Bobcat engineers from Montana State University brew up solutions to real-world problems

When a popular Missoula brewery has a big problem, who’s it gonna call? The Bobcats.

Big Sky Brewing http://www.bigskybrew.com/ , maker of Moose Drool Brown and Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout, had an expensive plight, and it was mechanical engineering students at Montana State University who figured out a solution.

Ben Singer, 28, a MSU mechanical engineering student from Billings, explained the project at Thursday’s Engineering Design Fair at MSU’s Strand Union Building, where 29 teams of electrical, computer and mechanical engineering students displayed their remedies to a variety of real-world problems.

Big Sky Brewing was paying hefty surcharges to the city of Missoula because all the starches, sugars and alcohol it discharged put such a heavy load on the city’s wastewater treatment plant. It was costing around $7,000 every three months, Singer said.

Solving the problem was tough work and required sampling some of the brewery’s wares, for research purposes.

MSU College of Engineering http://www.coe.montana.edu/

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2005/12/09/news/brewing.txt