Cyberpunk beer?

[giannie]

Basically I'm a student in a Fermentation Sciences course and as a final project we need to write up a recipe for some fermented product. I chose beer, and I want to make it cyberpunk or science themed, so I'd like to see if y'all have any ideas to spare. My ideas so far:

- IPA: I like them
- GM Yeast: Read an article on Quartz about GM yeast from Berkeley that produces the bitter hop flavor, so you don't need hops but this exposes the beer to contaminants no?
- Green glow-in-the-dark: A NASA biologist started a site called "the-odin" that provides a kit where you can genetically modify any yeast strain to added a jellyfish protein that gives it a green glow, which looks like nuclear radiation to me.

This is all theoretical, maybe in the future I'll make it real. What do you guys think nuclear radiation would taste like? How should a cyberpunk beer taste like? This is for a 7.5 gal boil for a 5 gal brew. Some adjunts I've been thinking about are quinine, juniper, maybe ginger. Something interesting. One problem with quinine is that it's bacteriostatic so it'll hinder yeast growth.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

As someone who used to routinely work with transgenic organisms - forget that aspect. At least if you're in a Western country and don't want to break the law, release of transgenics (which is effectively what you're looking at) is very tightly controlled. There's a good reason that there's no commercial beer using transgenic yeast.

Maybe you could work with an extract of GFP (the jellyfish protein) but it's not that impressive, you can probably get a better glow with other means.

Quinine/cinchona beer has been done and works quite well as it gives you bitterness and the fun UV thing, Brass Castle did a nice one a while back, Invisible Ink. You've got to be a bit careful though as it's toxic in high doses. Bacteriostatic does not mean yeast-killing.

Juniper is fashionable at the moment on the back of interest in Norwegian farmhouse beers and kveik etc.

 

[Lefou]

What do you guys think nuclear radiation would taste like?

Is that a trick question?
Maybe you could scrape a few made in China tritium watch dials, put that in the beer, and tell us how it works out for you ... and stop reading crap from Berkeley. Nothing sane comes outta that place.
Maybe you should try bio-luminous materials instead. Maybe drop some lightning bugs in the beer and try that. It might even start a new hipster fad, but probably wouldn't go over well with the vegan crowd.
Other than that, cutting with quinine water would be a rational alternative. Brew some normal, low SRM beer. Pour a portion of tonic water in a glass or mug and add the beer under a UV or black light. Add food grade glitter.
Problem solved.

 

[giannie]

As someone who used to routinely work with transgenic organisms - forget that aspect. At least if you're in a Western country and don't want to break the law, release of transgenics (which is effectively what you're looking at) is very tightly controlled. There's a good reason that there's no commercial beer using transgenic yeast.

Maybe you could work with an extract of GFP (the jellyfish protein) but it's not that impressive, you can probably get a better glow with other means.

Quinine/cinchona beer has been done and works quite well as it gives you bitterness and the fun UV thing, Brass Castle did a nice one a while back, Invisible Ink. You've got to be a bit careful though as it's toxic in high doses. Bacteriostatic does not mean yeast-killing.

Juniper is fashionable at the moment on the back of interest in Norwegian farmhouse beers and kveik etc.

Hmm, but aren't all our wheat transgenic GMO products anyway? I supposed an alternative to the jellyfish protein could just be quinine, but you have to first add drops of bleach, then turn off the lights, and shine a backlight to get the cool glowy effect. The idea for the jellyfish protein would be that the beer naturally glows, or at least all you do is turn off the lights.

Any thoughts on how cyberpunk beer should taste like? I think the style of the can should be ala Kirin Ichiban or Tsingtao.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

There's a lot of stuff made from transgenic maize and soybeans - but not wheat or barley (with the odd minor exception, like a barley handcream). And just to do that, the likes of Monsanto have filed books and books of paperwork just to sell processed derivatives, never mind the many books more of paperwork needed to work with live, viable plants. It's not viable if you live in a Western country.

I'm not sure why you're adding bleach, that kills the UV effect. But here's a pic of Brass Castle's quinine beer : https://www.facebook.com/brasscastl...486171401590/1074233649326833/?type=3&theater

The jellyfish protein is called GFP, where "F" stands for fluorescent - it's just as dependent on UV as quinine.

I'd suggest most visions of the future seem pretty bleak from a food and drink perspective, I imagine the beer will be largely made from chemicals with some clever yeast and hop extracts. Personally if you're going in that general direction I'd go for steampunk, at least you can start with a tasty beer from Victorian times like 1879 Younger #1 and then play with it.

 

[Gentle Jesus]

Hello. I am not sure what the specific project requirements are, but you could do something less intensive than "glowing beer".

You like science, cyberpunk stuff and IPA's, so here is what I would do (LOW TO MODERATE EFFORT VERSION):

- Get my hands on some experimental hops
- Brew some sort of hazy/unusual IPA
- Call it something cheesy like (Experimental Anarchy IPA)
- Get some decent cyberpunk artwork on a label and slap it on a bottle of your brew (you would be surprised how much people will overlook a mediocre product simply because there was some nice aesthetic art associated with the product)

And there you go, EASY A+ haha

 

[giannie]

Hello. I am not sure what the specific project requirements are, but you could do something less intensive than "glowing beer".

