Carbon dioxide recovery system for small brewers now being installed throughout Montana

We all know breweries and cideries produce large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) during fermentation and then consume near equal amounts for carbonating, packaging and other in-house uses. CO2 recovery is the solution, but it has eluded small craft breweries until now. CO Brew, a Montana food technology company, has begun installations of its new B3 Carbon Dioxide Recovery Solution at breweries in Montana with additional installs destined for the Arctic Circle in Alaska and Canada this fall.

“Our service model will allow brewers to do what they do best, make great beer, while we take care of all system maintenance and consumables,” said Taylor Woods the founder, CEO and lead engineer.

CO Brew has developed its own proprietary recovery technology and has built a total preventive service subscription around it. We have written about their solutions before. So, what’s new?

“Our new Block-2 configuration which expands upon our existing product architecture and increases the recovery capacity from a 4,000 bbl per year brewery to a 9,500 bbl per year brewery and increases average batch size of 30 to 60 bbls with a maximum batch size of 90 bbls,” Woods said.

CO2 recovery is more accessible than ever. In the last few months, CO brew has added four more breweries to its customer base and has expanded outside of Montana to remote locations in Alaska and Canada. These breweries include Conflux Brewing and Nordic Brewing in Montana, as well as Black Spruce Brewing in Alaska and NuBrew in Nunavut, Canada.

“Installing a CO Brew recapture system in our brewhouse was a no-brainer. In the long run, it will be more cost effective for us to use this than purchasing CO2,” said Hugh Yates, president of Conflux Brewing in Missoula, Mont., with a 15-bbl brewhouse.

Many breweries do not know that they are suitable candidates for such technology, believing they are too small, but CO Brew is working to change that. The company is currently the largest provider of CO2 recovery solutions in Montana and looks poised to extend that title.

“After working with Taylor and the CO Brew crew, I knew that Black Spruce Brewing was making the right choice in taking its first step in reducing our impact on the environment by recycling our CO2 with a CO Brew system,” said Carey Fristoe, owner and head brewer at Black Spruce Brewing in Fairbanks, Alaska.

More information about CO Brew can be found here.