Gettig ill off homebrew

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adamdillabo

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A friend came over this weekend and had a stout I made. Before finishing his stomach was upset. Spent some time on the can and threw up all Sunday. No one else has gotten sick. I'm drinking one now. Bottles were reused but washed after pouring and sanitized in a dish washer. Can something like that happen in 30 mins
 
Girl friend had the same symptoms early last week. Now I have people accusing me of brewing bad beer.
 
Did he drink the yeast layer from the bottle conditioning process? Were you drinking straight from the bottle? Give us some more info.
 
It's not the homebrew. Sounds like this thing called the flu that's going around.
 
It's possible to get an upset stomach from anything- if he's intolerant of certain foods, then it'd be possible. Like if I'm allergic to shellfish, I could get very sick and even die from eating even a small amount. Or if I'm lactose intolerant, ingesting lactose could give me an upset stomach.

But no, he didn't develop gastrointestinal illness from your homebrew. He had a bug of some kinds.

I've heard of a few people who drank really young sediment-filled beer (really yeasty) get diarrhea when they overdid it, though. But it was much later, like the next day, and not within minutes.

Even food poisoning (which is NOT what happened here, but as an example only!) takes about 24 hours to show symptoms. So whatever he had was in his system for a while, at least a day or so, unless he's allergic to beer.
 
I'm far from a medical expert . . .

I've never heard of something like this happening with homebrew . . . doesn't mean it can't happen. Usually, if a batch goes bad, it's the batch, and not just one or two bottles. If you drank the same beer, and others have had it without effect, then I don't know what to say.

It's also unlikely that any food poisoning occurs as fast as 30 minutes. . . but then, maybe it wasn't a common food bug.

It may have something to do with something else they ate. Could also be a flu bug or something similar.

Not saying it wasn't the beer . .. just that it doesn't seem like the likely culprit to me.
 
We poured into glasses. He didn't follow my instructions and got my yeast then I did.
 
Yeah sounds like flu, or maybe he got food poisoning from something else. What did he eat? From what I understand food poisoning can show up relatively quickly (30 minutes). And anecdotally, I have gotten sick from food poisoning within 30 minutes or so before...I stopped eating at my college's food court after that incident, in fact.


It's possible there was something wrong with just that one bottle. e.g. maybe it had some cleanser/sanitizer still in there, which in sufficient quantities could give you some stomach troubles.
 
My= more*

He's my best friend and it sucks knowing he won't trust my beer anymore
 
People are medically ignorant, the kind of bacteria that can survive in a beer media are pretty much limited to non-pathogenic lifeforms, and you'd notice it right away (smell, taste etc.)

Your friends are wrong.
 
Just wait until Revvy sees this, or maybe he is trying to restrain himself. Nothing pathogenic can grow in beer.

Drinking the yeast dregs from a bottle could give even the most steel-stomached some diarrhea. In particular, drinking the dregs from a sour, containing many probiotic bacteria, can result in diarrhea or upset GI. This is completely different than causing an infection in your friends. The same thing will happen if you eat 8 cups of yogurt.

Maybe they are gluten intolerant. Or perhaps they shared a little saliva, just a thought, no accusations here.
 
I'm far from a medical expert . . .

I've never heard of something like this happening with homebrew . . . doesn't mean it can't happen. Usually, if a batch goes bad, it's the batch, and not just one or two bottles. If you drank the same beer, and others have had it without effect, then I don't know what to say.

It's also unlikely that any food poisoning occurs as fast as 30 minutes. . . but then, maybe it wasn't a common food bug.

It may have something to do with something else they ate. Could also be a flu bug or something similar.

Not saying it wasn't the beer . .. just that it doesn't seem like the likely culprit to me.


Uh, It WASN'T the beer. NOTHING PATHOGENIC CAN EXIST IN BEER, EVEN IF THE BEER IS INFECTED.......

It's probably a little thing called the Norovirus that's going around.
 
Na, just a case of a one beer q@33?. Kidding, reverse his mis trust and hold his inability to hold his liquor over his head. Btw- tell em to go to the freeging doctor, they obviously have Influenza. That'll set em straight.
 
Even food poisoning (which is NOT what happened here, but as an example only!) takes about 24 hours to show symptoms.
hmmm . . . I remember going to a Mexican place when the kids were school age. Shared one of those Bloomin Onion things with dip. Got home and not much later everyone was sick. The girls were hanging on the toilets. Me and Brian were bent over in the back yard. Didn't eat Mexican again for over five years.
:drunk:
 
Food intoxication can occur as soon as one hour after ingestion. Food poisoning usually takes 12-24 hours.

