The Next Draft: Caution, not panic from Worcester breweries amid CO2 shortage

Wormtown Brewery received an unsettling notice earlier this year from its carbon dioxide supplier, American Carbonation Corp. in Palmer, warning a trucking issue in Canada would cause delivery delays. Instead of once every two weeks, Wormtown waited three weeks between each refill of CO2, enough of a disruption to prompt its brewing and production teams to meet on ways to conserve the critical ingredient and plan in case the tank empties before the next shipment.

"What do we brew less of? Do we brew less? How do we continue without impacting our employees and how do we keep production up?" said Kimberly Golinski, Wormtown's president and general manager, recalling some of the discussion. Wormtown ran through what amounted to a fire drill, she said, should it ever face a prolonged interruption in service. "It was a learning exercise for us," she said. "We said, ‘Oh man, what if this happens for real?’"

Well, it is now real for about a dozen or more breweries across the state, as they find themselves trying to manage a significant CO2 shortage. For the moment at least, Worcester's five breweries — Wormtown, Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co., Redemption Rock Brewing Co., Bay State Brewing Co., and Double Down Brewing Co. — say they expect their CO2 deliveries to continue unabated.

"Our next delivery is set to be delivered on time. That's as far as we can see into the future," Golinski said. The same cannot be said for the fourth largest brewery in the state, Night Shift Brewing, which started winding down production at its Everett brewery upon learning its CO2 supplier could no longer fulfill shipments; all 12 of Night Shift's brewing and packaging employees in Everett will lose their jobs. And the brewery has called on Jack's Abby in Framingham to handle most of its production. "I did reach out to Night Shift to say if they needed any help placing employees, we have a bunch of open roles," Golinski said.

A perfect storm of complications has led to the dearth in CO2. Apart from existing supply chain woes, some of the country's biggest ammonia plants, major suppliers of CO2, have faced maintenance shutdowns, while one of the largest natural sources of the gas, the Jackson Dome area in Mississippi, has reported a contamination issue.

"This shortage was most acute in the southeastern and central parts of the country in the early pandemic days and is now affecting the Northeast — and more specifically our brewing community in Massachusetts," Massachusetts Brewers Guild Executive Director Katie Stinchon said in an email. "I have heard from a dozen or so members that are on the hunt for CO2, or are being told that future deliveries are in jeopardy. These breweries are both big and small — from Lord Hobo to Idle Hands."

Brewers need CO2 for just about every step of the production process: It contributes to the amount of foam in beer, its mouthfeel and shelf stability; they rely on it throughout packaging and production, to purge cans and kegs of oxygen — beer's worst enemy — and push the liquid from tanks to kegs and from kegs to draft systems.

The guild has been scanning its local networks to find CO2 for the breweries desperate for a refill in hopes of sustaining them until the supply chain steadies. One supplier, Main Oxy in Milford, has already reached out, saying it can offer an uninterrupted supply of CO2 for larger breweries that have the capacity — at least a four-ton tank — to store it.

A CO2 shortage is a nightmare for breweries the size of a Night Shift or Jack's Abby, both hovering around 40,000 barrels produced annually, because of their furious production demands. They typically store CO2 in bulk onsite in heavy tanks, allowing them to have an abundance on hand and pay a lower price per pound. Suppliers simply pull up in a tanker truck and refill, much like a household's natural gas provider.

"If you can justify the initial costs, it's the ideal system, so long as a situation like the exact one in this moment in time doesn't occur," said Greg Carlson, a co-founder and head brewer of Redemption Rock.

Brewers the size of Redemption Rock often use what's called a "micro-bulk system" for their CO2 needs, Carlson said, so rather than having one humongous tank, he has two smaller cylinders that his supplier refills about every couple of weeks.

"This costs us a little more, but it's the best we could do at this location, where there was no place for a bulk tank that could be accessed by a truck," he said. "But it does mean it seems easier for our supplier to fulfill us during this time and would make it easier for us to scramble for other suppliers if we needed to. Knock on an entire forest of wood that we don't have to do that, though."

Smaller taproom breweries also use less CO2 for packaging. The mobile canning company Redemption Rock contracts with, State 64, brings its own CO2 tank for the canning line. And Double Down has not started packaging its beer yet, so its CO2 usage remains minimal.

There are no alternatives for breweries to acquire CO2 in bulk beyond contracting with a supplier. However, there are ways for them to conserve CO2 during the brewing process. Bay State Brewing Co. is one of many brewers employing a spunding valve to naturally carbonate its beer. The valve controls the release of CO2 during fermentation, keeping it in the tank where it works to carbonate.

"During the fermentation process, CO2 is produced and rather than having it go into the atmosphere, the spunding valve catches it," said Bay State co-founder Chip Jarry. "That saves me a lot of gas right there." More than just conserving CO2, naturally carbonating beers can leave them with brighter flavors and, to some, a more desirable mouthfeel, especially for lagers. Bottle conditioning is another popular method to naturally carbonate beer.

Although it takes a sizable investment, breweries have even installed CO2 reclamation systems to capture, clean and reuse the gas before it releases into the atmosphere. Such systems are usually only sensible for the largest, wealthiest breweries (Tree House Brewing Co. had one installed in Charlton) or those in remote, isolated locations — see Alaskan Brewery — where it would be too challenging to deliver CO2. Still, Greater Good has more than once considered installing a CO2 recovery system. So far, it has determined the tremendous cost would outweigh its current need, said CEO Colleen Quinn.

Through the shortage, Greater Good has been in constant communication with its CO2 supplier and can expect its weekly deliveries to continue uninterrupted, she noted. And its contract brewer, Isle Brewers Guild in Rhode Island, does not anticipate any interruption.

"We have some backup suppliers who, in a pinch, could send up smaller tanks that will bridge any few days or weekslong disruption," Quinn said.