Best bitter celebrates carbon capture breakthrough

by Darren | Thursday, 1 June, 2023 | Beer and Cider News

They are the first two English breweries to install Dalum's revolutionary carbon capture unit, and are releasing a cask-only best bitter to celebrate.

Closed Loop will be available in pubs nationwide and across Bristol, as well as in Wiper and True's Old Market taproom.

"We strongly believe that this carbon capture technology is the future of sustainable brewing, and are delighted to be at the forefront of testing out these new machines," said Joe Watts, Wiper and True's sustainability manager.

"Ours is the second unit to be successfully installed in England. The first brewery to commission the unit was Gadds’, the Ramsgate Brewery, over in Kent. We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate this massive leap forward in brewing sustainability than brewing a beer with Gadds’ themselves."

Most of the carbon capture technology that has historically been available was built for huge macrobreweries, and was out of the price range of smaller craft breweries. The Dalum units installed at Gadds’ and Wiper and True have only just been launched onto the market, and represent huge advancements for the industry.

Designed and manufactured in Denmark by Kim Dalum, who previously worked for a company making the much larger machines, the unit has capacity to capture roughly 60 to 70 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The unit captures the CO2 from fermenting beer, washes out the impurities, compresses the gas to high pressures, condenses out unwanted gases (oxygen) to purify it further, liquifies the CO2, and pumps it back into a CO2 cryogenic tank, ready for re-use in carbonating the beer, purging tanks, and in the sterile packaging process.

"The remarkable thing about a good pint of best bitter is its exquisite balance between sweet, biscuity malt, and tangy, bitter hops," said Eddie Gadd.

"It doesn't need, or want, anything more. You don't really pay much attention to a good pint of best until, towards the end of the first pint, you realise you want another, really badly. That's a great pint of best."