Is beer killing our planet?

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
doctorRobert

doctorRobert

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
1,003
Reaction score
40
Location
Sharon, MA
Well, maybe not our planet, it'll still be here, but us!!!

CO2 is rapidly rising, and here we are making all kinds of it to make beer. If people can blame cow farts for global warming, I'm gonna blame beer. It's still worth it though.
 
doctorRobert said:
Well, maybe not our planet, it'll still be here, but us!!!

CO2 is rapidly rising, and here we are making all kinds of it to make beer. If people can blame cow farts for global warming, I'm gonna blame beer. It's still worth it though.
Click to expand...

But all the grains and hops grown to make beer convert that C02 back into oxygen through photosynthesis!
 
doctorRobert said:
So we're actually saving the planet?!?!

Save the planet, drink beer!
Click to expand...

Haha I am not sure which way beer goes towards the health of the plannet. There are so many arguments in so many realms: "CO2 released during fermentation contributes to greenhouse emissions", "Crops grown for beer clean the emissions", "Crops grown for beer take the place of food crops worsening world hunger" etc.

I just brew beer as a hobby. If I ever ran a massive scale brewery then I might consider the consiquences of brewing emmisions
 
doctorRobert said:
. If people can blame cow farts for global warming,.
Click to expand...

Thats really more of a product of the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations where thousands of cows are crammed into feed lots. Consider...well the amount of waste all of those cows put out. Lots of pollution. Not trying to turn this into a debate, but if cows were pastured (like they are supposed to), we wouldn't be talking about the greenhouse emissions of cows....

Beer on the other hand. I don't really know how much CO2 it actually puts off. I'm sure a place like Budwieser who brews on a massive scale all year puts out a good amount. The argument that the barley will take back up CO2 is good, but that is only if the barley Budweiser uses is grown in St. Louis. On a global level it may sound fine, but who knows the impact of the local level.
 
I have heard of some distilleries reclaiming the co2 and reusing it. Don't know the technical side of how they do it, but I imagine breweries could do the same thing.

Vodka 360 I believe is where I heard it.
 
i get a kick out of the whole global warming debate. When i get my car inspected in Massachusetts (4 banger Kia Rio) and i have to worry about it possibly failing. Then i get on the highway later that day and see this tractor trailer hauling who knows what who knows how far trailing a huge plume of black smoke behind him it kinda upsets me.... In conclusion, i shall not even think of worrying about global warming via brewing. :mug:

George
 
snazzy said:
I have heard of some distilleries reclaiming the co2 and reusing it. Don't know the technical side of how they do it, but I imagine breweries could do the same thing.

Vodka 360 I believe is where I heard it.
Click to expand...

The brewery in the post i linked to does that
 
If our world is coming to an end because of global warming, I'm going to need a lot of beer to handle it.
 
If this is the case, the act of exhaling is also killing our planet. Everyone stop!!!

;)
 
The emissions from homebrewing beer is so small in comparison to others. I think if someone is going to get upiddy about Brewing beer they need to open their eyes and look at bigger issues rather than trying to tell us brewing beer is leading to the downfall of our Earth ...my .02
 
iparks81 said:
The emissions from homebrewing beer is so small in comparison to others. I think if someone is going to get upiddy about Brewing beer they need to open their eyes and look at bigger issues rather than trying to tell us brewing beer is leading to the downfall of our Earth ...my .02
Click to expand...

I think the OP's question was just more speculation. I agree though. Even taking the entire industry into account, there are MUCH bigger fish to fry when it comes to pollution.
 
You would think breweries could capture said CO2, pressurize it and use it for carbonation.

Oh and waste from cattle, feeds the plants and generates more O2.
 
I'd think that the emissions the yeast produce are tiny compared the emissions produced for the production and transport of the equipment and ingredients we use.

Several commercial breweries capture their CO2 and use it for carbonation. Others use renewable energy to make their beer (e.g. Sierra Nevada, New Belgium). The cost per sixpack is not any different from other breweries that do not.
 
global warming is not real. They are making you feel guilty so that they can tax you for regular human activity and you will accept the tax. Beer has no effect on any warming, and CO2 is plant food. CO2 is not a "poison". imagine all the co2 from natural reasons that gets into the atmosphere, probably doesnt even compare to that added by human production, with human production being much much smaller. Follow the money in regards to climate change, that will tell you EXACTLY, how much bull**** it really is.

Dont worry about GW, relax and have a homebrew. Burp, fart, and breathe freely!
 
