Funny things you've overheard about beer
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I can't. too many fights along with welders hands. but I can punch all those oysters in the berries! and then I'll punch the Oi!sters in the berries!
n240sxguy
Well-Known Member
n240sxguy
Well-Known Member
You think you're pretty punny, don't you?
Some of this thread's comments concerned risks in making alcohol at home. Beside comments about taxation, I saw comments about distillation contaminants, including wood alcohol and antifreeze.
I think the risk of blindness with illegal 'stills' was due to some folks putting (inexpensive) wood chips into the mash (making "Wood Alcohol" which is methanol). Methanol binds to the optic nerve (blindness). 1 teaspoon can blind an adult. Antifreeze is usually ethylene glycol, which human livers convert to oxalate. Oxalate crystallizes in cells and they die. Important stuff like kidneys, liver.
Fun fact: To solve both of these you use dialysis, but for methanol ingestions until you can get it set up, you start IV ethanol (goal is to get the blood level to 0.1 mg/dl). In a methanol ingestion, ethanol binds to the optic nerve better, blocking methanol and preventing some of the damage. Years ago, I had a 4-year-old who had swallowed methanol. When her ethanol level reached 0.1, she uttered the universal phrase: "I really love you guys..."
There's something special about ethanol, isn't there...
I think the risk of blindness with illegal 'stills' was due to some folks putting (inexpensive) wood chips into the mash (making "Wood Alcohol" which is methanol). Methanol binds to the optic nerve (blindness). 1 teaspoon can blind an adult. Antifreeze is usually ethylene glycol, which human livers convert to oxalate. Oxalate crystallizes in cells and they die. Important stuff like kidneys, liver.
Fun fact: To solve both of these you use dialysis, but for methanol ingestions until you can get it set up, you start IV ethanol (goal is to get the blood level to 0.1 mg/dl). In a methanol ingestion, ethanol binds to the optic nerve better, blocking methanol and preventing some of the damage. Years ago, I had a 4-year-old who had swallowed methanol. When her ethanol level reached 0.1, she uttered the universal phrase: "I really love you guys..."
There's something special about ethanol, isn't there...
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
Tried to get wifey to try my (still green) Light Ale last night. I informed her that the yeast still had some cleaning up to do, but it was darn drinkable right now.
"I'm not even trying that until they're done "cleaning up". I don't want your dirty beer."
"I'm not even trying that until they're done "cleaning up". I don't want your dirty beer."
Not to mention that a lot of the stills were made with lead solder. Lead = bad for health.
Yes, yes there is.
On re-reading, thought I should mention that the wood chips problem happened when the products of wood fermentation were super-concentrated (distilling) not simple things like flavoring beer (e.g. Rauch Bier).
Fedora
Glorified Janitor
Boiling wood chips in ethanol does NOT produce methanol. Please do your homework and stop regurgitating fallacies which further misconceptions about the D word and hinder legalization efforts.
And we really should not be discussing this here at all. I enjoy this thread. Please dont get it locked.
And we really should not be discussing this here at all. I enjoy this thread. Please dont get it locked.
As if steel reserve wasn't bad enough
They're fulfilling a great niche there. Malt liquor for those desperate to get drunk and cough syrup for the kids who desperately want to get stoned.
Oberon67
Well-Known Member
I was going to say, I always thought methanol production was a pyrolysis process, not a fermentation...
Few people are experts in all of the biochemistry that this forum covers. When one person brings a concept that another can correct, everyone learns. An earlier post from a frequent contributor said that 'antifreeze' was a contaminant harming people in fermented products, but I think methanol was the actual contaminant they were referring to. I learned today about pyrolysis:
(Wikipedia): Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen.... It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible.
Whether the offending chemical came from heat, fermentation, or contamination does matter. We use a little heat and a lot of fermentation. Ethylene glycol (like lead) is a contaminant-never a byproduct of processing. Maybe the temperature in boiling is far from that which causes pyrolysis? If so, then it would be true that, "Boiling wood chips in ethanol does NOT produce methanol". But my homework still tells me that people who intended to make an ethanol-containing liquid (by an illegal means) unintentionally made one containing methanol, which is toxic. That's not a risk for people who make beer, and the science behind the safety is interesting to some.
Old guys (like me) should stick to face-to-face discussions at the local brew shop, and leave the electronic dialog to experts. Signing off.
I always think of Left Hand Brewing when I drive by this sign in my neighborhood.
View attachment 1425061739512.jpg
View attachment 1425061739512.jpg
On the topic of Steel Reezy:
http://dontdrinkbeer.com/2012/03/23...ot-211-problems-and-this-beer-is-all-but-one/
http://dontdrinkbeer.com/2012/03/23...ot-211-problems-and-this-beer-is-all-but-one/
fuzzy2133
Well-Known Member
Awesome read. Nailed the appearance as being the only good thing!
In the comments of an article about the Small BREW Act someone posted a comment saying "they are just trying to give craft brewers like Samuel Adams a break while Bud, miller, and coors suffer"
I almost spit my beer out
I almost spit my beer out
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
I did see that the definition of "craft brewery" for taxation purposes was proposed to be raised to 6,000,000 bbl. How many breweries does that even cover?
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Wikipedia puts Boston Brewing Co. and Yuengling at around 2,500,000 bbl. Sierra Nevada is the next behind at 800,000 bbl. That's a lot of room for expansion!
I suppose with the 6 million barrel definition, these are all micro-breweries again?
EDIT:
We need a new term. I propose the term "Pico-brewery". That will be the new definition of any brewery producing less than 1 million - 6 barrels a year of product. Anything less than that is simply a home brewer.
