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A CO2 Shortage is Causing a Beer and Meat Crisis in Britain (qz.com)
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is used in the production of a wide variety of food and drink products. But with at least five CO2 producers across northern Europe offline, a shortfall in the gas is causing shortages in beer, fizzy drinks, and meat. From a report: Britain is particularly affected because the seasonal shutdown of the plants has meant that the UK has only one big plant producing CO2 left. The British Beer and Pub Association, along with individual beer producers and pubs, has warned of the crisis caused by the shortage. Without naming companies, the trade association said the shortfall has caused beer production shortages. Heineken, the UK's biggest brewer, said its CO2 supplier was facing "a major issue" in the UK. Meanwhile, one of Britain's biggest pub chains, Wetherspoons, said it'll be forced to pull a number of beers and fizzy drinks from its menu soon.
If the entire Slashdot community can agree on *anything*, it should be that a shortage of meat and beer is indeed a crisis worthy of drastic government intervention.
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Modern slaughterhouses use CO2 for "controlled atmosphere stunning" to render the animals unconscious before slaughter.
it's used as part of the packaging. Modified Atmosphere Packaging is a process where CO2 is pushed into the package removing all "air" before sealing. It stops nasty organisms growing in there.
it's common to see Nitrogen and CO2 as the gas. I don't know much more than the above, but I would imagine there is a wiki article to explain further. Oh, and i'm likely wrong about all of the above but the community will put me right
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When making beer at home, the fermentation produces CO2 and you get whatever amount of bubbly that the fermentation gives you.
When producing major national and international brands, I would think companies like Heineken have a very specific CO2 level for each brand, influenced by market research and other factors. I would expect they add or remove CO2 from each batch to consistently produce the same Heineken product every time.
Other than home-brew, beer is rarely carbonated using secondary fermentation. Even at my local brew-pub, the carbonation as served at the tap, is done through mechanical carbonation of the product tanks. Also storing the beer under CO2 dramatically extends the period of time that it will stay fresh in the kegs and/or serving tanks.
The only time you see secondary fermentation used in mass market is in specialty brews, cask festivals, and similar specialty beer types. Otherwise it's just too unpredictable.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Beers don't need CO2, it is produced during the fermentation... unless you call your self a brewmaster but you are in fact a chemist.
CO2 is used to stun animals before slaughter. It's more humane than just cutting straight to shooting a bolt into a cow's head to stun them.
But the reason for the cooking in the UK is more about their history and the expense involved in raising meat in the UK. They have some pretty strict feeding and medication regulations for slaughter animals. Where here in the USA, we administer antibiotics, growth hormones and have no issues with GMO corn, in the UK you cannot do any of that and sell the meat. So it's hard to import meat and feed and Britain isn't exactly a great place to raise cattle being cold and wet a lot of the time.
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Because making nitrogen from air is a resource-consuming process. Un-mixing two gases reduces their entropy, and the Second Law says you can't do that without making more entropy elsewhere. There are ways; if you know anyone in poor respiratory health, you may have seen an oxygen concentrator that does just that (except it throws away the nitrogen instead of the oxygen).
But the object is to get a non-oxidizing gas, and CO2 works for that, often with a cheaper process.
Oh, and it's 78%.
little to no carbonation typically, also healthier if you believe the studies
More calories typically in your stouts... also much more flavour though... a superior product in my opinion. Stouts and Porters make up 90% of the beer I drink but I don't drink much because of the calories. When it comes to beer quality is more important than quantity.
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but why not use natural carbonation in the bottles?
Many people don't like yeast residue in their beer. It also means the bottle has to sit and age 2 weeks or so before it can be refrigerated and shipped, adding time and storage requirements to the process. It's much cheaper and faster to inject it mechanically and ship it immediately than to let it sit and ferment naturally.
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CO2 is added to the headspace to flush any air during bottling. It's also used during the brewing and bottling process to make sure the beer doesn't lose carbonation when moving around the systems and when stored in the tanks.
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Either of those would actually be better than CO2 for that use. CO2 would cause respiratory panic where the others wouldn't.
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I thought we were in a crisis because of too much CO2. Now there's a shortage?
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
If you haven't, try cask drawn ales if you get a chance. These beers use the natural carbonation that is produced during the fermentation process and are hand drawn so the need for c02 to push the beer is unnecessary. Having very little carbonation brings out light and delicate flavors in the beer that are usually masked by having lots of C02. My favorite are cask drawn IPAs.
Why the hell would there be a seasonal shutdown when there is year-round demand?
Then again, this is Britain we're talking about. Logic has long been hard to come by there.
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Why not use nitrogen instead?
That is what they get for buying into the global warming/CO2 is bad story. They need a machine that will suck CO2 from the air and put it into the bottles they use in the beer & meat industry.
You're not in the UK, are you? Real ale is pretty widely available, hand pumped from the cask and relies on secondary fermentation. In the US it's harder to find, but available in bars that specialize in that sort of thing.
Oh sure, if you feed them grass and hay, Britain has that. But face it, Britain is an island with limited acreage for doing this, so they have a hard time producing a lot of cattle for slaughter.
The issue is it's hard/expensive to do the feed lot thing. You know, where the cattle stand around eating themselves silly on corn to put on as much weight as possible in the time allowed. Growing grains like corn takes a lot of space and feed lots take a lot of grain. Britain doesn't have the space or climate to grow all that grain.
As a result, they get mostly grass fed meat, which takes longer, makes the meat tougher with more connective tissue and less fat. Some folks like the stronger taste of grass fed, but most of us (in the USA at least) are predisposed to like what we normally get in the grocery store. Young fat cattle that are given growth hormones and fed lots of grain which is more tender and has a milder taste.
However, to their credit, they do grow a lot of sheep which are much better suited to their climate and are a bit more efficient when working from just grass. They have some good lamb over there, it just doesn't appeal to your average US beef and chicken eater....
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Belgian beer is bottle conditioned.
At least the good stuff, I'm not talking about Stella.
You really answered your own question, it's easier to just keg it. You could naturally carbonate in the keg, of course, but you probably want to drink that beer sooner.
And could you imagine the fuss if somebody found a yeast layer in a bottle of Buttwiper? They'd freak. There's no way a typical macrobrew drinker would understand that it's supposed to be that way.
I used to work as a lab technician in one of the big breweries making Heineken and Stella and other beers, and measuring this stuff used to be my job. For the most part, the CO2 produced by fermentation is used. However, to ensure batch consistency, if the dissolved gases are not within a certain range of the specification, then they will be adjusted to bring them back in line. To raise the CO2 level you can bubble it through and/or add it to the headspace of the tank. To lower it you bubble N2 through and/or add it to the headspace. Regular gas laws and partial pressures will result in a new equilibrium. In addition to CO2, dissolved N2 and O2 levels were also measured. O2 is really bad for shelf life because it will oxidise various compounds in the beer and make it spoil. Usually very low, but can also be reduced with N2 without disturbing the CO2 level too much. Note that these adjustments are done on filtered "bright" beer immediately prior to packaging. Also, the CO2 levels also vary depending upon the packaging method. Bottles have the highest levels, with cans being slightly less. Kegs have much less. All to do with shelf life and the integrity of the packaging.