Brewing during COVID

[beardedbrewer1]

I ordered an ESB kit for a lhbs a few weeks back right before the outbreak. My fear is that if I brew or bottle I might infect the beer with the Coronavirus. Has anyone read anything about if the virus can survive in a bottle of home brew

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

are you infected?

 

[Jtvann]

The quick answer to that would be no, but isn't that true for nearly everybody during the first week of no symptoms?

I'd think the answer is no even with someone who is infected, but I would like to hear something factual on this other than my opinion.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

i would be curious as well. i would say no also. if there was a concern obviously would only be on the cold side, and you could certainly wear gloves and a respirator. it spreads via mucus and mucus alone. so if you dont get mucus in your brew then no worries. would it survive in fermenter.. well i dont see how but im no physician.

 

[myelo]

A virus is not going to infect the beer. Some viruses (including coronavirus) can survive a while on inanimate surfaces so there would be a small chance that if you sneezed coronavirus onto a bottle then someone else comes along and handles the bottle, gets viable virus on their hands and then touches their mouth/eyes, etc. they could become infected.

But in the relative risk category I would put that well below the threshold at which I would worry about it.

 

[Nemanach]

The virus doesn’t live long outside of a host. Up to 3 days on stainless. Put the beers away for a few days and they are safe.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Great, so @beardedbrewer1 is going to be patient zero for the mutation of coronavirus which attacks saccharomyces cerevisiae and destroys the entire beer-drinking universe...

Or seriously, RDWHAHB. The short answer is no, there's basically no evidence that beer is a suitable environment for COVID-19. Soap destroys it, so washing and then sanitizing your bottles takes care of the bottles. The boil process will basically destroy the virus, so no worry about getting the virus into your kettle. And COVID-19 doesn't last long enough on surfaces to be a problem after a 10-14 day bottle conditioning process, so there's no risk there.

Don't worry.

 

[day_trippr]

Brew massive beers and let the ethanol deactivate the bugs?

Cheers!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I have read that people cannot contract the virus by eating or dinking it. Digestion. Having viable virus on hands and touching face is problematic.

 

[Nick Z]

You're fine. The virus needs a mammalian/human host to survive. Even if there are virus particles in the bottle they will croak after a few days. And I imagine a beer bottle is a pretty harsh environment for a virus. Alcohol and acidity.

If you want to make stuff to give to people beer is probably one of the safest things you could make. Once the bottle is sealed you can hit it with bleach or rubbing alcohol or whatever you like. I have been brewing like crazy so that my mother has a constant supply of beer.

 

[Sebastian Weetabix]

If I remember correctly, there are no known pathogens that can exist within a pressurized alcohol environment.
Obviously, this does not include mold.
Infected beer, while not tasting good, probably won’t kill you.
I’m willing to take that chance!