U.K. Soft Drink Makers Have Just Days of Carbon Dioxide Left

[mahatmakanejeeves]

For real.

Bloomberg

U.K. Soft Drink Makers Have Just Days of Carbon Dioxide Left

Thomas Buckley
Mon, September 20, 2021, 12:42 PM

(Bloomberg) -- The British Soft Drinks Association said manufacturers have “only a few days” of carbon dioxide left in reserve to produce beverages and can’t import supplies from the European Union due to Brexit.

{snip}

In the latest sign of how a widespread shortage of CO2 is causing shock waves in Britain’s food and drink sector, most carbon dioxide suppliers aren’t scheduling deliveries earlier than 24 hours in advance, which means manufacturers have no visibility on stock levels or when they will receive their next batch, the trade group said in a statement Monday.

The U.K. also can’t rely on imports from Europe as a Dutch plant it sources CO2 from is prioritizing EU clients and the Norwegian plant is shortly due to close for maintenance for up to two weeks, the group said.

Supplies of CO2 have been hit in Britain after fertilizer maker CF Industries Holdings Inc. responded last week to surging natural gas prices by closing U.K. plants that make carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Rival Yara International ASA is also curtailing European capacity. The knock-on effect on the food and drink industry has been sudden and dramatic as the gas is used in a number of ways from stunning pigs and chickens for slaughter to extending the shelf life of products and producing carbonated drinks.

{snip}

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. They could try doing it the old-fashioned way.

Place a tiny amount of yeast in each container before sealing, with the yeast converting a small amount of the sugar into CO2.

That's how all of my home-brewed beer was carbonated. I never had any "bottle bombs" from doing it, but I was careful with my measurements.

Several consumers would complain about the thin "dusting" of inactive yeast at the bottom of the containers, though. It rarely seems to bother the people who drink Trappist Monk made beers (and some others), though, since they're generally highly-rated in the beer-drinking world.

EDIT: Soft drinks are full of sugar, however, so they'd also need to kill the yeast after they carbonated the drinks. For beer, most of the sugar has been converted to alcohol and CO2 already, so the added yeast during bottling eventually hibernate/die from starvation.

[getagrip_already]

2. in the us, companies like anheiser busch sell a lot of co2....

They scrub it as a byproduct of making beer. It's sold to the beverage industry.

Maybe the uk just needs to brew some non-flat beer?

[marble falls]

3. Oh noes!

[hatrack]

4. "Water? Like . . . out of the toilet?"