For reference:
More than 6 million barrels a year but less than a 100 million= Craft brewery
Between 6 million barrels a year and 1 million barrels = Micro brewery
Between 1 million barrels a year and 6 barrels = Pico Brewery
Less than 6 barrels a year = Home brewer
Is this about right? Granted, I'm blowing wind with a beer in hand.....
EDIT:
We need a new term. I propose the term "Pico-brewery". That will be the new definition of any brewery producing less than 1 million - 6 barrels a year of product. Anything less than that is simply a home brewer.
For reference:
More than 6 million barrels a year but less than a 100 million= Craft brewery
Between 6 million barrels a year and 1 million barrels = Micro brewery
Between 1 million barrels a year and 6 barrels = Pico Brewery
Less than 6 barrels a year = Home brewer
Is this about right? Granted, I'm blowing wind with a beer in hand.....
Hamaki
Well-Known Member
So...Yuengling is a craft brewery and SN is a micro? And how about nanobrewery for the 1,000 bbl - 1,000,000 bbl per year slot and picobrewery for those who produce 6 bbl - 1,000 bbl per year?
GrogNerd
mean old man
less than 6 barrels a year = femto brewery
Hey, before you knock Steel Reserve, remember that it takes some pretty talented brewing to be so consistent...I bet you couldn't homebrew a high gravity lager as well as they could...when you've got nothing to hide behind except your high ABV, those off flavors start getting pretty apparent!
And don't forget that SR has it's place, just like any beer... If it's wicked hot out and I've just mown the lawn, I love me a good PBR, but if I'm just trying to get f*&Ked up on the cheap, nothing beats a good couple Steel Reserves!
You only brew 6 barrels a year? Better pick up the pace!
The problem is these are all just marketing terms that can mean whatever you want them to mean.
Regardless, I don't think anyone would mistake Yeungling for a craft brewer.
ericbw
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Hey, before you knock Steel Reserve, remember that it takes some pretty talented brewing to be so consistent...I bet you couldn't homebrew a high gravity lager as well as they could...when you've got nothing to hide behind except your high ABV, those off flavors start getting pretty apparent!
And don't forget that SR has it's place, just like any beer... If it's wicked hot out and I've just mown the lawn, I love me a good PBR, but if I'm just trying to get f*&Ked up on the cheap, nothing beats a good couple Steel Reserves!
Of the cheap brews that are sold as singles at gas stations, SR is the best. I don't know about the fruit one. It's full of flavor, esp compared to a king can of miller light, etc.
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
lolznrofls
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Hey, before you knock Steel Reserve, remember that it takes some pretty talented brewing to be so consistent...I bet you couldn't homebrew a high gravity lager as well as they could...when you've got nothing to hide behind except your high ABV, those off flavors start getting pretty apparent!
And don't forget that SR has it's place, just like any beer... If it's wicked hot out and I've just mown the lawn, I love me a good PBR, but if I'm just trying to get f*&Ked up on the cheap, nothing beats a good couple Steel Reserves!
Steel reserve clone...vomit.. boil for 60 and pitch wild yeast from a nasty infection
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
I only ever brew 6.4516129 barrels per year. Especially if the tax man comes by.
Hey, before you knock Steel Reserve, remember that it takes some pretty talented brewing to be so consistent...I bet you couldn't homebrew a high gravity lager as well as they could...when you've got nothing to hide behind except your high ABV, those off flavors start getting pretty apparent!
And don't forget that SR has it's place, just like any beer... If it's wicked hot out and I've just mown the lawn, I love me a good PBR, but if I'm just trying to get f*&Ked up on the cheap, nothing beats a good couple Steel Reserves!
Yet another Steel Reserve apologist.
Hamaki
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lolznrofls
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Lmao...SR = stagnant elephant piss
hunter_le five
Sheriff Underscore
Kirkwooder
Emperor of all things nobody cares about
Did you explain that it was a marital aid?
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
I was at the LHBS today. They sell bulk LME out of a plastic barrel. The guy in line in front of me was checking out and watching the cashier dispense some for another customer.
"Huh, that almost looks like the liquid malt you can buy."
Cashier (trying really hard not to be a jerk): "Yeah, it's the exact same stuff."
"Huh, that almost looks like the liquid malt you can buy."
Cashier (trying really hard not to be a jerk): "Yeah, it's the exact same stuff."
orangehero
Well-Known Member
This is wrong, although it seems someone tried to explain it to you before. The same enzymes metabolize ethanol and methanol. Ethanol does bind better to those enzymes and prevents methanol from being broken down into formic acid. Although methanol is a CNS depressant in itself, it is the metabolite formic acid that causes things like optic nerve damage, the mechanisms of which I won't go into...but it's not methanol binding to the optic nerve, whatever that may mean.
Basically if you stay drunk on (pure) ethanol you will eventually piss all the methanol out without accumulating the toxic formic acid.
I won't go into the ethylene glycol comments, although you get partial credit.
When the media talks about "anti-freeze" in food and drinks for fear mongering purposes, they are usually referring to propylene glycol, which is essentially safe to consume and is found in many products.
WilliamSlayer
Well-Known Member
We have a winner!
My Father and FIL both tried my homemade Pale Ale (5.5% 44IBU).
They both agreed not bad.
They both indicated it was bitter (they both are commercial lager drinkers)
Then FIL said: "kind of reminds me of Guinness, because of the bitterness. But you cant repair a driveway with it, not like you can with Guinness. You can tar a roof with that stuff".
They both agreed not bad.
They both indicated it was bitter (they both are commercial lager drinkers)
Then FIL said: "kind of reminds me of Guinness, because of the bitterness. But you cant repair a driveway with it, not like you can with Guinness. You can tar a roof with that stuff".
