Direct Air has published a summary of its participation at Brewers Congress 2025, capturing insights from two days of talks, workshops and one-to-one discussions with brewers at Big Penny Social in London. Across conversations on the stand and during demonstrations, three recurring themes emerged from brewery teams: adopting on-site nitrogen generation, improving compressed air systems, and putting robust support in place for essential utilities.
“Brewers told us their priorities are consistency, cost control and resilience,” said Scott Cluley, Sales Engineer at Direct Air. “The discussions were about making packaging lines steadier, cleaning and bottling more reliable, and supply chains less fragile.”
1) On-site nitrogen generation to improve consistency and reduce costs
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SubscribeA significant number of breweries continue to depend on bulk liquid nitrogen deliveries or cylinder supply, exposing them to fluctuating prices and logistical complexity. Through demonstrations and discussions, Direct Air outlined how on-site nitrogen generation can typically reduce nitrogen costs by around 20–30%, remove delivery dependencies and give brewers greater control over both purity and availability.
These systems generate high-purity nitrogen directly from compressed air (“pipe in air, pipe out nitrogen”) and can be expanded as production requirements increase.
Within food and beverage production, nitrogen plays a key role in tank blanketing, line purging and protecting beer quality by reducing oxidation during storage, transport and before and after bottling.
2) Compressed air systems that protect product quality
Clean, reliable compressed air underpins many brewery operations, from bottling and cleaning to instrumentation and fermentation support. At Brewers Congress, conversations frequently centred on air quality, system reliability and uptime. Inadequately designed or poorly maintained compressed air systems can lead to contamination risks, unexpected stoppages and uneven performance.
Industry standards emphasise the control of moisture, particulates and oil, with many food and drink applications working to ISO 8573-1/12500 levels, often supported by oil-free compressors and suitable filtration. The practical objective remains consistent pressure and flow, confirmed air quality at the point of use, and smoother running filling and packaging lines.
3) Bespoke systems backed by long-term support
Brewers also discussed how to best organise ongoing support for these critical utilities. A consistent message was the importance of preventative maintenance to ensure reliability, combined with fast response times and planned interventions that minimise disruption.
Topics included servicing in line with manufacturer recommendations, remote or condition-based monitoring, and contingency arrangements that help keep downtime to a minimum during repairs. All are aimed at maintaining safe, compliant and predictable production.
“When nitrogen and compressed air are treated as critical utilities, quality rises and risk falls,” added Edward Hill, Sales Engineer at Direct Air. “Whether a brewery is moving off delivered gas or tightening air quality at point-of-use, the wins show up as fewer interruptions, steadier packaging and better shelf life.”
About Brewers Congress
Brewers Congress is an industry event bringing together brewers, suppliers and specialists for presentations, panel discussions and an exhibition focused on best practice and innovation in brewing. The 2025 event took place from 30 September to 1 October at Big Penny Social in London.
About Direct Air
Established in 1993, Direct Air is headquartered in Coventry with additional sites in Cheltenham. The company provides compressed air systems and associated utility solutions to manufacturers across the UK, including extensive support for the food and beverage industry.
