Distilling methanol out of beer?

[sammykap]

There are few things more miserable than a bad hangover. A significant contributer of hangovers is methanol, also known as wood alcohol, which in large quantities can cause blindness.

So I think to myself... what if you could remove the methanol from your beer. It would be easy enough to do, as any bootlegger would tell you the first 50-100 ml of distilled alcohol that comes out of a still must be thrown out as it is almost entirely methanol. This is because the boiling temp of methanol (64C/147F) is significantly lower than that of sweet, delicious ethanol (78C/172F).

My question is then- how would boiling off the methanol out of a beer (after fermentation is complete, but before bottling or kegging) affect the final product? It's probably fairly safe to say that the heat will materially affect the flavor and other characteristics of the beer, but would it go as far as to ruin the beer? Commercial breweries often pasteurize beer at 140F, not that much below the temperatures that would be required to get out much of the methanol (although exposure to such temperatures would be more prolonged).

Has anybody tried this?

 

[Orfy]

Boiling off and distilling are two different things.

Please lets not get into discussions about home distilling.

 

[sammykap]

To be clear, I am not suggesting a process that involves using a still or in any way collecting the boiled off vapors. I only bring up distillation/bootlegging as the source of inspiration for this idea. Really the only piece of equipment you would need is an accurate thermometer (and a stove of course).

 

[Orfy]

You mean boiling off then rather than distilling.

 

[BigEd]

There are few things more miserable than a bad hangover. A significant contributer of hangovers is methanol, also known as wood alcohol, which in large quantities can cause blindness.


Has anybody tried this?

Have you considered drinking less beer? That's a far more practical solution IMO.

 

[Taerom]

I think the boiling points of methanol and ethanol are close enough that trying to boil off any methanol will also remove a significant percent of your ethanol. Simply boiling your beer in a kettle, you won't be able to get an accurate measurement of the temperature of the vapors coming off. You would need a pretty good still to determine whether you're removing methanol, ethanol, or water.

Hangovers are caused by more than just methanol. I don't think it's worth the trouble of removing it.

 

[david_42]

There is very little methanol in beer, plus hangovers are mainly caused by the acetaldehyde produced by the liver as it metabolizes ethanol.

 

[stevea1210]

To be clear, I am not suggesting a process that involves using a still or in any way collecting the boiled off vapors. I only bring up distillation/bootlegging as the source of inspiration for this idea. Really the only piece of equipment you would need is an accurate thermometer (and a stove of course).

Anti thread locking mechanism ---DEPLOYED!!

 

[Edcculus]

I think there is a lot more that goes into a hangover. Dehydration, withdraw, and your body generally saying **** YOU!!!

If there were a way to make hangover-less beer, I'm sure a BMC company would have figured it out long ago.

 

[Rick500]

Drink as much water as you do beer, eat a banana (potassium) and take a couple aspirin with more water before bed.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Wine has a lot more methanol than beer. I can't imagine this would really help. Though, if you remove most of the alcohol by heating to 172*F for 45 minutes it's a good bet you will get fewer hangovers!

 

[dontman]

Wine has a lot more methanol than beer. I can't imagine this would really help. Though, if you remove most of the alcohol by heating to 172*F for 45 minutes it's a good bet you will get fewer hangovers!

Exactly. And just yummy beer and wine.

I do something similar on wine and cider to prevent methanol hangovers. I boil pasteurize the fresh juice for a couple minutes and then bottle back in the original jugs. Here is the important part. Then I refrigerate it and drink it as quickly as possible. Zero hangovers.

 

[Whiskey]

I think the issue is less whether not it is viable to "boiloff" the methanol, but more what damage would you do to your beer raising its temperature high enough to boil off the methanol...

 

[HairyDogBrewing]

I think this is a recipe for bad beer.
I don't think it will reduce hangovers, either.

 

[Grizzlybrew]

Drink as much water as you do beer

I just read the other day that drinking diet coke/whiskey will get you drunker quicker than reg coke/whiskey because of the sugar content. Apparently, the sugar in reg coke slows down the body's absortion of alcohol.

If you are drinking water to the point you are too full to drink anything else, it might work, but taking small glasses of water in between each beer could potentially lower the sugar content in your gut and speed up absorption. I usually wait until the end of the night to chug some H2O.

 

[McKBrew]

You are going to boil off other alchohols as well. The beer will not taste like beer.

If you want to drink more beer with less hangovers, brew a mild or breakfast stout.

 

[Edcculus]

I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned, but its possible to get a killer hangover from properly distilled spirits, which should contain no, or very little methanol.

 

[walther]

Go for it !

Or we can all just guess for another 100 posts or so

Heat up a couple a litres to start with, and see if it tastes better or worse afterwards, maybe it is like aging ? who knows,....

Do let us know,....



(breakfast stout ? that just sounds sooo wrong,.. I have to brew one )

 

[Clayton]

I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned, but its possible to get a killer hangover from properly distilled spirits, which should contain no, or very little methanol.

word......

 

[z987k]

yeah... ethanol causes hangovers to. Better stick to NA.

 

[pjj2ba]

For reference purposes, the boiling point of methanol is ~65C and of ethanol is ~78C

 

[vtbutters]

With such a small amount of methanol in a 5 gal batch, it's not practical to use heat to get it out. If you aren't controlling your ferment temps properly, it's most likely the higher alcohols (i.e. octanol) that are giving you a killer hangover.

Also, try popping a B-complex vitamin before you fall asleep. Sure you pee funny colors, but its worked wonders for me.

 

[Boar Beer]

Make a low gravity beer and dump in some good grain alcohol
to bring up the % it works fine. or just go with a beer and a shot and make it simple. mmmmmmm where did this thread come from
and what am i doing

 

[Kass_Brauhaus]

You will definitely damage and/or kill off your yeasts, so you better be kegging.

 

[StMarcos]

It isn't the methanol that's giving you a hangover with beer. With wine or other fruit mashes this might be the case. In any case you wouldn't pull off much methanol until the mixture boils which for 7% abv is around 200degC. This would ruin the beer.

Other than ethanol being a poison, dehydration and the contribution from bigger alcohols like butanol/pentanol would likely be contributors. Belvedere tonic anyone? (JK)

 

[ChshreCat]

I would say that if this were possible, and it would work to make hangover-proof beer... people would've already been doing it. Just my opinion on it.

 

[z987k]

In any case you wouldn't pull off much methanol until the mixture boils which for 7% abv is around 200degC.

What the hell are you talking about?

No. That is just 100% wrong.

 

[bhatchable]

In any case you wouldn't pull off much methanol until the mixture boils which for 7% abv is around 200degC

ummm.... 200 degrees C equals 392 degrees F...

 

[z987k]

ummm.... 200 degrees C equals 392 degrees F...

even 200F is very wrong.

 

[StMarcos]

Oops I did mean 200F. What's wrong with that?