buffalokid356
Member
How can you tell if your beer is contaminated with bacteria? Are there any tell tale signs?
food poisoning from beer?
- Thread starter buffalokid356
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Smell and taste. If it's contaminated you'll know it. Even if it is bad (unlikely), it's not likely to be something that will make you sick.
Bernie Brewer
Grouchy Old Fart
It's more that just not likely. It's impossible. Nothing that can hurt you can survive in beer.
XXguy
Well-Known Member
Your chances of getting food poisoning by beer is zero.
Your chances of worrying about something you see, smell, or taste in fermenting beer is probably much more likely. Relax, let the beer finish what it's doing, then bottle it, condition it, and THEN you can drink it & judge it.
Your chances of worrying about something you see, smell, or taste in fermenting beer is probably much more likely. Relax, let the beer finish what it's doing, then bottle it, condition it, and THEN you can drink it & judge it.
chef90
Active Member
In my opinion and Im no expert by any means period. There is a very sour smell in the primary and a dark sinester look, is that where yours is ? The primary that is. As far as a food boune illness it wouldn't be responsible to say with out further knowledge of your beer. I hope this helps. Sorry I could not offer more. I have found a lot of good information lurking on this sight. Try to use the search feature for contaminated beer and see what you find.
buffalokid356
Member
Its in the keg, had three pints the other night. Got really sick for 24 hours vomiting and such. The beer is drinkable but there is a funny aftertaste. I just wonder if its the beer? Cleaned and sanitized the keg with pbw before racking its been on co2 for about two weeks. But I really think that might be what got me sick.
Wellshooter
Well-Known Member
I have a friend that contends that a flu shot made him bad sick. It's well known that that can't happen but there is no way to convince him.
I doubt that it's the beer, all the bad beer I ever had I couldn't get past one swallow much less three pints.
Beer has been known since ancient times to be a good substitute for bad water.
I doubt that it's the beer, all the bad beer I ever had I couldn't get past one swallow much less three pints.
Beer has been known since ancient times to be a good substitute for bad water.
whatisitgoodfor
Well-Known Member
Allergies are always a possibility, but beer itself is remarkably sanitary (as far as pathogens are concerned.)
Back in the day, brewing was used to make potentially unsafe water sanitary enough to drink.
I would look at the other foods you had before you got sick before the beer. That said, if it's making you sick, don't drink it.
Also, PBW isn't a sanitizer, it's a cleaner.
Back in the day, brewing was used to make potentially unsafe water sanitary enough to drink.
I would look at the other foods you had before you got sick before the beer. That said, if it's making you sick, don't drink it.
Also, PBW isn't a sanitizer, it's a cleaner.
buffalokid356
Member
Fair enough, ide rather not dump the beer. I will just have to test it on some friends and see what happens
buffalokid356
Member
Used starsan after the pbw also forgot to mention that
It's hard to pin it on the beer when you probably consumed food that day too. It could have also just been a virus going around. Try another pint in a day or two and see if your stomach hurts.
It wasn't chock full of yeast was it?
It wasn't chock full of yeast was it?
stedtale
Well-Known Member
Norovirus?
It spreads like mad and can be caught pretty easily. Comes on fast - and hard, leaves rather quickly (24-48 hrs).
I don't think it can live in beer, but it can live in/on many other things that we touch and eat all day - especially of you eat out.
Doubt it was the beer, I could see too much yeast giving you the "sneeze-and-change-your-pants blues."
It spreads like mad and can be caught pretty easily. Comes on fast - and hard, leaves rather quickly (24-48 hrs).
I don't think it can live in beer, but it can live in/on many other things that we touch and eat all day - especially of you eat out.
Doubt it was the beer, I could see too much yeast giving you the "sneeze-and-change-your-pants blues."
If you had three pints, clearly the beer didn't smell or taste objectionable. I would be more inclined to blame food first. Pathogens can't survive in beer.
I've had food poisoning, and I knew it about twenty minutes after I ate a bad pizza. Worst two days of my life.
