Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Rods2 on 20 June 2018, 12:17:38

Title: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Rods2 on 20 June 2018, 12:17:38
No it isn't the 1st April. The big food grade CO2 producers are fertilizer manufacturers with production peaking during the winter with summer being the low season when plant maintenance is done. Currently five plants in Europe are not producing CO2 including one of the two makers in the UK. :( Brewers are now reporting shortages of supply. :(

Although real ales don't need CO2 for production like keg beers do, CO2 is used to drive the real ale pub pumps so they will be affected.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44545010 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44545010)
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Nick W on 20 June 2018, 12:51:49
What have you been smoking?
Brewing is a source of CO2, not a consumer.


You've clearly never used a proper beer engine.


And there's no reason why you can't just draw beer from a tapped barrel using gravity. Unless Putin has someway of turning that off?
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Mr Gav on 20 June 2018, 13:01:13
Also real ales with hand pumps don`t require CO2  :y
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 20 June 2018, 13:20:40
Trouble is many of the modern cellars use assist units which are CO2 powered and the lager kegs are pressurised with CO2.

Real beer wont be impacted so not all bad  ;D ;D ;D :D :D ;) ;) :y
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Migv6 le Frog Fan on 20 June 2018, 13:54:08
They can cancel Brexit, they can make us all Chinese subjects, they can do almost anything, but if the country runs out of Lager, there will be a swift and violent revolution.
Mark my words.  ;D
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: TheBoy on 20 June 2018, 17:34:26
Wo cares about treacle beers. As long as lager and applejuice keep flowing, I care not.
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: biggriffin on 20 June 2018, 17:39:22
Wo cares about treacle beers. As long as lager and applejuice keep flowing, I care not.
.

Panic then.
Lager is delivered to the taps by a co2 ring main,as is the fizzy pop,
Real ale is delivered by a beer engine(hand pull suction) so won't be affected.
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Nick W on 20 June 2018, 17:53:17
Wo cares about treacle beers. As long as lager and applejuice keep flowing, I care not.


As I said, brewers produce more CO2 than they can use.


And beer engines(the proper name for the whole machine that's partly clamped to the bar) don't need it.
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: biggriffin on 20 June 2018, 18:20:23
Wo cares about treacle beers. As long as lager and applejuice keep flowing, I care not.


As I said, brewers produce more CO2 than they can use.


And beer engines(the proper name for the whole machine that's partly clamped to the bar) don't need it.
.

When I was a boy, tried being a cellar service engineer for a while, we had to fit them thro the counter tops, as a two piece machine, handle and collers on top, cylinder below.
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Rods2 on 20 June 2018, 18:26:52
Also real ales with hand pumps don`t require CO2  :y

If the beer pipe length is short then it can be directly drawn, if not like our local social club the hand pump is assisted with a CO2 fed pump to make them work. I have done cellar work where I was on the committee at our local social club for 10 years and used to regularly clean the beer pipes on a Saturday morning and other cellar work when my ex-missus for a time worked as the bar steward there.

Real ales don't need CO2 as it is a byproduct of the brewing process, but keg beer is sterile filtered and then carbonated with food grade CO2 so it has a much, much longer shelf life than real ale and can also be used immediately with the beer pipe valve either slid onto the barrel and then locked to open the sprung loaded valve or a clamping valve that you then press down to open the valve. IME the former a better as I've never known anybody soaked with a beer leak, where it is possible with the latter, although fortunately I never have been. Real ale needs to be tapped with a capped sterile tap with the air vent shut at least 24 hours before it is used so it has time to settle. When used the blanking cap is removed a spar ring and seal is added to the tap and a sterile spar is inserted into the barrel and the spar ring tightened, the beer pipe is then connected to the top of the spar and the vent valve opened. I've used two different types of spar, fixed depth where the holes are well above the bottom of the spar and adjustable where they are closer to the bottom with the spar having an adjustable spring clip that rests on top of the tap for the spar depth.

9 and 11 gal are easyish to move round the cellar 22 gal less so especially when you have a big delivery before Christmas and need to double stack the 22 gals. :o
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Nick W on 20 June 2018, 18:49:54

9 and 11 gal are easyish to move round the cellar 22 gal less so especially when you have a big delivery before Christmas and need to double stack the 22 gals. :o


We had to restock the cellar twice a day at this time of year. Takings of £10k a day, back in the early nineties ;)
Title: Re: Beer may runout due to food grade CO2 shortage
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 20 June 2018, 19:15:02

9 and 11 gal are easyish to move round the cellar 22 gal less so especially when you have a big delivery before Christmas and need to double stack the 22 gals. :o


We had to restock the cellar twice a day at this time of year. Takings of £10k a day, back in the early nineties ;)
Bloody tourists will drink everything given enough of a delay ;D

Mind you, I doubt the canteen bar consumed much less stock :o