Breweries · 2026
Carbon footprint software for breweries.
Last updated
The short answer
A brewery’s footprint is mostly in its malt, its packaging and its energy, not its office. Generic carbon calculators often estimate those from money spent, which cannot tell a returnable steel keg from a single-use can. Brewery carbon software should work from what you actually brew and pack: hectolitres, recipes, pack formats, keg trips, spent grain and CO2. alkatera does this for breweries, connects to Breww, and gives you a footprint per hectolitre and per can, bottle or keg.
Why generic carbon calculators get breweries wrong.
Most carbon calculators were built for offices and general manufacturing. They work well for electricity bills and business travel. They struggle with the parts of brewing that make up most of the footprint:
- Spend instead of quantity. Many tools turn money spent into emissions. A price rise then looks like more carbon, and a cheaper but heavier pack looks like less.
- Kegs treated as a purchase. A steel keg is filled many times. Its footprint should be spread over its trips, not counted again each time you buy kegs or pay a keg-rental bill.
- Fermentation CO2 counted wrongly. CO2 from fermentation comes from the sugars in the grain, so it is biogenic and is reported separately from fossil emissions. Bought-in CO2 for carbonation and dispense is a real cost that tools often miss.
- Spent grain ignored. Most breweries send spent grain to farms as feed. How that is treated changes the result, and a generic tool rarely asks.
- One figure for the whole company. A brewer needs the footprint of each beer in each pack, because that is what retailers, B Corp and on-pack claims ask for.
What a brewery should measure.
| Area | What to measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | Malt, hops, adjuncts and finings, by weight per recipe | Malt is usually the largest single ingredient impact in beer |
| Brewhouse energy | Electricity and gas, ideally per hectolitre brewed | Lets you compare months and sites fairly |
| Water and wastewater | Litres of water per litre of beer, and the strength (COD) of what goes to drain | Water use is a common retailer and B Corp question, and strong wastewater gives off methane |
| Packaging | Cans, bottles, kegs, casks, labels and outer cases, by weight | Pack choice often moves a beer’s footprint more than anything in the brewhouse |
| Keg loop | How many trips a keg makes, and the transport each way | A reused keg can carry a much smaller footprint per pint than a single-use pack |
| CO2 | Bought-in CO2, and any CO2 you recover | A real input that is easy to leave out |
| By-products | Spent grain, yeast and trub, and where they go | Decides whether they carry any of the brewing footprint |
| Distribution | Distance and mode to customers | Part of a cradle-to-grave footprint |
How alkatera works for breweries.
alkatera is a sustainability platform built only for drinks producers. Breweries get the brewhouse, a free room on every plan, set up for the way a brewery runs. It opens when you tell us you brew.
- Connects to Breww. alkatera syncs your Breww sites, beers, recipes, production volumes, packaging and sales once a day, so you do not type them in twice.
- Works without Breww too. Upload your brew log (Excel or CSV), add brews by hand, quick-add your range of beers, and type volumes into a hectolitre grid.
- Footprints per can, bottle, keg or cask, and per hectolitre, built to ISO 14067 for each beer.
- Kegs and casks are spread over their real fills, after losses. You set how many kegs you lose.
- Spent grain sent to feed carries none of the brewing footprint, following the EU rules for beer footprints (PEFCR Beer).
- CO2 you recover counts as biogenic; bought-in CO2 counts as fossil unless your supplier says otherwise.
- Wastewater methane is counted once you enter a COD figure from your lab.
- Covers blue, green and grey water, water scarcity, land use and packaging as well as carbon, and checks green claims against UK and EU rules before you publish them.
- Produces the company footprint (Scope 1, 2 and 3) and your B Corp readiness from the same numbers.
- Help from people. The alkatera team helps you get set up, by call and email, and works through your first beer footprints with you.
Plans start at £99 a month, each one the whole platform, with a 30-day free trial. See plans and pricing.
The cheapest way for a craft brewery to measure its footprint.
Start free, and pay only when you need a footprint for each beer. Read on 8 November 2026:
| Route | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| University of Leeds craft beer calculator | Free and open source | A beer footprint across ingredients, production, packaging and transport, in a spreadsheet you run yourself |
| Zevero Lite through SIBA | Free for SIBA members | Company emissions across Scopes 1 and 2 and some Scope 3 categories |
| alkatera | From £99 a month, 30-day free trial | A footprint per hectolitre and per can, bottle or keg, with a free brewery room and a Breww connection |
For every route side by side, with consultants and other platforms, see what carbon footprint software costs for a drinks brand.
Comparing brewery carbon tools.
Several carbon platforms have pages for breweries. When you compare them, ask each one the same questions: Does it measure by quantity or by spend? Does it spread a keg over its trips? Is a footprint for every beer included, or charged per product? Does it read from your brewery software? For drinks-specific comparisons, see alkatera vs Zevero and the best sustainability platforms for the drinks industry.
Frequently asked questions.
Why are generic carbon calculators inaccurate for breweries?
They often estimate emissions from money spent rather than from what you brew and pack, and they do not model brewery specifics: kegs reused many times, biogenic fermentation CO2, bought-in CO2, spent grain going to farms, and the difference between cans, bottles and kegs. The result is a rough company total that cannot give a footprint per beer.
What is the best carbon footprint software for a brewery?
Look for software that measures by quantity, gives a footprint per hectolitre and per pack, models kegs and spent grain, and connects to your brewery software. alkatera is built for drinks producers, gives breweries a free brewery room and a daily Breww sync, and starts at £99 a month with a free trial.
What is the cheapest way for a craft brewery to measure its carbon footprint?
Start free: the University of Leeds craft beer calculator is free and open source, and SIBA members can use Zevero Lite free for a company footprint. When you need a footprint per beer and per can, bottle or keg, alkatera starts at £99 a month with a 30-day free trial, and gives breweries a free brewery room and a Breww connection.
Does alkatera work with Breww?
Yes. alkatera syncs your Breww sites, beers, recipes, production volumes, packaging and sales once a day, so your footprints follow what you actually brew and pack.
Is a can or a keg better for beer’s carbon footprint?
It depends on the brewery. A steel keg that makes many trips usually has a small footprint per pint, while cans and bottles are single trips. Distance, recycled content and how full the vehicles run all change the answer, which is why it is worth measuring your own packs rather than using an average.
See your beers’ footprints.
Connect Breww, upload your brew log or add brews by hand, and get a footprint per hectolitre and per can, bottle or keg. Free for 30 days.
See plans & pricing