Pick up the supplies that you use to make that 5 gallons beer, in the box that they ere shipped in. Now pick up the 5+ gallons once you've bottled them in this heavy ass glass bottles. Feel the difference in weight? That is how much you're saving from that made beer being shipped to the distributor, then to the liquor store, then you driving to the store for that late night run cause you didn't think you'd want anything to drink earlier in the day. I vote for the fact that were reducing emissions period. GW or no GW, that's the way it is IMO.
 
Haha... What's funny is people thinking I was seriously concerned about homebrew global warming...

As for GW, of course the world is getting warmer, the ice age ended and it's gonna keep on heating up.....The earth was a big ball of flaming fire before and it's gonna be that again, whether we try to stop it or not.
 
doctorRobert said:
Haha... What's funny is people thinking I was seriously concerned about homebrew global warming...

As for GW, of course the world is getting warmer, the ice age ended and it's gonna keep on heating up.....The earth was a big ball of flaming fire before and it's gonna be that again, whether we try to stop it or not.
Click to expand...

Actually the earth has been getting cooler for that last few years, that's why they changed the name from "Global Warming" to "Climate Chage" god forbid thay could admit they were wrong, just change your story to fit the facts.
 
It's not the co2 emmisions from fermetning that is a problem as, what people have said before, this is part of a cycle that the plants we use in brewing take in the co2 and store it which then gets released when it is fermented by yeast to get absorbed by more plants and so on and so on. The major inpact I think is from releasing carbon stores by burning fosil fuels and stuff (to transport beer 1/2 way around the world), carbon that has been locked up in oil and coal for 1000s of years and so when burnt it releases "new" carbon.
We rely to much on these fuels so it is easier to try and make industry reduce the effect of the carbon they are cycling to offset the "new" carbon entering the system.
/end rant
Therefor I think we are doing a good job by producing locally!
 
Its not the beer thats killing the planted at all!!!!! Its the stupid people that drink too much of it and make more stupid people. As a result we are exponetially increasing the amount of stupid people in the world.

Case in point, the documentary Idiocracy.
 
marc06 said:
its not the beer thats killing the planted at all!!!!! Its the stupid people that drink too much of it and make more stupid people. As a result we are exponetially increasing the amount of stupid people in the world.

Case in point, the documentary idiocracy.
Click to expand...

+1(234567)
 
Global warming is a myth, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Do not get me wrong, I truly am about recycling, self sustainability and trying to preserve the planet for future generations.

Anyone remember the movie by Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth? Ya? isn't New York supposed to be under water by now? Oh ya, it is not because he and all the global warming people are full of dookie! They use made up math to doom and gloom normal people into a panic so that they can better control them.

Green house gas? Dookie...

Another trip down memory lane...remember the "hole in the ozone layer"? Ya ever hear ANYTHING about it anymore? No? Do you know why? Because the hole closed itself up. The reason it was there was to begin with was the Earth released Helium into outer space...aka the Earth burped...or its "airlock bubbled". (remember airlock activity is not a sign of active fermentation...)

But to humor the ridiculousness notion that brewing beer can hurt the planet, I will now hang a plant over my fermentation area so that it will convert the CO2 into oxygen. Problem solved.
 
Zamial said:
Another trip down memory lane...remember the "hole in the ozone layer"? Ya ever hear ANYTHING about it anymore? No? Do you know why? Because the hole closed itself up. The reason it was there was to begin with was the Earth released Helium into outer space...aka the Earth burped...or its "airlock bubbled". (remember airlock activity is not a sign of active fermentation...)
Click to expand...

Umm. You need to check your science here. The ozone layer still has a hole in it as evidenced by the 2009 data. As mentioned in the article, ozone is destroyed by the presence of chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere. The heavy use of CFCs (and other chemicals) prior to 1987 lead to the depletion of the ozone layer.

Since 1987, the use of CFCs (and others) has been outlawed by the Montreal Protocol. The total number of ozone depleting chemicals in the atmosphere have only been reduced by 4% from their peak. The chemicals that form from the breakdown of CFCs have an amazing half-life. The current estimate is that it will take about another 10 or so years before we will see any real results.

You can find more information if you want by digging around on NASA's web site.
 
Zamial said:
Another trip down memory lane...remember the "hole in the ozone layer"? Ya ever hear ANYTHING about it anymore? No? Do you know why? Because the hole closed itself up.
Click to expand...

WTF, I got some serious sunburn last summer that would prove you wrong. You in USA don't hear anything about it because it is not sitting over you country, just over us burning the bejesus out of us. Summers here are much worse for UV than I remember them being as a kid..... and I'm only 25!
 
billc68 said:
Actually the earth has been getting cooler for that last few years, that's why they changed the name from "Global Warming" to "Climate Chage" god forbid thay could admit they were wrong, just change your story to fit the facts.
Click to expand...

