Chinese star anise (illicium verum) in pale. bad hangover? killed yeast?

One of our customers purchased a munton's american light kit from us, and said he was going to put star anise in it. we advised him that star anise is VERY strong in flavor and he may want to use in moderation.

He called in this morning and said that his beer did not carbonate after 3 weeks and gave him a horrible hangover on the two separate days that he drank it. We have verified that he did use CHINESE star anise (illicium verum) and NOT JAPANESE star anise, which can be toxic.

He said that he put the star pods in a blender and turned them to dust, then threw them in boiling water and then tossed all into his 5 gallon batch at time of pitching yeast. he said that when he adds his sugar for priming he always gets a bit of foam, this time, no reaction. further, after conditioning for 3 weeks there was still no carbonation. says it tastes awful and causes horrid hangover.

what is going on here?

I did read that star anise can be anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and harmful to yeast when researching online medical sites. but barring the use of japanese anise, there should be not ill effects for humans when using chinese anise.

i have also seen many beer recipes that call for use of star anise. so i'm assuming that his one oz addition of anise, while a strange choice in taste, should not have had any undesired effects of yeast or his health.

appreciate any speedy replies, as we have told him we will consult the larger brewing community and call back with our findings.

thanks,
Amarillo Brewing Supply

You say he added it when he pitched his yeast. If it fermented then the anise certainly didn't kill the yeast, so I would expect his carbing issue is unrelated. The taste could be that he added too much or something entirely different. I suspect the hangovers may be from fermenting at too high of a temperature and getting fusel alcohols. Without knowing his exact process from brewing through fermentation through bottling it's really impossible to narrow it down any more than that.

Talked to this customer again, and got some clarification.

He did not put the anise in at the time of yeast pitch. he fermented primary as normal for 7 days, then racked into secondary. he let set in secondary 5 days then threw in his mixture of star anise that he ground in a blender then boiled in water. sounds like he used one half or three quarter oz in his secondary at day 5 then racked into bottles on day 8.

we called the company that was on his star anise label. they assured us that it is 100% Chinese anise. we also called poison control. they told us that there is no danger from chinese anise, and that japanese anise is not dangerous, just not good. said it causes stomach discomfort and has stimulant effects. the guy on poison control said "well.. if he drank beer and got a hangover, then yea, he was poisoned, just not by the anise"

It sounds like he did a piss poor job of treating his yeast well. Sounds like fusels and other higher alcohols from poor fermentation and before he believes his methods are to blame, he blames the anise. As an experienced Jager and Ouzo drinker, I would say the anise is not to blame for the hangover.

Perhaps this batch just got away from him. And he might just be intolerant of anise?

Nor too sure how helpful my comment is but:
I'm a pre-beginner in that I'm not even following recipes, turned an old pressure cooker into my fermenting tank etc. First attempt was a ricewine attempt using bakers yeast and way too much rice. Ended up with 25 liters of sour rice. But I mus say the little wine I got out of it had a decent kick to it and the taste was surprisingly wine-like.

With this failure as my starting point I thougt: "F rice, use only sugar"... well halfway through that I thought to myself... this is gonna be pretty boring, so I added some star anise. Probably the chinese kind. Well two days into fermentation everything just stopped. Star anise gave it a fantastic taste, apart from me adding too much yeast but the thought I had was... "I'm gonna be rich"... really a nice taste. But the fermentation did not happen and it was really suitable for breastfeeding mothers, and I would say even a 1 year old would not get much of a buzz out of it. So then I thought... Lets try it again. and add something starchy... Added some spaghetti and some lentils. Lentils floated nicely, so they must be fermenting, but again... two days in... Fermentation stopped.

Conclusion... my "secret" ingredient that was to make me rich must be killing off the bacteria/yeast

Welcome to HBT!
I admire your spirit of adventure. My first effort to brew anything was fermented root beer from a recipe in an old book. It contained very little detail on process, and I ended up with gushers. While experimenting is fun, I think you can learn more relying on proven recipes to start. There are many here on HBT, and books and magazines full. Once you get your method down, and some good results, you can start altering recipes and creating your own. Keep us posted.

urbanmyth said:

It sounds like he did a piss poor job of treating his yeast well. Sounds like fusels and other higher alcohols from poor fermentation ...

Click to expand...

This was my first thought as well. My first question would be how hot he maintained his ferm.