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In late 2019 after years of development #Milcarb was finally ready to launch their brand new product line, the Switch-Series. These devices were designed to prevent, and eliminate the "all out" scenario in the bar and restaurant industry. Gases like #CO2, and #Nitrogen are ingredients, as well as key products to propel #beverages to their appropriate glasses to be served to the masses. It is crucial that there is an ample amount of supply on site to make this happen.


Soon after the product launch, the 2020 pandemic began. As much as one could hope for a successful launch, there simply wasn't a company willing to test any new products on the market. The restaurant industry sustained blow after blow with strict municipal, and state guidelines in efforts to combat Covid-19. The suppliers to these restaurants suffered as well.



As we slowly move further away from those turbulent times there has been a recent uptick in interest in this product line. This is due to the benefit of being an #IOT device that piggy back's on a customer's wifi network. The Switch-Series devices are then able to deliver alerts free of cost to any gas supplier. Giving them the appropriate time to react instead of heading to a customer on a Friday night to make a delivery.


Several distributors have claimed that the #CarboSwitch line has given them the ability to be more agile in competitive markets. Distributors who find themselves to be more nimble then bigger companies can place a cost effective manifold with low pressure alerts compared to more expensive equipment. Although there is a little more labor involved in having an employee change a few cylinders, the customer will still be hands free like other systems. The #CarboSwitch also helps with efficiency, and visibility on a mass spectrum of customer base when delivering to #HPcylinder accounts.


Milcarb's favorite story, and feedback was from a local distributor who let them know that their company had finally used the disconnect feature on Milcarb's #NitroSwitch. A device that is connected to #NitrogenGenerators to monitor pressure, temperature, and is equipped with safeguards to prevent an air compressor from burning out. Milcarb received a communication from David McCarthy from #MacCarb on a Friday night saying "I finally had to shut one of our customers generators off due to non payment and it worked like a charm! Works a hell of a lot better then sending a sales rep out to collect. Amazing how when you shut them off on a Friday how quick you will get them to pay. This has made my day!" He also added "Making everyone' s life easier through technology. Got to love it. I won't put another generator with out the Nitro-Switch!"


The most exciting thing about seeing this product line grow is watching the evolution of the Milcarb Web-Application. It had started out as a simple dashboard showing off the proof of concept to now being fully scalable. For a company that has five devices to a company that has hundred's of devices the web-app can sustain the workload. There are now new features to where you can track filter changes for any type of equipment, as well as get alerts for when it's time to perform the maintenance. There is plenty of room to add different, and new IOT type devices, and features! We are just getting started, and #Milcarb is excited to see where these devices will be in the years to come!



 
 

By the Year 2000 Gas blenders started to become more prevalent in beer system design due to their accuracy of blend percentages. The pre-mix HP cylinder had flaws of not delivering accurate blend percentages, and were costly to the end user. The quality of draft beer in the US was beginning to improve substantially. With the rise of Bulk Co2 in the US since the 1980’s and the influx of McDantim gas blenders now coming to the market, there was now a bigger need for Nitrogen supply to complete the beverage package in most Bar and Restaurant applications.




Over the next two decades there were numerous advancements in technology as well as food standards that would demand a higher quality in the beer dispensing industry. Education through equipment manufacturers, and Breweries, as well as the Food Modernization act brought the industry together to strive to deliver a better end product to the consumer. This in itself began to pave the way for Beverage grade gases, and inadvertently raised a demand for on-site Nitrogen generation.

Blended gas as it pertains to beer has had quite the history. So the next time you take a sip from your favorite IPA, or bourbon barrel aged stout, or you are finding yourself admiring the fireworks in a glass as your Nitro beer cascades, raise your glass and send a cheers to the science that made it so!


 
 

In 1988 a company from California named Draft Systems owned at the time by Mert Fallon sold all of the company's assets to a large company from Denmark with exception of a few products. The company that acquired Mert's business had no interest in these products as they did not see any value in them at the time. However, Mert saw the potential integrity of one of these products which happened to be a gas blender that he had a hand in designing for Guinness. With the blender portion of the acquisition being thrown to the wayside, McDantim was established along with another company called Beverage Systems Limited. There were several gas blenders on the market at that time but lacked efficient performance, required electricity, and had a heavy price tag. Beverage Systems Limited the entity of McDantim in the UK first found a demand for their blending technology working with a company named Calor Gas. Calor Gas at the time had developed a N2 Generator/Seperator, and ended up stumbling upon a brewery application that called for a gas blender. This story in itself has more detail, and will be revisited in Part IV.


In the US Prior to blended gas, Bars and restaurants would use straight CO2, or compressed air mixed with CO2 to push beer in long draw systems to alleviate over carbonation. The downside was delivering flat beer, as well as introducing oxygen causing the beer to spoil faster and dispense with off flavors and creating “wild” beer.

In 1991 McDantim Came to market in the US with their blender to efficiently blend N2/CO2 to help solve the issue of over carbonated, and under carbonated beer regardless of the length of the system, as well as to support Guinness Draught. At that time Guinness was making a big sales push in the United States that demanded the proper gas to dispense their product. They would visit Gas distributors in their selected markets in attempts to develop a partnership in hopes the distributors would partner with McDantim or alternatively make a custom 25% CO2 75% N2 Premix gas that would be filled in a cylinder for the dispense of their product anywhere Guinness was to be on draft.



 
 
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