I've had food poisoning, and I knew it about twenty minutes after I ate a bad pizza. Worst two days of my life.
broadbill
Well-Known Member
+1 to this...and its going around. Sounds exactly what you had. Plus, many cleaner/santizers won't kill it, which makes it so virulent.
Oh yeah, and there is nothing that can grow in beer that is pathogenic.
The bacteria that grow in beer can: make it sour, cause gushers, or turn it to vinegar. Salmonella is probably the most common cause of food poisoning and it cannot survive about 150F or exposure to alcohol. If you ate something that was contaminated along with the beer, there's a 50/50 chance the beer would have killed the bacteria in your stomach.
Common food-poisoning bacteria.
Common food-poisoning bacteria.
buffalokid356
Member
Ok cool I'm convinced its not the beer. I did eat out earlier that day. I have another question though. If you did have a unsanitary primary fermentaion container. Wouldnt a bacteria infestation stop the fermentation? I'm. Just quessing but would you have almost no alcohol content if you did have an infestation? I figure that's why everything I read in the beer kit stresses cleanliness.
WolfieBrew
Well-Known Member
I had the same exact experience with my first batch of brew. Mine is also in a keg and we have been drinking a glass here and there since it was kegged 2 weeks ago. The beer has a funny aftertaste which I would describe as very bitter or even slightly metallic. Anyhow, yesterday I was watching a football game and I drank about 4 to 5 glasses. About 1 hour later, I had a sandwich and couldn't even finish half before the vomiting started. This was around 6 pm. The fit lasted all night and I wasn't able to hold any liquid down until this morning around 6 am. I have spent the whole day recovering and am finally starting to feel better. I can't rule out food poisoning as I had a late night meal the night before and lunch the day of my illness. However, I have been trying to take everything into consideration. Since this was my first batch, I really didn't know how to judge for problems. The taste seemed "okay" but there has always been that bitter strangeness about it. Looking back on my process, everything was thoroughly cleaned and sanitized except for the wort chiller. I bought it used and the guy told me to add it to the boiling wort 15 minutes early. I feel like not cleaning the chiller might have introduced the off flavor which could have caused me to get sick. I think I was too excited about my first batch of beer and I have been telling myself that it is better than it really is.
WolfieBrew
Well-Known Member
In all honesty, I am nervous to try another glass of this beer - my night was that terrible.
Hockeyhunter99
Well-Known Member
Trying it would be the only way to know for sure. do you have a person you have a grudge against. (or a brother-in-law) you could make "Ammends" and invite them over for a pint or three and see. 
BTW, WellShooter, the Flu shot does contain weakened and dead Virus. it is stated before ANY vaccine that it could cause symptoms or even sickness.
BTW, WellShooter, the Flu shot does contain weakened and dead Virus. it is stated before ANY vaccine that it could cause symptoms or even sickness.
Tried it 3 years in a row... was in the bed for a week after all 3 times. Haven't touched it since, haven't had the flu in 9 years.
Call me crazy....
WyomingBrewer
Well-Known Member
I suggest a second testing, drink as much of it as you can and see how you feel the next day!
Nothing pathogenic can grow in beer, so nothing in homebrew can make you sick. You can't get food poisoning or anything like that. In fact beer was brewed and used in place of water just becasue it was safer usually than the water.
I wrote this awhile ago and it's been posted all through here. It was written for an old thread. But the information is something you all need to know.
However people can have allergies/ or an intolerence to beer ingredients, someone could have an allergy to hops, or yeast, or the gluten in the grain, someone could be lactose in tolerant and have gastric issues from a sweet stout.
There's going to be two kinds of reactions, things like hives and respiratory, like a peanut allergy, and someone can get cramps and the runs-which is more like a lactose issue.
But they are going to be pretty immediate, the hives and resp are going to happen within minutes, if not sooner, and the GI would still more than likely happen within an hour maybe 2.
True food allergies are your body's immune (IgE) response to food proteins, and only food proteins. The most common are milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish. Food intolerance (Gluten/Lactose) causes strictly GI issues, although food allergens will cause vomiting, but along with the other symptoms, such as hives, swelling, etc.
