Help! Skeptical Friends!

I have a bunch of buddies who I wanna share my homebrew with, BUT! They are really skeptical about it's "safety". Everyone who ever shared their brew with buddies who don't homebrew or even heard of it has encountered this before. And I know what some of you might say. "Hey if they don't want it, then more for you!" I know, but you know the feeling of serving something you're proud of to people and getting to see their reactions on it(I bake too so I love that feeling when people are surprised that I made those cookies or cake). I've tried explaining everything to them as simple as possible, but they say they need "Proof" not just my word, but physical/scientific proof that my homebrew is safe to drink. Is there anything you guys can suggest for me to do or say to give them their proof?

Drink one, when you don't die that will be proof

Really, just find any reputable website that explains brewing. Or take them to a local microbrewery. Most of those guys started as homebrewers and could explain that it's the same process, just bigger buckets.

Read up on the history of brewing. Beer has been brewed for thousands of years because it doesn't make you sick, unlike the unhealthful local water of that time. In fact, your friends are probably safer drinking the beer you brew than water coming out of your tap. Boiling, alcohol, and the low acidic pH from the hops make it much safer and cleaner.

I wonder why they'd even think it would be safe? Maybe they are familiar with old moonshiners and still where people could go blind? If that is the case I could understand.

But if someone offers me dinner, I don't ask them, "You made this?!? Is it safe? Will I go blind if I eat it?" because that is rude. The same is true with homemade beer and wine (and soap, and dishtowels, or whatever the craft is). It's simply rude to be a jerk about it. Drink, or don't drink. But don't be rude.

If your friends need proof to drink your homebrew, then tell them you want proof that their dinner won't kill YOU so they can see how absolutely rude that is.

More beer for you. All though I love when someone tastes my beer and the first thing that they say rather supprised is "oh it tastes like beer" what did you think it would taste like.

My wife bought me my homebrew starter kit at the LHBS a couple years ago, and won't drink anything I brew because she's convinced it'll kill her .

Okay, the truth is she really prefers lagers and we don't have the setup to make those, but I'm hoping to be able to make a small batch over the winter.

I'm curious why they are so skeptical? All the advice given already should be sufficient; it might help to pick the one that is most likely to be convinced and get them to try it first.

Have them watch that cheesy show on Netflix about the history of beer. They brew beer with duck pond water and then feed it to unsuspecting victims (which has to violate a number of laws). I'm guessing they weren't really unsuspecting...

Homebrew skeptics are everywhere, I usually tell them my home brew only sent me to the Emergency room once, and I only poop blood " once in a while". It does weed out the wimps, but at the weekend feeds, it doesn't take them long to to pull a pint.

Tell them to watch " how beer saved the world" on Netflix.

Tell them beer is what got the western world through the plague. When all the water was contaminated with sewage, beer and wine were the only safe things to drink. Then refer them to one of Revvy's responses in an "is it safe?" thread.

Just summarize the process to them. Everything you use when brewing is, presumably, sterilized using Starsan/iodophor/etc. Plus the wort itself is boiled, which kills any microorganisms there. Beer is safer than sushi you eat at a restaurant, or even licking the spatula after making cookie dough.

Bottle your brew in some commercial bottles where the labels are screened on (Stone or Red Stripe) and when they are like "man that is good beer!" you can tell them that it's your beer.

Tell them to sac up and drink it! I've never had to twist anyone's arm to drink a beer before. If they are that worried about it, make them look it up themselves. You made the beer and did all the work already. You don't owe them any evidence, studies, or whatever, that homebrew beer is safe.

lol. Dude, your friends are just messing with you.

Water board them with your home brew.

hopalotamus said:

More beer for you. All though I love when someone tastes my beer and the first thing that they say rather supprised is "oh it tastes like beer" what did you think it would taste like.

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Lmao!

Zuljin said:

Water board them with your home brew.

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If that does not convince them, try doing this with cheaply made BMC beers to see if they can tell the difference.

Get new, less lame friends.

I'm really surprised that people from the home of the manila folder would show such trepidation. Come on, the inventors of the manila folder!

Step 1: Get a computer and your friends so that they can watch a short movie with sound.

Step 2: Go the the "You Tube" site or "Net Flix" and search for "How beer saved the world." - It was on Discovery channel.

Step 3: WATCH IT....

I went to the county fair last night to see how my brew fared (pun intended) and an older couple walked up. The guy expressed brief interest in making homebrew, the lady expressed serious concern that he would poison himself. I had been drinking and didn't feel like being the ambassador of homebrew. Apparently it's a common misconception

The only person concerned about trying my beer was my friend's wife. She thought it would give her a yeast infection.

Do they have scientific proof they aren't total *****es?

They've heard stories that moonshine could kill you or make you go blind if the moonshiner didn't do it right. And that's absolutely true. But beer brewing (and wine and mead making) is a different process, incapable of creating methanol like the distillation process can create.

Two things they need to know:

1) Nothing can live in beer that could seriously harm you.
2) The beer brewing process is not the same as the spirits distillation process, and methanol is the thing that could make you go blind or kill you, and that's only (potentially) created in the distillation process.