You like science, cyberpunk stuff and IPA's, so here is what I would do (LOW TO MODERATE EFFORT VERSION):

- Get my hands on some experimental hops
- Brew some sort of hazy/unusual IPA
- Call it something cheesy like (Experimental Anarchy IPA)
- Get some decent cyberpunk artwork on a label and slap it on a bottle of your brew (you would be surprised how much people will overlook a mediocre product simply because there was some nice aesthetic art associated with the product)

And there you go, EASY A+ haha

Thank you for the advice Jesus, the project is theoretical and all about the brew though. I need to describe the grain bill, any additives added, IBU, OG, SG, etc., the steps taken to make the beer, what makes the beer special, what kind of hops added.

I'm a college student, so I don't have any access to any equipment, so I can't really experiment. I can only do the theoretical. Because of that, I rely on borrowing recipes from beer's I've already tasted.

Here is what I've decided so far:
Style: IPA
hops: Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, and Chinook (copied from Racer 5 IPA)
yeast: WLP005, aka British Ale Yeast (again copied from Racer 5 IPA)
grain bill: 75% 2-row, 20% munich, 5% crystal (copied from reddit)
additives: cherry, mint, quinine, and sakura petals (maybe replace cherry-mint with guar berry?)
water profile: Ca - 115, Cl - 59, SO4 - 201, gotta figure out alkalinity (115?) and RA

I will call the beer Kirin Byakko, which is Japanese for the "White Tiger of the West" from Chinese folklore. I figure it would add to the cyberpunk cred. Kirin comes the beer Kirin Ichiban, which was mentioned in Neuromancer. This is just a college project, so no worry with getting sued.

After all that I need to figure out exact amounts. I'm doing a 7.5gal boil, 5gal brew, so 10 lbs total grain bill.

Thoughts?

 

[Gentle Jesus]

If all you need to do is simply devise a recipe, then that looks pretty good.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Well if you want to do the Japanese thing, then maybe Sorachi Ace and a more interesting yeast than Ringwood, maybe even a sake yeast?

 

[thejuanald]

stop reading crap from Berkeley. Nothing sane comes outta that place.

Here's a short list of discoveries and theories that came from Berkeley:

-Discovery of Vitamin E
-Discovery and synthesis of Vitamin K
-Modern statistical theory
-The discovery and production of plutonium (among many other elements discovered at Berkeley)
-The first ever crystallization and imaging of a virus (polio virus)
-The discovery of the oncogenes (genes that have a significant role, and are the current standard in the theory of the origin of cancer)
-The invention of computer aided circuit design (every piece of electronics using integrated circuitry made since has utilized this method)
-Discovery of the method for CPU design that allowed modern computers
-Discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that promotes cell division
-Developed the monoclonal antibody treatment for cancer, which revolutionized cancer treatment
-Created an easier method of synthesizing artemisinin, which is an anti-malarial drug that has saved countless lives
-Working to continue developing bio-fuels that will reduce the need of fossil fuels
-Developed an exo-skeleton to allow paraplegics to walk and to be utilized in military and manufacturing environments
-Used MRIs to allow researchers to see what somebody else is seeing just by reconstructing their brain waves
-Discovered and developed CRISPR

But yeah, that's a bunch of insane stuff that has no use in the world.

Edited to not be rude to the quoted poster.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I find the discussion interesting, though over my head.

By that I mean, I consider myself smarter than the average bear but not on a brainiac level. With that, if a subject does not interest me...I (mentally) walk away from it.

I've also learned throughout my life that the KISS method works best and requires the least amount of energy. Basically, find a lazy (but intelligent) person and they will come up with the simplest results for any idea.

For your next party, make an IPA and put a (weighted down) glow stick in it.

 

[Lefou]

Barley, malt, hops, and water. Maybe some select yeast.
I will now walk off from the thread with said stick up posterior rectal orifice and bid you good day, but truly that list deserves at least a golf clap if only for the time taken to compile it.

 

[thejuanald]

Barley, malt, hops, and water. Maybe some select yeast.
I will now walk off from the thread with said stick up posterior rectal orifice and bid you good day, but truly that list deserves at least a golf clap if only for the time taken to compile it.

Nice snark you got there. Yeah a nice golf clap for discoveries that have objectively changed the course of history, saved countless lives, improved the quality of life of millions of people, created new technologies that would make every piece of technology you use possible, developed new methods of reducing the use of destructive fossil fuels, and those discoveries that will continue to advance the world. But yeah, nothing sane comes from there because they have 'liberal' views of the world that you disagree with. Cool.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

@thejuanald

the problem with your positioning friend is snark beats self-righteous indignation every time.

 

[Lefou]

J. Robert Oppenheimer. American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Manhattan Project. Atomic bomb. Known communist sympathizer.

Now let's have a beer with glowing sparklies in it and just make up.

 

[TGFV]

I would use wheat and oats in the grain bill to give it a cloudy/murky/solid colour/potentially unsafe look, followed by finding adjuncts that can dye the drink a desirably unique colour.

Purples, reds and greens all come to mind, and fruit/herb/spice/vegetable additions can do all the a over wasily.

As well for yeast I would go with something that adds more character, like a Belgian yeast (make it a Belgian IPA) or a more flavour inducing ale yeast

Then do something off the wall like add food grade glitter, this would reflect great in the coloured ale.

 

[El Nino]

Let us know how it turns out! I'm a huge fan of Shadowrun / RIFTS so I think something like this would be totally badass

 

[TGFV]

One thing I never understood and has always bothered me about shadowtun was the soybeer.

 

[El Nino]

One thing I never understood and has always bothered me about shadowtun was the soybeer.

And 'soycaf' haha, I always thought it was ok. Though I've been a vegetarian for a lot of my life, I put soy milk in my coffee and sometimes even say I'm making myself a soycaf