In the near future, similar devices may improve the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, foods, and other carbonated beverages. Currently, it takes anywhere from 10 days to three weeks to produce a drinkable brew. Much of that time is devoted to fermentation and aging of a liquid called wort, created after water is cooked with grains and hops.
Fermentation causes carbon dioxide to form in the liquid.
While CO 2 adds fizz to beer, too much of it inhibits yeast growth, so brewers need to de-gas the wort. According to this month's Physics World , physicists and researchers at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, along with EA Technology in Chester, England, have developed an ultrasonic whistle that degases wort in mere minutes. The ultrasound waves compress, thin out and push dissolved gas into bubbles. As the bubbles expand, they float to the top of the wort where they easily can be collected. At present, the whistle takes out about 40 percent of the carbon dioxide per minute.