Helios Brewing

Brewer

Name
Helios Brewing
Address

15 Palomar Road
Yeerongpilly
QLD 4105

Phone
(07) 3392 9739
Open Hours

Thursday: 4pm to 9pm
Friday and Saturday: 12pm to 9pm

Sunday: 12pm to 5:30pm

And open for growler fills through the week

Tours

By appointment

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Helios Brewing has something to do with the sun.

Their logo is a glass of beer from which is emanating the light of the sun. Inside the brewery is a wall mural of the Greek sun god Helios riding a chariot in the sky, holding said glass of beer and the light of the sun. The brewery’s slogan gives a slightly more clear hint to the relationship with the sun: “Craft beer brewed with the power of the Aussie sun.”

There’s a burgeoning movement in the Australian craft beer scene for breweries to be more environmentally sustainable. It’s leading to more companies installing solar panels, donating spent grain to farmers, looking for ways to improve water efficiency and more.

But, at Helios Brewing, environmental sustainability isn’t an afterthought – it’s been built into its very DNA from the beginning. Founder and owner Scott Shomer is a career environmental scientist, and this background became foundational for Helios. The brewery was almost an experiment as Scott explored the question, ‘How green could a brewery be?’

In the design stage, Scott met with manufacturers to discuss the customisation of equipment.

“When it came time to design a brewery, which is normally very energy, gas and water intensive, and produces a lot of waste, I said, ‘How can I make this super efficient? How can we use less water, use less electricity? How much electricity can we generate ourselves?’.”

These questions led to a myriad of clever solutions in their hardware and processes: a solar thermal system made up of 90 evacuated tubes on the roof provides 90°C-plus water, meaning no power is needed to heat the water at the beginning of the brewing process for the mash. This alone reduces the power required for each batch of beer by about 30 percent.

Then there are the 59 335w solar panels, which produce enough power under the Brisbane sun that Helios is able to export 40 percent of it back to the grid – but only after using as much of the surplus as possible to cool water in the cold liquor tank for greater efficiency in the heat exchange process later.

“In essence, the hot liquor tank and the cold liquor tank are batteries,” says Scott. “They’re storing excess energy from the [solar panel] system in the form of hot water and cold water 'batteries'. It’s nothing too earth shattering, but nobody else is doing it.”

But it doesn’t end with the solar power. There’s also the insane amount of insulation installed on their glycol system, keeping the precious cold safe from the Queensland heat. Then there’s the innovative ways they re-use clean water, hot water and cleaning solutions. And the wastewater treatment vessel they installed under the parking lot, not to mention the outlet they've located to compost their yeast to keep it out of the wastewater. (And yes, they give their spent grain to farmers, too.)

In short? Helios is a Lean Green Brewing Machine.

Of course, if sustainability were all Helios had going for it, we might give the team some polite applause and go drink beer somewhere else. So it’s a good thing they make seriously good beer. Head brewer Jake Harrison stands at the helm of the brewhouse, bringing a keen sense of quality and a healthy curiosity to each of Helios’ brews. (And what was Jake doing before he became a brewer? Spending 15 years studying and working as an environmental planner. What a great fit for Helios!)

Each of Helios’ three-dimensional, balanced, complex beers is depicted as a god or monster from Greek mythology. Some are obvious – Hades is the bittersweet chocolate stout, Zeus is the big ol’ double IPA with the two thunderbolts – while some of the special releases may test your rudimentary knowledge of ancient Greek mythology.

Heading to the brewery bar at Yeerongpilly is the best way to try these brews of the gods. You can go with a tasting paddle and offerings from whichever food truck is around, or get a growler filled from one of the eleven taps.

And, of course, it doesn’t take much to get the Helios crew chatting about their beers and sustainable practices, or to show you around. That’s the joy of the local brewery, right? And along with the other breweries in the neighbourhood, Helios brings that joy to the area by the chariot load.

