Loup
Well-Known Member
Do not actually do this, it could possibly kill you
I'll start out by saying that I don't actually suggest anyone try this for reasons I'll get to.
I was doing some research on preventing lactobacilli and pediococus from growing in beer. I found a paper detailing the use of Urea Hydrogen Peroxide in a concentration of 2mMol/liter to keep them from growing while fermenting ethanol (as a fuel additive.) According to the article, UHP, while killing lacto and pedio also benefits yeast because it breaks down into oxygen and nitrogen (as well as other stuff.)
After some calculations (that could be entirely wrong) I figured out that about 3.56g of UHP would be needed for a 5 gallon batch, it would need to be added after the wort had cooled, maybe right after being transfered to a carboy or fermentation bucket, otherwise it would break down too quickly to be of any use.
Hurrah, thought I. I could add this to my wort to prevent lacto and pedio, so off I went to figure out how one could purchase it. Found it, it's reasonably cheap, but what did I see... "Substance is listed in Toxic Substance Control Act inventory." Oops, forgot that it might be toxic.
So off I went to check the toxicity. Urea Hydrogen Peroxide is used in teeth whitening products, so how bad can it be, really? Well, there doesn't seem to be much study (that I could find) on humans, but there is on rats. 15mg/kg causes damage to the stomach of rats (no other damage was detected to other organs,) 5mg/kg doesn't do anything noticeable (but this was a single dose.)
UHP should completely break down before you would really have a chance to drink your beer, but what if I'm wrong on that, what is the risk.
After some more terribly horrible calculations I estimated that a 5 gallon batch made 50 servings of beer, this means you might end up consuming 71mg of UHP per serving. To be on the safe side, I'll assume the lightest person drinking the beer weighs 100 lbs. That gives us a dose of 1.57mg/kg. Lower than the 5mg/kg that had no detectable effect on rats.
So, as far as I can tell, in the small amount consumed, there should be no negative effect (there could be long term effects I am unaware of.) If you wanted to try it, I'm not sure how hard it would be to get. From what I can tell, it's not supposed to be sold to the public at large in the US.
If you did manage to get some, I would still not suggest using it, I'm just some jerk sitting at his computer looking at data that he doesn't fully understand.
I'll start out by saying that I don't actually suggest anyone try this for reasons I'll get to.
I was doing some research on preventing lactobacilli and pediococus from growing in beer. I found a paper detailing the use of Urea Hydrogen Peroxide in a concentration of 2mMol/liter to keep them from growing while fermenting ethanol (as a fuel additive.) According to the article, UHP, while killing lacto and pedio also benefits yeast because it breaks down into oxygen and nitrogen (as well as other stuff.)
After some calculations (that could be entirely wrong) I figured out that about 3.56g of UHP would be needed for a 5 gallon batch, it would need to be added after the wort had cooled, maybe right after being transfered to a carboy or fermentation bucket, otherwise it would break down too quickly to be of any use.
Hurrah, thought I. I could add this to my wort to prevent lacto and pedio, so off I went to figure out how one could purchase it. Found it, it's reasonably cheap, but what did I see... "Substance is listed in Toxic Substance Control Act inventory." Oops, forgot that it might be toxic.
So off I went to check the toxicity. Urea Hydrogen Peroxide is used in teeth whitening products, so how bad can it be, really? Well, there doesn't seem to be much study (that I could find) on humans, but there is on rats. 15mg/kg causes damage to the stomach of rats (no other damage was detected to other organs,) 5mg/kg doesn't do anything noticeable (but this was a single dose.)
UHP should completely break down before you would really have a chance to drink your beer, but what if I'm wrong on that, what is the risk.
After some more terribly horrible calculations I estimated that a 5 gallon batch made 50 servings of beer, this means you might end up consuming 71mg of UHP per serving. To be on the safe side, I'll assume the lightest person drinking the beer weighs 100 lbs. That gives us a dose of 1.57mg/kg. Lower than the 5mg/kg that had no detectable effect on rats.
So, as far as I can tell, in the small amount consumed, there should be no negative effect (there could be long term effects I am unaware of.) If you wanted to try it, I'm not sure how hard it would be to get. From what I can tell, it's not supposed to be sold to the public at large in the US.
If you did manage to get some, I would still not suggest using it, I'm just some jerk sitting at his computer looking at data that he doesn't fully understand.
