Diff between Commercial & HB... a medical question

[Seabee John]

My dad is 72 years old, and loves a good beer. Unfortunately for him, in the last few years he developed a strong allergic reaction to commercial brew. He gets a life threatening asthma like attack.

No beer right? not really, he used to get just a mild attack after 2 or 3 beers, now he can't even get through one bottle. But during that time, he would come down and try my home brew. Funny thing was, none of my brew gives him the allergic reaction. He was down last night and had a pint of my nut brown and he said (today) that there was not even a hint of a reaction.

My question to some of you that may know more about the commercial process, what additive, and or difference in the commercial process that would change the beer?

I'm pretty much a Reinheitsgebot follower. About as crazy as I get is varying my mash temp.

So what do you think?

(BTW - yes, I'm outfitting his basement beer fridge with a tap and I'll keep him in beer all year... hey that means I get to claim his 200 gallons right?)

 

[fat x nub]

Thats crazy. I can't even think about what it could be

 

[jds]

I can see it now. Tap on the front, epi-pen in the butter tray...

 

[Seabee John]

I can see it now. Tap on the front, epi-pen in the butter tray...

I'm printing this off....he'll be laughing for days!

 

[Seawolfe]

Does he have a latex allergy? A friend of mine has a latex allergy, and one of the BMC's set her off - best we could figure was that they used latex in the filtering.

 

[z987k]

I'm pretty much a Reinheitsgebot follower. About as crazy as I get is varying my mash temp.

kinda OT but as great as that is, you're severely cutting yourself off from some outstanding beer.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

kinda OT but as great as that is, you're severely cutting yourself off from some outstanding beer.

Plus yeast is really helpful.

 

[Seabee John]

kinda OT but as great as that is, you're severely cutting yourself off from some outstanding beer.

The point I was making is that I'm not really doing anything radical to my beer (yet)... I've got a fairly new system that I want to dial my consistency on before I branch out. Brew simple, get good at that, then do more.

Anyway, I'm still very curious as to what it is in the process (pasteurization - changing some aspect of the beer, or additions like a preservative) that could be causing this. Like I said, my brew doesn't cause it.

I want to know why...

 

[phissionkorps]

Pasteurization, filtering, etc, will do nothing to the beer, physiologically speaking.
It's probably one of the preservatives added to the BMC's

 

[z987k]

I'd put my money on a preservative as well. Bud gives my dad headaches.

Also does it have anything to do with lager vs ale? How about micro vs macro?

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I have no idea about the medical side of things, but thanks for sharing an oddly heart warming story.

He knows he has the allergy, but won't stop trying! Kudos to him!

 

[Jonnio]

I have wondered the same thing and the best I could come up with is the preservatives as well. I have a reaction to at least Bud/Bud Light. I don't like BMC enough to try others. For me its after 1 beer I will have a headache and if I have two I will have a HORRIBLE hangover. Back in college I must have been desensitized to whatever it is because I never had an issue.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I have a co-worker that gets attacks of asthma-like symptoms (closes his airway) whenever he drinks my HB. He goes for his meds...he also doesn't try my beers anymore either. Can't say I blame him...

They are made to Reinheitsgebot guidelines also.

We have no idea why this happens with HB, but he drinks commercial brew all day long...

 

[Beerrific]

Iodine allergy? It is possible that all the commercial breweries had used an iodine sanitizer? Seems like a stretch but....

 

[Beertk]

Rice? Corn? Are those allergies? I understand that they are occasionally used by the BMC's :cross:

 

[Rick500]

I think if it were me, I'd go to an allergist and figure out exactly what it was that was setting me off. Regardless of beer or no beer, it'd just be a good thing to know.

Then you could be certain to make what you brew safe for him.

 

[brandona33]

I wish I remembered where I read this, but I recall reading about additives in commercial beers to clarify and eliminate chill haze...could that be something?

 

[Seabee John]

I'd put my money on a preservative as well. Bud gives my dad headaches.

Also does it have anything to do with lager vs ale? How about micro vs macro?

If it comes from the store, it damn near kills him.

I wish I remembered where I read this, but I recall reading about additives in commercial beers to clarify and eliminate chill haze...could that be something?

Rice? Corn? Are those allergies? I understand that they are occasionally used by the BMC's :cross:

Iodine allergy? It is possible that all the commercial breweries had used an iodine sanitizer? Seems like a stretch but....

-All of these are good possibilities... I'm pretty sure it's not rice or corn, because he eats them all the time. I'd like to believe it's not iodine or a sanitizer like that because (I assume) he'd get the same reaction when he drinks commercial hard liqueur. Maybe it's the clarifying agents? who knows.

Thanks for all the input, I'm sure he'll be interested.

 

[Brewtopia]

What preservatives are you guys talking about?

 

[z987k]

some finning agents are made from seaweed or some part of a fish. Possible that those set him off?

 

[Donasay]

Sorry to break it to you guys, but alcohol and hops are the preservatives in beer. As for clarifying agents and such I don't know what they use in many breweries, but budweiser uses beechwood, cold crash and a filter, so no additives there...