Dangerous - Infections- Safe to drink?

I hear alot of talk about bacterial infections in the beer and how doing something wrong is "dangerous" I havn't heard of the consequesses has anyone died or gotten sick from making thier own beer. How do i know my beer is safe to drink?

Nothing can grow in beer that is dangerous to consume. It may taste horrible, but will not harm you.
Wait for the others to chime in of you want references!

Thats a good question. It would seem that moonshine wouldnt have anything to hurt you, too, but it can blind you and even poison you. Same basic principles...sugar, water, yeast, corn (instead of barley).

GeorgiaTiger said:

Thats a good question. It would seem that moonshine wouldnt have anything to hurt you, too, but it can blind you and even poison you. Same basic principles...sugar, water, yeast, corn (instead of barley).

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Completely different animal. That is because of the type of alcohol created in the beginning of the moonshine process. You are supposed to get rid of the heads and tails to prevent this.

Just found this - there are at least two manufacturing mistakes that can lead to a poisonous batch of moonshine.
It usually takes two or three passes through the still to remove all the impurities from the alcohol. One pass may not be enough to create a safe batch.
If the still is too hot, more than alcohol can boil off and ultimately condense -- meaning more than alcohol makes it into the finished product.
If the moonshiner is careless, either of these problems can result in a poisonous drink.

GeorgiaTiger said:

Just found this - there are at least two manufacturing mistakes that can lead to a poisonous batch of moonshine.
It usually takes two or three passes through the still to remove all the impurities from the alcohol. One pass may not be enough to create a safe batch.
If the still is too hot, more than alcohol can boil off and ultimately condense -- meaning more than alcohol makes it into the finished product.
If the moonshiner is careless, either of these problems can result in a poisonous drink.

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Again, that is for distillation, a completely different animal than fermentation of beer or wine.

right. I was agreeing with you with that post.

GeorgiaTiger said:

right. I was agreeing with you with that post.

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Gotcha.
If I remember correctly, distillation can produce methanol(the bad stuff) if not done properly, or that is also what is in the beginning. You want ethanol (the good stuff!).

However, beer and wine don't produce anything but ethanol. Any organism that can live in the ph and alcohol content of homebrew, cannot harm you.

I'd move away from the moonshine discussion as it's illegal and won't be tolerated on the forums.

As for your beer, agree with the above and it may look and taste disgusting but won't hurt you

Here we go again....You haven't heard about anyone getting sick do dying from hombebrweing because;

NOTHING PATHOGENIC CAN GROW IN WHAT WE MAKE!!!

You can't get sick from PERIOD, old, new, or ancient...It doesn't matter. Nothing that can live in fermented beverages can harm you period....No food poisoning or anything.

The whole history of beer, wine, mead and cider (though there is some evidence that e-coli has been found in NON ALCOHOLIC apple cider made with groundfall apples, but no evidence that tha survives the fermentation process)/Fermentation is general is that nothing pathogenic can exist in them They were consumed in places where the water could kill you, or make you sick.

Even slightly fermented beverages were consumed, even by children. Hard ciders were drunk like we drink bottled water.

Why do you think the Catholic Church chose wine as the basis of their sacrament? Because wine was more important to the culture of the desert where Christianity came from than water. Water safe, drinkable water was rare. So wine was the safer, common beverage of the day.

We've covered everything even with some citations in this thread. Dangers of Homebrewing

And some more info here as well.

It covers all the bugaboos that new brewers wanna fear, botulism, mycotoxins, e-coli, zombies....

Haha there's Revvy, I was waiting in anticipation for his reply!

I thought it was revvy, but couldn't remember. I knew he would have references!!