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Wineries · Breweries · Distilleries

Fruit flies in the cellar.
Brettanomyces in biofilm.
Harvest seasonality.

Contamination in a winery often starts on the wash floor. Fruit flies carry Brettanomyces — one of the worst wine spoilage organisms. Breweries face the same problem with lactic bacteria. Green Drain™ breaks the breeding cycle in the P-trap.

HACCPNSF/ANSI 2Resistant to wine acidsNo chemicals
0
Fruit flies
>99.9 %
Aerosol blockade
5 years
Life
30 s
By the drain
Problem & solution

Seasonality is the worst case for P-traps.

The wine harvest lasts 4–6 weeks. During harvest the cellar is washed down constantly and everything is flushed through. For the rest of the year it barely gets used. The traps dry out over the off-season.

Without Green Drain™

  • Drosophila spp. (fruit flies) reproduce in the biofilm of wine P-traps — a vector for Brettanomyces ('horse smell').
  • Breweries: lactic bacteria and wild yeasts in the trap — a risk to the beer
  • The P-trap dries out after harvest — seasonal odours and contamination on restart
  • CO₂ building up in cellars — a safety issue for staff when a trap seal fails
  • BRC and IFS auditors in craft breweries ask for a documented drain control plan.

With Green Drain™

  • Fruit flies don't stand a chance — breeding cycle interrupted
  • Brettanomyces and lactic acid bacteria do not migrate from drains into the product.
  • CO₂ from the sewer stays out of the cellar — less risk to staff
  • Resistant to wine acids (tartaric, malic, lactic), brewing agents (NaOH, peracetic acid)
  • No water in the trap, no biofilm, and no wet floor acting as a reservoir
Irish whiskey, beer & wine

Ireland's drinks sector is in resurgence.

Irish whiskey distilleries (50+ operating: Midleton, Bushmills, Teeling, Dingle, Slane, Tullamore, Powerscourt, Waterford, Roe & Co.), Diageo's Guinness brewhouse at St James's Gate, craft brewery network (Galway Bay, Whiplash, Five Lamps, Eight Degrees, O Brother), and a small but growing Irish wine scene. Each shares the same constraint: organic-load drains under continuous wash-down with strict Bord Bia and FSAI hygiene audit cycles.

4–6 weeks
Duration of the wine harvest — intensive washing
Brettanomyces
Drosophila vector — destroys crop value
CO₂
Safety risk in low-ventilated basements
HACCP
Auditors expect drainage to be controlled in craft breweries
EU BPR 528/2012
Pressure to cut the use of biocidal products
0
No maintenance chemicals — which environmentally minded winemakers value.
Data Sources and Regulatory Framework (2024–2025 data)

Statistical data taken from official Irish and EU sources: Central Statistics Office Ireland (cso.ie), Health Service Executive (hse.ie), Fáilte Ireland (failteireland.ie), Bord Bia (bordbia.ie), IDA Ireland (idaireland.com), Health Products Regulatory Authority (hpra.ie). Regulatory framework: EUR-Lex for EU directives — EU 2017/745 (MDR), EU 178/2002 (food safety), EU 1935/2004 and EU 10/2011 (food contact materials), EU 528/2012 (BPR), EU 2014/34 (ATEX). Standards: EN 1253-1 (floor P-traps, water seal ≥50 mm), EN 1253 Parts 6/7/8 (gullies with a water seal below 50 mm, with mechanical closure, and combined types; 2023 editions), HACCP International RG-04, ASSE 1072-2020, NSF/ANSI 2, HSE SARI guidelines. Revision date: May 2026.

Implementation

The best window — straight after harvest.

November and December — harvest is over, before the winter cellar cleaning. A small or medium winery is done in a single day.

01

Mapping

Once harvest is finished we map every drain in the cellar, the racking room and the bottling hall.

02

Sizes

Typically GD 3 in the cellar, GD 4 in the channels under the tanks and GD 2 in the laboratory.

03

Winter test

Probes in four drains for 14 days before winter washing.

04

The whole basement

One day's work, before Christmas and the winter shutdown.

Model Recommendation

Recommended sizes by production stage.

Heritage Irish breweries (Guinness, Smithwicks) and the new generation of craft breweries (Galway Bay, Whiplash, Eight Degrees) typically run DN65–DN125 drainage depending on facility age; modern craft and whiskey distillery builds (Slane, Powerscourt, Waterford) follow DIN DN80–100. Main risks: Brettanomyces in biofilm, fruit flies, and CO₂ accumulation in poorly ventilated cellars and warehousing.

Green Drain™ Recommended for your industry.

  • Wine cellar — pouring roomGD 3Most intensive wash, Brettanomyces control.
  • Older wine cellars (stone structures, cellars)GD 2.5Check the inner diameter.
  • Tanks and wine fillerGD 4CIP resistance, wine acids.
  • Cold-side brewery (fermentation, lagering)GD 4 or GD 5CO₂ control, high flow rate during CIP.
💬 Not sure of the exact size? Send us a photo of your drain and our technical team will come back with a written recommendation the same working day, free of charge.
Check out Green Drain™ → Request a quote
GD 2
DN50 · laboratory, tasting room
GD 2.5
DN65 · traditional cellars
GD 3
DN80 · flow-through room
GD 4
DN100 · tanks, filling station
GD 5
DN125 · large production channels
GD 6
DN150 · brewery cold side
Complete solution

Three products.
One protection portfolio.

Green Drain™ works best alongside GD Uri-Tabs™ for urinals and GreenSwirl™ for clearing blockages.

Ready for Free audit?

We come to the site, map the drains, and provide a written recommendation — no cost, no obligation.