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A carbon dioxide shortage threatens the beer industry : NPR


Brewers say that a gas shortage that leads to fat in your beer can force production cuts and price increases.

Katsumi Murouchi / Getty


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Katsumi Murouchi / Getty


Brewers say that a gas shortage that leads to fat in your beer can force production cuts and price increases.

Katsumi Murouchi / Getty

Carbon dioxide has no taste, no odor and no color – but it’s a key ingredient in the beer business, from creating the bubbly bubbles in beer to preventing the oxidation that gives beer its bad smell.

But brewers are now worried that a carbon dioxide shortage could force production cuts and price increases. This is the latest threat to an industry posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We talked to our supplier and our supplier basically told us they weren’t taking on any new customers to make sure their long-term customers had a good supply. stable CO2 levels,” said Bryan Van Den Oever of Red Bear Brewing in Washington, DC, told NPR’s Morning Edition.

Brewers have faced carbon dioxide shortages and inflated prices for much of the pandemic, similar to higher costs for aluminum and cardboard cans. But since August, brewers’ carbon dioxide costs have risen more than any other “input” cost in recent months, according to a chart shared by Reuters. Bart WatsonChief economist of the Association of Brewers.

And experts believe that carbon dioxide will become more scarce as autumn begins.

3 factors are driving the shortage, says an industry expert

There are three key factors behind what Paul Pflieger, communications director for the Compressed Air Association trade group, calls “CO2 tightness”. Two of them are related to how carbon dioxide is produced: It is a by-product of other processes, such as the production of ammonia and ethanol.

This fall, however, ammonia plants are conducting scheduled maintenance shutdowns to prevent them from producing carbon dioxide, Pflieger said. Likewise, many ethanol plants that were disrupted during the pandemic have yet to reopen. And then there’s the weather: The beverage industry accounts for 14% of U.S. carbon dioxide, but demand spikes across the board when it’s hot.

“Every summer, demand for CO2 spikes because people want more drinks,” Pflieger told NPR, and more dry ice (the solid form of carbon dioxide) is used. “The record heat we’re seeing in this country and around the world is making this worse.”

Pflieger said members of his association are working hard to fulfill customer orders. But he also warned that the situation would drag on for weeks to come.

“We anticipate things will start to return to normal within the next 30 to 60 days,” he said.

Brewers face tough choices to balance costs

Shortages in some regions are more severe than others, and some of the worst pain is happening to small craft brewers. In Massachusetts, Night Shift Brewing said this summer that it will halt most production at its facility in Everett, where it has been brewing beer for the past decade.

“Last week we learned that our CO2 supply has been cut for the foreseeable future, possibly over a year until we get more,” the company said.

Night Shift will rely on contract brewers – larger-scale brewing facilities – to keep the majority of its beers flowing, like WBUR member station reported.

Shortages are affecting craft brewers after the pandemic forced many of them to survive by ramping up canning operations and selling wine rooms. But the addition of more taps and cans also makes brewers more dependent on a steady supply of carbon dioxide tanks. And like Good beer hunting The website notes, craft brewers have been facing bullish price momentum this fall, due to rampant inflation.

The carbon dioxide shortage comes at a particularly bad time

Even before the pandemic, carbon dioxide tended to feed the cracks. When interruption ripples through those industries, they can have a direct effect on carbon dioxide, sending shock waves through the beer sector.

Carbon dioxide was also collected at sites like Jackson Dome, part of an extinct volcano located nearly 3,000 feet near the capital, Mississippi. But one pollution problem appeared there this year, creating another twist in the supply chain.

Carbon dioxide is a natural by-product of the brewing process, from the heating, crushing and boiling process through to fermentation. Some brewers use special equipment to capture the gas and reuse it, but small brewers may lack the resources and scale to make that possible. And most of those efforts are focused on cut emissions and reduce costsinstead of serving as the sole source of carbon dioxide.





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