Need some help from a chemist

So, this isn't really a homebrew related question, but more a science related question. I'm currently designing a tattoo for myself that I'm having some trouble with. The idea is to have the chemical symbols for all the components of beer. Now, obviously there are hundreds of compounds in beer, but I'm just going for a few of the big ones. Maltose, humulone, and water. I know the chemical symbols and makeup of these, but I'd like to include yeast in this as well.

My problem is...I'm not a chemist, nor do I know a whole lot about yeast biology. So...are there any symbols out there that would work for me? I'm concidering using the symbol for carboxylic acid(ester), but that's about as close as I can come.

Any ideas?

Just do ethanol. That's easy.

CH3CH2OH

I would think a much more attractive look would be something that blends the looks of the barley and hops plants; the Sierra Nevada logo has this sort of thing.

I mean, if you are determined to use chemical symbols for the various complex chemicals in beer (other than ethanol, which is just boring and could relate to any booze), you can look on Wikipedia (example here). But I think you'd have a lot of awkward conversations when people ask you what those random squiggles on your arm mean. ("oh, that's trans-isohumulone...very interesting...I always wondered what that looked like...")

Barley n hops, man. Evokes pastoral, natural, and beery thoughts

Why not use your favorite strain of yeast. Like WLP-001 or 1056. Or better yet, you could have pacman running around gobbling up all the molecule chains.

I'd suggest a ribbon diagram of something like amylase:

LOL I'd love to see the tattoo artist's face when you brought him that template

ResumeMan said:

I would think a much more attractive look would be something that blends the looks of the barley and hops plants; the Sierra Nevada logo has this sort of thing.

I mean, if you are determined to use chemical symbols for the various complex chemicals in beer (other than ethanol, which is just boring and could relate to any booze), you can look on Wikipedia (example here). But I think you'd have a lot of awkward conversations when people ask you what those random squiggles on your arm mean. ("oh, that's trans-isohumulone...very interesting...I always wondered what that looked like...")

Barley n hops, man. Evokes pastoral, natural, and beery thoughts

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My original thought was to do something like this...but I think it's overdone. Plus, I like the idea of having to ask what a tattoo means. To me, a tattoo is personal, and unless it's something that has to be explained, it's pointless to me. The chemical symbols have a mysticism to them.

As for ethanol...that IS alcohol...so I don't want that. It's part of the final product, not part of what goes into it.

Yea, I'm a nerd. I have a tat of a chemical on my shoulder too.

The problem with yeast is that it's a living organism that is made up of countless different molecules, each with their own chemical formulae. There is no set of molecules that really define it any more than any set of molecules can define any living organism. I mean, the closest I can come up with is the very vague list: protein, nucleic acids and fatty acids as the most basic building blocks of any biological organism.

A simple shorthand for budding yeast that many people use is the outline of a cell in the small bud phase of the cell cycle. This denotes, more than anything else, the organism's identity in a very simple way. That is the best I can do for you.

Carboxylic acids are not the same thing as esters, although the functional groups are similar. Why not use a simple image of a yeast budding?

I prefer beta-amylase as it's the enzyme I work on

How about a budding yeast with your chemicals on the inside? You could have maltose and ethanol in the budding yeast indicating fermentation. The enzymes responsible for fermentable sugar production aren't in the yeast but look cool nonetheless. This beta-amyalse was on the cover of my thesis

themdmc said:

Carboxylic acids are not the same thing as esters, although the functional groups are similar. Why not use a simple image of a yeast budding?

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Sardoman said:

The problem with yeast is that it's a living organism that is made up of countless different molecules, each with their own chemical formulae. There is no set of molecules that really define it any more than any set of molecules can define any living organism. I mean, the closest I can come up with is the very vague list: protein, nucleic acids and fatty acids as the most basic building blocks of any biological organism.

A simple shorthand for budding yeast that many people use is the outline of a cell in the small bud phase of the cell cycle. This denotes, more than anything else, the organism's identity in a very simple way. That is the best I can do for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks everyone! I definitely like the idea of budding yeast cells. As sardoman mentioned, yeast is a tricky organism to nail with one symbol. As with hops and barley, there are a lot of different components in each. I chose glucose for the obvious reason that it's what we most look for from our barley. And humulone because it's what we use from the hops (for the most part). I'll be getting a little artistic with this most likely, so it won't just look like chemical symbols...or I might just let the tattoo artist have creative control.

Either way...I'll post back in the next few weeks with my finished tattoo.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Thanks everyone! I definitely like the idea of budding yeast cells. As sardoman mentioned, yeast is a tricky organism to nail with one symbol. As with hops and barley, there are a lot of different components in each. I chose glucose for the obvious reason that it's what we most look for from our barley. And humulone because it's what we use from the hops (for the most part). I'll be getting a little artistic with this most likely, so it won't just look like chemical symbols...or I might just let the tattoo artist have creative control.

Either way...I'll post back in the next few weeks with my finished tattoo.

Click to expand...

Maltose is the primary sugar in malt. Hence the name maltose. But yeasties like maltose glucose sucrose and maltotriose too. And they'll eat glucose first.

sorry, i meant maltose.

Fischer projections of sugars are also interesting

I've been thinking about getting pyruvate. It's small enough to put anywhere and important for yeast in making alcohol and for humans for cell respiration.

maybe you can Google up a Lewis structure, or skeletal structure for some of these molecules. I'm guessing a good artist could make the Lewis structure have some depth and make it look like it's in 3d. Just a thought but please post pictures I would like to see how it comes out.