Mick Wust

This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

Stories featuring Helios Brewing

Core Range

Helios Brewing Cyclops IPA
IPA
6.0%
Helios Brewing Poseidon Pale Ale
American Pale Ale
5.3%
Helios Brewing Hades' Bitter Chocolate Stout
Chocolate Vanilla Stout
5.0%
Helios Brewing Goddess Ravishing Red Rye
Red Rye Ale
5.7%
Helios Brewing Zeus' Thunderbolt Double IPA
Double IPA
9.0%

Limited Releases

Helios Brewing Gaia Lemon Saison
Lemon Saison
5.4%
Helios Brewing Dionysus Oat Cream IPA
Oat Cream IPA
8.0%
Helios Brewing Tortuous Twins
Imperial Candy Sour
7.4%
Helios Brewing Borealis 200 Day Pilsner
German Pilsner
4.6%
Helios Brewing Medusa & Kronos 2023
Black IPA & Imperial Stout
7.6% & 12.0%
Helios Brewing's June 2023 Quartet
Various Styles As Indicated
3.0% & 3.5% & 8.0% & 13.3%
Helios Brewing Cerberus Red IPA 2023
Red IPA
6.5%
Helios Brewing Demeter DDH NZ IPA
DDH NZ IPA
6.4%
Helios Brewing Enyo Oaked Cherry Sour Red Ale
Oaked Belgian Red with Cherries
5.3%
Helios' Classic Series: German Pilsner
German Pilsner
4.5%
Helios Brewing Mulberry & Lemon Myrtle Sour
Fruited Sour
3.8%
Helios Brewing Dionysus NEIIPA
Double NEIPA
7.5%
Helios & Catchment Harpy Double West Coast IPA
Double West Coast IPA
7.5%
Helios Brewing Athena's Courage 2022
Scotch Ale
4.8%
Helios Brewing Kronos White Stout 2022
Imperial White Stout
9.0%
Helios Perseus White IPA & Medusa Black IPA 2022
White & Black IPAs
7.0% & 7.5%
Helios Brewing Heracles Australian Pale
Aussie Pale Ale
4.5%
Helios Pegasus Tropical Pale & Zeus Cryo-Hopped DIPA
Tropical Pale & Cryo DIPA
4.0% & 9.0%
Helios Brewing Cerberus Dry Red IPA
Red IPA
6.2%
Helios Brewing Zephyrus & Oaked ESB
Session Red IPA & Oaked ESB
4.5% 5.6%
Helios Brewing Kronos 2021
Imperial American Porter
9.5%
Helios Brewing Icarus IIPA
IIPA
7.5%
Helios Brewing Classic Series: Extra Special Bitter
ESB
5.6%
Helios Brewing Dionysus 2021
NEIIPA
7.5%
Helios Brewing Eos Hazy Pale
Hazy Pale
4.5%
Helios & Sea Legs The Leviathan
IIIPA
12.0%
Helios Brewing Classic Series: Belgian Double Dübbel
Belgian Dubbel
8.5%
Helios Brewing Medusa Black IPA 2020
Black IPA
6.5%
Helios Brewing Kronos 2020
Imperial Nitro Coffee Stout
9.1%
Helios Brewing Hermes Session Pale Lager
Lager
3.8%
Helios & Nowhereman Single Malt Red IPA
Red IPA
7.5%
Helios Brewing Dionysus NEIIPA
Imperial NEIPA
7.5%
Helios Brewing Hazy Pale Ale
Hazy Pale Ale
4.8%
Helios Brewing Medusa Black IPA (cans)
Black IPA
6.5%
Helios Brewing Midas Golden Ale
Golden Ale
3.8%
Helios Brewing Athena's Courage Scottish Ale
Scotch Ale
5.4%
Helios Brewing Xenia Belgian Golden Ale
Belgian Golden Ale
6.5%
Helios Brewing Medusa Black IPA
Black IPA
5.8%
Helios Brewing Kronos Big Breakfast Stout
Imperial Stout
11.0%