And the thing is, if someone is allergic to most of the beer ingredients then a) then they will be allergic to all beers, even commercial, unless it is yeast, then it would be with SOME commercial beers, that are unfiltered. BUT they would also then be allergic to bread as well. Since the same yeast is used in baking.
The hardest one to figure would be a hop allergy, since except for beer, hops don't really appear in other things. BUT then also, the person would be allergic to other beers as well.
When people post asking about this, I usually caution them to look to other things in their environment rather than homebrew, since those allergies are rare and manifest with similar ingredients (like bread) or happen with commercial beers as well.
I wrote this awhile ago and it's been posted all through here. It was written for an old thread. But the information is something you all need to know.
Revvy said:Ok for the sake of all the noobs on here, who are terrified that one wrong look at their fermenter and it is going to turn poisonous and kill them,
Get it straight people, no known pathogens can grow in your beer....nothing in your beer can kill you. Or make you sick!!!!!
In fact it was because water was often dangerous to drink that brewing became popular to begin with, because the brewing process killed most pathogens including e-coli
That's why the even brewed table beers, the third runnings from a partigyle session so that the children could have a drink that was safe to consume....
I came across this from a pretty well known and award winning homebrewer railing against a fellow brewer (it was on one of those "color coded" brewboards where they are a little less friendly than we are.) I just cut and pasted it and stuck it in a file...here it is.
Engrave this in your mind, and tell your fellow homebrewing buddies to ignore idiocy like this thread....If something toxic could come from our homebrewing, it wouldn't be a legal hobby!!!!! It would be like distilling.....illegal.
Don't forget, we had to go through a hellova lot of hurdles to get it re-legalized, 40 years after prohibition was rescinded...If it weren't safe then it wouldn't be happening for us.
Also, remember, we're NOT doing anything different than the big brewers are doing...We make beer the same way, with the same processes and ingredients that the commercial and micro breweries do....only on a smaller scale. Just keep that in perspective, we're not making poison, even ACCIDENTALLY. We're making food.
Actually we are making something safer than food. As canners know, or picnickers with potato salad, sometimes FOOD can turn on you. Not so with beer, wine, cider OR mead. The were meant to be safe in times when even water was dangerous. Even an ifected beer is not pathogenic to humans...it might be nasty but usually the nasti-ness would prevent us from even bringing it to out lips to begin with.
However people can have allergies/ or an intolerence to beer ingredients, someone could have an allergy to hops, or yeast, or the gluten in the grain, someone could be lactose in tolerant and have gastric issues from a sweet stout.
There's going to be two kinds of reactions, things like hives and respiratory, like a peanut allergy, and someone can get cramps and the runs-which is more like a lactose issue.
But they are going to be pretty immediate, the hives and resp are going to happen within minutes, if not sooner, and the GI would still more than likely happen within an hour maybe 2.
True food allergies are your body's immune (IgE) response to food proteins, and only food proteins. The most common are milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish. Food intolerance (Gluten/Lactose) causes strictly GI issues, although food allergens will cause vomiting, but along with the other symptoms, such as hives, swelling, etc.
And the thing is, if someone is allergic to most of the beer ingredients then a) then they will be allergic to all beers, even commercial, unless it is yeast, then it would be with SOME commercial beers, that are unfiltered. BUT they would also then be allergic to bread as well. Since the same yeast is used in baking.
The hardest one to figure would be a hop allergy, since except for beer, hops don't really appear in other things. BUT then also, the person would be allergic to other beers as well.
When people post asking about this, I usually caution them to look to other things in their environment rather than homebrew, since those allergies are rare and manifest with similar ingredients (like bread) or happen with commercial beers as well.
WolfieBrew
Well-Known Member
Revvy,
I read this post in another thread. If my illness was beer related, it was my judgement being overpowered by my excitement for my first batch. I have had many other craft brews with high hops and yeast sediment and never experienced any allergic reactions. Thanks for the info...
I read this post in another thread. If my illness was beer related, it was my judgement being overpowered by my excitement for my first batch. I have had many other craft brews with high hops and yeast sediment and never experienced any allergic reactions. Thanks for the info...
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