Can you brew beer in outer space?

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Donasay

Donasay

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I was just going through a thought experiment in my head, and I was wondering if it is at all possible to brew beer in outer space. I mean you would need some really interesting equipment to even try it. Additionally do yeast even function in zero gravity, I know there is top fermenting and bottom fermenting, but without gravity how do they know which way is top and which way is bottom.
 
It would be strange for sure. The beer would probably eventually form a sort of ball in the center of the fermenter, surrounded by CO2. The krausen would surround the ball of beer. CO2 would be expelled in all directions (simply pushed aside by density alone). Airlocks would be nearly useless, though a blow-off tube of some sort might be possible. Keeping the beer from expelling itself out of the fermenter would be another possible issue. Yeast flocculation would be strange, potentially collecting around the outside of the beer...if it flocculated at all. Mostly, zero gravity beer sounds like a strange proposition.

If you keep the fermenter tethered and constantly spin it around a point, you could induce a false "gravity" that would allow the beer to progress "normally."

EDIT:
Using the centrifugal tether system, you could potentially effect a better fermentation. A lighter gravitational force during the initial stages of fermentation may increase the yeast's ability to stay suspended and keep working, while a stronger force during conditioning would aid in flocculation and clearing.

EDIT to the EDIT:
Can you tell I'm bored?
 
Yea, well I'm bored as well, still at work, I was just trying to do a thought experiment and figure out the entier process, start to finish is it possible? I came to the conclusion that it would be exceptionally messy and difficult, and probably not possible. But I figured you guys might come up with some interesting solutions to all of the little problems.
 
I cant think of any reason why it wouldnt work, the problems involved would be the yeast not settling out so you would have to filter it, and in all grain the sparge would be complicated.
 
I think the key to it is to produce an artificial, perhaps variable gravity force. Zero gravity mashing sounds like a terrible idea, and I have no clue how you'd boil something without any ability to keep it inside a kettle.
 
I imagine that this would have been an issue I would have struggled with myself had I been a home brewer back when I was a smot poker.

I wasn't, so we were stuck discussing the usual "what if one grain of dirt under your fingernail is an entire galaxy" or "how come a quarter of a dollar is 25 cents, but a quarter of an hour is only 15 minutes". Needless to say, the movie "Horton Hear's a Who" gave me a wicked flashback when I took the runts to see it.

Point being: Put down the hoot and get back to brewing.
 
also fire inside of space ships, not so good. You would have to use an electric heating element to mash maybe, sphere shaped and some way of continually moving the mash around and a pressurized system that filters out the grain forcing hot water through the grain ball...
 
You'd have to be inside a space ship or some pressurized environment. If you brought you beer "outside" it would instantly boil off due to the lack of atmospheric pressure...
 
pcrawford said:
You'd have to be inside a space ship or some pressurized environment. If you brought you beer "outside" it would instantly boil off due to the lack of atmospheric pressure...
Click to expand...

Not to mention the lack of oxygen. It would be all "My fermentation is stuck" threads...
 
If you are on a space station, perhaps one that is spinning centrifugally in the shape of a torus, you would have some level of gravity at the outer edges. You could do your brewing there in the limited gravity which would help your flocculation and other related issues. After three weeks in the bottle, grab the brew and head over to the zero gravity bar, meet green chicks, give them homebrew and bang them.
 
blacklab said:
After three weeks in the bottle, grab the brew and head over to the zero gravity bar, meet green chicks, give them homebrew and bang them.
Click to expand...

Would it be in a bar like this?:D

quarks_bar.jpg
 
Another thing to consider; if you're in outer space, how would you take gravity readings?








I'm sorry
 
What about transferring and carbonation I think you would have to use pumps to move the beer and wort around, and then once it is carbonated, how do you go about opening a beer in outer space, it would all rocket out of the bottle.
 
Anyone bother to google the topic of brewing in space?

