Mainebiz

S P R I N G 2 0 2 3 / W O R K F O R M E 51 "It didn't matter that we weren't making [beer], because we didn't have a market, but that continued even after reopening" says Fogtown owner Jon Stein, not- ing how bulk tanks wouldn't arrive for "weeks and weeks on end." Like many breweries that Mainebiz interviewed, Fogtown looked at alternative methods of production to reduce their demand for carbon dioxide, in- cluding natural fermentation, also known as spunding. That essentially means trapping the carbon dioxide created during the fermentation process, which absorbs into the substance be- coming beer. While that might seem a sim- ple change, Stein says the "timing is a bit tricky" and that "it's a hard process, because if you do it too early, then you're starting to trap in essentially all these … weird, volatile flavor compounds, and you usually want them to bubble off so that you don't taste them in the beer later." "But if we're doing it really well, we can save around 20% CO 2 volume per batch," he added. Another bonus — his team thinks there's an improved flavor and "mouthfeel" with properly ex- ecuted natural carbonation. The achieved efficiency helps Stein feel confident about weath- ering the supply shortage. "I'm not scared anymore about pro- viders running out of CO 2 , but it does still save a lot of money because CO 2 is only getting more expensive," says Stein. At Nonesuch River Brewing in Scarborough, owner and brewery operations director Michael Schul- er says his team also switched to natural fermentation, reducing exposure to the higher prices. "We've used about 25% less CO 2 this year, however our supplier has run into cost issues that they've passed on to the consumer, which is us," Schuler explained. "From a dollar perspective, it doesn't seem like we've saved any money, but we've used less CO 2 ." Nonesuch only partially car- bonates their brews via natural fermentation because of the addi- tional time a batch needs to spend in the fermenter to fully complete that process. That extra time takes away from the brewery's ability to make more new batches. Nonetheless, he says, "if we would have used the same amount that we used a couple of years ago, we would have seen at least a 25% rise in cost." 'Conserve as much' as possible Schuler says another way brew- eries are making the most of the carbon dioxide they can get their hands on is by switching to other inert gasses that are more avail- able for packaging and purging tanks of oxygen before adding beer, since "oxygen is the killer of all beer." At Nonesuch, he says "we started to use more nitrogen to push liquids around in the brew- ery instead of CO 2 , so that we could conserve as much of the CO 2 as we could for the things that we really needed it for." Love says that Maine Beer Co. has also begun using nitrogen for the same types of processes, but added there's a sustain- ability incentive to make the switch, too, because nitrogen is "incredibly abundant and it's also locally available" because of a refinery in Kittery. "The actual carbon footprint of that gas, which is already rela- tively low compared to CO 2 , is go- ing to be even lower because it's coming from somewhere so close." Delivering 'the biggest savings' At Sacred Profane, a Biddeford brewery that opened its doors in September, brewery opera- tions director Michael Fava and his team had the advantage of being able to design the brewery around "processes that are as T e c h n o l o g y C O N T I N U E D O N F O L LO W I N G PAG E » Join the Sheridan Team BUILDING ON OUR PROMISE The success we have achieved over the past 75 years is a direct reflection of the talented and ambitious team members we have working for us. Our employment philosophy is to Recruit, Retain, and Grow. These intentional steps are the key to our success in recruiting and retaining top talent and helping our team reach their full potential. S H E R I D A N C O N S T R U C T I O N I S A N E Q U A L O P P O R T U N I T Y E M P L O Y E R . G E N E R A L C O N T R A C T I N G / D E S I G N - B U I L D / E N G I N E E R I N G / C O N S T R U C T I O N M A N A G E M E N T CONTACT US TODAY: employment@sheridancorp.com / 207-453-9311 www.sheridancorp.com

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