This is different than beer intoxication, which happens almost instantly and results in awesome and intelligentitis.
 
I vote for unrelated cause with a very tiny vote for him being especially sensitive to yeast. I know to much yeast will make my stomach rumble.
 
hmmm . . . I remember going to a Mexican place when the kids were school age. Got home and not much later everyone was sick. The girls were hanging on the toilets. Me and Brian were bent over in the back yard. Didn't eat Mexican again for over five years.
:drunk:

Yeah food poisoning can sometimes be within 6-8 hours of contact with the pathogen, if it's bad like improperly handled picnic potato salad during the summer and can even go away within a few hours. That's the problem with the new "Ferrari Norovirus" that's hitting (My 87 year old mom was hospitalized over the weekend from complications from getting it.) It hits fast and can burn through you and be gone in a few hours, a lot of folks (like my mom) think it's a mild case of food poisoning and don't do anything about it.... She got it Wednesday and was fine a few hours later, at least the vomiting and stuff had gone away, but it was so severe she ended up being severely dehydrated and her potassium was off, and she had "mental status" changes. SO they had to admit her.
 
aww tell em they got e coli and they are doomed or aids or a cancer and then give another beer it takes more than 30 mins to get sick afer a single beer
 
hmmm . . . I remember going to a Mexican place when the kids were school age. Shared one of those Bloomin Onion things with dip. Got home and not much later everyone was sick. The girls were hanging on the toilets. Me and Brian were bent over in the back yard. Didn't eat Mexican again for over five years.
:drunk:

You must have got a BIG dose of something, then. It's typical for food poisoning symptoms to show up 8-72 hours after eating, normally around 12-24 hours though from what I've seen.
 
You must have got a BIG dose of something, then. It's typical for food poisoning symptoms to show up 8-72 hours after eating, normally around 12-24 hours though from what I've seen.
Hadn't thought of it before, but there's always the chance that it was from something earlier in the day. Everything coming up tasted of Mexican, so that's what took the blame.

Oh, and that restaurant shut down shortly after that.
 
I have a friend who is very sensitive to yeast. He MUST filter his homebrew. I don't know the exact nature of his body's response to it.

I'm also sensitive to live yeast but I just deal with it. It gives me really bad gas. No diarrhea though. That's why I tend to keep my drinking to Friday/Saturday nights when I'm not going to be around anyone but my wife. Poor wife. :cross:
 
It's either a yeast allergy,or maybe the extra yeast he got in his glass was fed on by something already in his system? Might've speeded up the reaction from the virus or whatever it is/was.
 
I'll agree with the time frames posted: food poisoning takes at least 8 hours...although people tend to blame the most recent meal or item consumed...the source is almost always at least one meal previous.

What type of beer? homebrewed wheat and rye beers can be very high in gluten...and could cause a quick reaction for those sensitive to gluten. Other similar proteins are also common in homebrew that are filtered or settled out of commercial beer. Most people are sensitive to these proteins...but the body adjusts...
 
It's either a yeast allergy,or maybe the extra yeast he got in his glass was fed on by something already in his system? Might've speeded up the reaction from the virus or whatever it is/was.

No way. There's no scientific basis for that. If anything the presence of yeast would inhibit a virus.
 
Was thinkin outside the box. You never know how it'll effect that one person. Although the bit about the gluten might be one. Or the yeast caused some violent reaction to him?...
 
To prove that it wasn't your beer, you can have him come back over and drink a whole batch then ask him how he feels.
 
When my friend found out that I started homebrewing he told that he brewed exactly once many years ago. He got a small kit for a gift and brewed a batch up. When he drank it, his throat got really sore. He said it was the most painful thing he ever experienced. He went to the doctor and he was told he has a yeast infection in his throat. The doctor said it was probably from the beer.

I don't think he was making it up but I'm still unsure as to whether it was really the brew.
 
So I accidentally posted this in another similar thread.

Heres a link to a study where they attempted to infect beer with common bugs that cause food poisoning. Alcohol was the main factor, basically nothing could grow in beer containing alcohol.

E coli and salmonella survived 30 days in "mid strength beers" so if you had feces and raw chicken all over your bottles food poisoning could be a possibility. But if those are the conditions of your home hes more likely to have gotten it from the glass or any surface he touched.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22004814/

Basically you can't get food poisoning from beer.
 
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