CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Clearwater brewery is the first in Florida to use a special type of beer-making process that is helping save the environment.
Beer makers say that carbon dioxide is naturally produced during the fermentation process, which usually gets released into the atmosphere.
"We're now recapturing the CO2," said LJ Govoni, the president of the Big Storm Brewing Company.
Govoni says new technology allows Big Storm to capture that CO2 and recycle it by putting it back into their beer.
"Instead of going to buy CO2 — a less pure form of CO2 — this allows us to keep what we're already naturally producing and re-use it, save those dollars and have a better product," Govoni said.
Govoni says the process not only improves the quality of their product, but it also helps the environment by limiting carbon emissions.
Earthly Labs, the company that makes the machines Big Storm uses to recapture carbon dioxide, says it would take 1,500 trees one year to recycle the same amount of CO2 done by their device.
"Anything we can do to help preserve our beaches, our waterways, anything that is local tourism, that's important to us," Govoni said. "We just want to be that good neighbor."
This story was originally published by Wendi Lane on Scripps station WFTS in Tampa, Florida.
