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Sylvan Lake brewery producing hand sanitizer during pandemic

Snake Lake Brewing Co. will continue to produce the hand sanitizer as long as there is a need
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Snake Lake Brewing Co. in Sylvan Lake is producing hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo Submitted.

A Sylvan Lake brewery has added an unexpected item to their production list: hand sanitizer.

“It’s funny to go from producing beer, doing that as your one focus, and then now we’re producing this product that none of us ever thought would every come out of this building and now here we are,” said Adam Nachbaur, co-owner at Snake Lake Brewing Co.

Snake Lake is following a Health Canada recipe for ingredients, quantities and actual breakdown of the hand sanitizer.

The brewery purchases the ethanol to be mixed with glycerol, hydrogen peroxide and distilled water.

“With the ethanol you have to add a powder in there as well because it’s an alcohol and people can drink it,” Nachbaur said, “like it’s still just alcohol, but there’s a powder that goes in there that makes you nauseous basically.”

The Snake Lake hand sanitizer mixture is 80 per cent alcohol.

During the blending process the brewery uses a diaphragm pump, which was donated to them by CEI Control Services Ltd. in Eckville, to help circulate it through the big totes.

After the mixture is blended it has to sit in plastic for 72 hours before being labelled and sent out for sale.

Being sold locally the hand sanitizer can be found in the brewery’s tap room and at the Sobey’s grocery store, additionally the product can be purchased through avenues in the Edmonton area.

“We’re wholesaling it to everyone, so we sell it for a wholesale price to whether it’s Sobey’s or a one-off customer that just walks in the door,” explained Nachbaur. “We’re just trying to make sure everyone gets the same deal on it because it is needed nowadays.”

Central Alberta Co-op also purchased to product to use at a corporate level with their employees.

Nachbaur says Snake Lake Brewing will continue to produce hand sanitizer as long as they are allowed and there is a need.

“Over the last two months the world has changed quite a bit and just being a facility that can be licensed to do it and to kind of provide that for people that are having trouble finding it or businesses that need to use it for their employees like we have the capability to do it in a time when everyone needs it,” said Nachbaur, adding the brewery didn’t even think twice about making the decision to start production.

Snake Lake Brewing has ordered more ethanol to make another batch of the hand sanitizer.

“We’ve got lots of quantity of it, if anybody’s looking for it come let us know and we’ll set you up,” commented Nachbaur.