCS-08 · v1 · 2026-11-03 · sheet 7 of 7