Slipgate said:

Morons like that don't deserve homebrew. Probably a bunch of hippie libs. Let them drink Bud.

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Your political leanings don't have a place in the General Beer Discussion section.

This...

BronxBrew said:

Tell them to watch " how beer saved the world" on Netflix.

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...and then tell them "NO beer for you". Curiosity will win them over. They won't be able to resist the lure of fresh tasty homebrew.

I wish I could remember which thread it was, but on the GM forums I read about this poster who claimed to have been infected with botulism from his mead because he made it with raw honey. I didn't think that would be possible after fermentation occurs.

Anyway OP I don't know what's wrong with your friends. Maybe they don't like beer. Make them some mead instead.

LandoLincoln said:

They've heard stories that moonshine could kill you or make you go blind if the moonshiner didn't do it right. And that's absolutely true. But beer brewing (and wine and mead making) is a different process, incapable of creating methanol like the distillation process can create.

Two things they need to know:

1) Nothing can live in beer that could seriously harm you.
2) The beer brewing process is not the same as the spirits distillation process, and methanol is the thing that could make you go blind or kill you, and that's only (potentially) created in the distillation process.

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Methanol is so called because it is a petrollium disstilate ie,Methyl Alcohol. Ethyl Alcohol is from fermenting/distilling plant material. My grandma made sour mash whisky,& we didn't die or go what was then called "stone blind". Just a BS old wive's tale that I never saw proof of down home. So you basically get Methanol from OIL & Ethanol from PLANT MATERIAL. And yes,a petrolium distillate like Methanol is toxic. It also burns clear,so you can't see it.

unionrdr said:

Methanol is so called because it is a petrollium disstilate ie,Methyl Alcohol. Ethyl Alcohol is from fermenting/distilling plant material. My grandma made sour mash whisky,& we didn't die or go what was then called "stone blind". Just a BS old wive's tale that I never saw proof of down home. So you basically get Methanol from OIL & Ethanol from PLANT MATERIAL. And yes,a petrolium distillate like Methanol is toxic. It also burns clear,so you can't see it.

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Ethanol also comes from petroleum by the way, and distilling wood can get you methanol. Methanol and ethanol are completely different chemicals with different (some similar) properties, the difference is not just their origin.

But your general point stands. Ethanol gets you drunk, methanol gets you dead.

mojo_wire said:

Get new, less lame friends.

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Seriously! What kind of elitist, pretentious whiners are you trying to serve?

if you've been brewing a while, often break out the techno-babble about fermentation variables, conversion rates, co2, esters, boil rates, alpha acids, etc. your friends kinda get the idea you know what your doing. even if they have NO idea what you're going on about.

beer is a mystery to most people. its a food product and its just sits around at room temp (room temp to them, 62 vs 70 doesn't come into it for them).

so its not unreasonable for the reaction to " hey I bought a beer making kit a while ago. Want to drink this?" to be slowly backing away from the mad hooch chemist.

they come around after bit.

Just challenge their manhood by calling them names. Usually the one that starts with a P works for me with my friends. Machismo will overcome any fears they have.

Methanol can be produced by an overly hot fermentation. Enough to give the brew a 'hot alcohol' flavor, but not enough to cause any problem.

OP - no need to prove anything. They don't want to drink it, so stop offering them any. They can bring their own beer.

THe number one concern I get from non homebrew drinkers is "IS this gonna give me diarrhea?" Because every one has known some one to make some toilet wine, or something or equal crappness and it made them sick....I typically just laugh and say only if i effed up!

I dont care....drink it or dont....I enjoy it, and BJCP judges have enjoyed it (reflecting in some scores to contests i'v entered) so I dont care if "they who know nothing about beer" enjoy it.

rifraf said:

Ethanol also comes from petroleum by the way, and distilling wood can get you methanol. Methanol and ethanol are completely different chemicals with different (some similar) properties, the difference is not just their origin.

But your general point stands. Ethanol gets you drunk, methanol gets you dead.

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Only insomuch as ethanol can be produced from acidic hydration of ethylene (known in 18th century as coal gas). Or C2H4+H2O->CH3CH2OH to split hairs. And wood still qualifies as plant material.
You're right though,forgot methyl alcohol is also made from wood,was called wood alcohol. Also made from Carbon monoxide,carbon dioxide,& hydrogen.
So we're right basically.

rifraf said:

Ethanol gets you drunk, methanol gets you dead.

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That sounds like something my high school chemistry teacher said.
"ethanol makes you stupid, methanol makes you dead." to be exact lol

unionrdr said:

Methanol is so called because it is a petrollium disstilate ie,Methyl Alcohol. Ethyl Alcohol is from fermenting/distilling plant material. My grandma made sour mash whisky,& we didn't die or go what was then called "stone blind". Just a BS old wive's tale that I never saw proof of down home. So you basically get Methanol from OIL & Ethanol from PLANT MATERIAL. And yes,a petrolium distillate like Methanol is toxic. It also burns clear,so you can't see it.

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You can definitely get methanol from fermentation. It's just in very small concentrations. The reason it is a problem with distillation is that it boils off early and in much more concentrated form.

I'm with bringing both their manhood and lineage into question until they come around.