Been there done that :mug:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast21sep_1.htm


Suds in Space
Bubbly, frothing and ticklish -- soft drinks and beer promise a welcome taste of home to faraway space travelers.
...Will fermentation work the same in weightlessness? What happens to carbonation when there's no buoyancy to bring the bubbles to the top? Can space beer form a proper head? Scientists who study the physics of gas-liquid mixtures would love to know!

Two separate space shuttle experiments tackled these questions. Both were engineered and mediated by BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA-sponsored Commercial Space Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. NASA's Space Product Development (SPD) program encourages the commercialization of space by industry through 17 such CSCs....


Below: A far cry from the copper vats used to brew beer here on Earth, this Fluid Processing Apparatus was used by Sterrett to ferment a tiny batch of space-brew

9807362_sm.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I wonder if we can get in contact with the lady who did the experiment and get our hands on some space yeast!
 
Donasay said:
I wonder if we can get in contact with the lady who did the experiment and get our hands on some space yeast!
Click to expand...

I don't have space yeast, but I do have a mission patch that made a round trip on a space shuttle :rockin: Years ago, my grad school was paid for by a grant to study plant hormones in space grown corn seedlings. This was a lab project, not my personal research. NASA did have a project back then where they flew a bunch of tomato seeds and exposed them to the radiation of space and then gave the seeds away, mostly to school kids to grow as part of their science class and look for mutations in the plants. I don't know what happened with that study.
 
I can't believe that no one else wants to get the green chicks drunk and get it on, like Captain Kirk.
 
Well you really wouldn't have to boil, except for Hop utilization (could use hop oil or extract instead) no need to sanitize, the space shuttles are pretty damn clean, they have to be.

And every direction is down in space....
 
So we have established that this lady brewed a small amount of beer in outer space, probably brought up sterile wort and pitched in space... but what if we wanted to get a larger production going say enough for the astronauts to have a party....
 
one night, while drinking too much homebrew, I had a fantasy of driving my '76 F-150 super cab to mars w/a cooler in the back. now, I'll have to bring a tow-behind AG rig on the back.
 
Under Virgin Atlantics X Program, yeast was taken into orbit and then used to brew with. The beer is/was sold in Albequerquee (sp) New Mexico undet the label "Comet Tail Ale".

Each can was stamped with a serial number where you could track the orbital flight in which the yeast had been taken on.

Sorry I don't have the article link anymore but here is the blurb;

Yeast With the "Right Stuff" Brew First Space Beer

By Loretta Whitesides August 23, 2007 | 10:57:13 AMCategories: Space

New Mexico, home of the X PRIZE Cup and the soon-to-be-home of Virgin Galactic, now has another claim to fame- it’s the only place you can buy space beer. Kelly’s Brew Pub in Albuquerque, is home to “Comet’s Tail Amber Ale,” the world’s first space beer. Comet’s Tail is the only beer brewed with yeast that has flown in space.

Much like the private astronauts that will be launching in New Mexico, these yeast-o-nauts have flown on private suborbital launches and are recovered in time for their most important mission yet, fermenting hops malt.

The web hype for the product is a little lacking (presumably since they can't sell the stuff online). But the sister site for their Energy Drink "Antimatter" is pretty cool. You can even match the Spaceflight Authentication printed on your can to one on their website to view the launch which flew the ingredients for your drink!

The special brew is also now available in four stores around Albuquerque, according to Microgravity Enterprises representative Linda Strine. With any luck the brew will be at a retailer near you in time for your next space party, but for now you may just have another reason to head down to New Mexico for the X PRIZE Cup in October.
 
so we can get our hands on space yeast, and make that beer down here, but how would we go about making enough beer on the ISS for an astronaut party? Assuming All grain of course.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
Under Virgin Atlantics X Program, yeast was taken into orbit and then used to brew with. The beer is/was sold in Albequerquee (sp) New Mexico undet the label "Comet Tail Ale".
Click to expand...

So are these beers canned or in bottles, and if in bottles,is it bottle conditioned?!? Maybe we could harvest us some space yeast!

That would be skiffy!:tank:
 

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