It's been called Climate Change for decades, there hasn't been any name change... They're also two very different but related terms.
 
mattd2 said:
... I got some serious sunburn last summer that would prove you wrong... Summers here are much worse for UV than I remember them being as a kid..... and I'm only 25!
Click to expand...

I am not a scientist or a environmentalist but I MAY be able to explain this phenomenon.

Solar flares and lots of them. We are actually entering a cycle of massive solar flare activity over the next 10-15 years. Is this a possible cause? maybe...

A more realistic cause of sunburn later in life..? For this I can only speak from personal experience but from what I know, I used to tan to a dark golden "deep tan" when I was young because I was most ALWAYS outside playing or doing chores. We even had "recess" to go outside during the day at school.

I look at life now and I FEAR the Sun. It burns me like a side of bacon on a flat top stove. I am pasty white from years of computer gaming, lack of being outside more than inside coupled with schooling, working 3rd shifts (thankfully I am not on 3rd shifts anymore!) and living in the north where long winters also hide the sun from me. On the beach I am the "florescent light bulb" guy. I no longer have a tolerance to the sun at all. SPF 60 or better is my staple for any outdoor activity.

I blame the above on ME not chemicals, pollutants, or other problems. It is always easier to blame some invisible problem than to own up to it yourself, that is human nature.

At any rate, beer is not killing the planet, maybe my liver but not the planet.
 
Technically we are the demise of this so called "global warming". Our boddies produce methane... We fart out mathane gas.... :confused:

Everything we do destroys our planet apparently...we might as well just stop doing everything we enjoy.
 
Wading in carefully here:

Having been on a factory tour at the Budweiser facility in Houston, I know they recapture CO2 from fermentation to make Carbonated Water that they then use to dilute the 6% beer they manufacture to 3% beer they distribute. (Their 6% beer has a Pilsner Urquell flavor and technically is a challenge to reproduce). Michelob is the only "all-grain" beer that they made at the time, most others use rice and corn adjuncts.

I don't dispute climate change, I dispute the "man-made" aspect of climate change. If you disagree with that dispute, then answer me one question. If we are responsible for an increase in temperature from the 1900's to the 1990's of ~2 degrees F or whatever it is, why has the same increase been recorded on Mars and Jupiter? Are we affecting those environments as well? ;) It is my opinion that our sun has changed our climate. It has done so in the past, why would we not think it would do so in the future?
 
What p!sses me off about the whole "Climate Change / Global Warming" issue is the arrogant way the proponents attempt to belittle those who ask questions.

This is not a straight forward topic. The "case closed" crowd have their heads in the sand as much as the debunkers.

The topic is not settled. Attempting to radically change the entire world, "just because we say so" is not going to work. Ignoring temperature outliers in the data simply makes them look dishonest.

Is the planet warming up? Maybe.

Is mankind the sole source? Doubtful.

Should we be concerned? Probably.

Should we go live in a cave and eat roots? No.
 
billc68 said:
You would think breweries could capture said CO2, pressurize it and use it for carbonation.

About fifteen years ago on a tour at Tuborgs now defunct brewery in Copenhagen I was told that they indeed did use the CO2 from fermentation to carbonate sodapops (in this case Coca Cola produced on license, I believe). Probably the same at other breweries with carbonated drinks-production.
Click to expand...
 
Cpt_Kirks said:
What p!sses me off about the whole "Climate Change / Global Warming" issue is the arrogant way the proponents attempt to belittle those who ask questions.

This is not a straight forward topic. The "case closed" crowd have their heads in the sand as much as the debunkers.

The topic is not settled. Attempting to radically change the entire world, "just because we say so" is not going to work. Ignoring temperature outliers in the data simply makes them look dishonest.

Is the planet warming up? Maybe.

Is mankind the sole source? Doubtful.

Should we be concerned? Probably.

Should we go live in a cave and eat roots? No.
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

R
Beers of Australia/New Zealand
Replies
7
Views
201
Raider7296
R
heathm922
Heath's New Member Introduction
Replies
1
Views
276
wallyLOZ
wallyLOZ
Clint Yeastwood
Orval!
Replies
6
Views
685
Yesfan
Yesfan
P
What happened to IPA?
2
Replies
49
Views
3K
Clint Yeastwood
Clint Yeastwood
Brit the !@#$
New Apple Orchardist Member Looking to Develop Graf Recipe Using Cider Syrup
Replies
16
Views
930
madscientist451
madscientist451

Latest posts

Back
Top