Augsburg (dpa / lby) - The Bavarian Brewers' Association advises against buying beer hamsters because of the carbon dioxide that is becoming scarcer for breweries. "On the one hand, there will be enough beer, at least of the main types, in winter, on the other hand, hamsters are counterproductive for our industry because we will then run out of empties," said Bavaria's brewer president Georg Schneider of the "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Tuesday edition).
According to Schneider, more and more breweries are suffering from the fact that due to the lack of natural gas in the production chain, less carbonic acid is available as a by-product of ammonia production in Germany. "The first breweries are already doing without the production of certain specialty beers due to insufficient carbon dioxide supplies and are concentrating on their main products," said Schneider.
Dealers are currently only offering about 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that is normally available. The carbon dioxide is particularly important for the filling process in order to displace the oxygen from empty bottles. However, carbonic acid is also a coveted commodity for other industries: "Here we brewers compete with meat companies, for example, who need the substance for packaged sausages, for example," said Schneider.
