Itching while brewing

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Daemyung Yi

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Hello! I'm currently fermenting makgeolli here at home, and it's my first time doing any form of homebrewing. All I used was rice, water, nuruk, and a packet of yeast, and I used a pretty standard recipe. The temperature in my area at the moment runs between the 50's and 60's, and it usually feels colder inside the house anyway. It's day 3 and my family and I happen to be itching at the same time, although there are other logical explanations as to why we're all scratching our skins like crazy. No other weird things happening though.. Have any of you broken into a rash WHILE brewing, and could the brewing be a possible cause for it?
Two of us at home are nurses, so I'm not asking for medical advice. Just a curiosity whether home brewing has been for you a cause of rash, and what you did when it happened. Thank you!
 
Really strange...
I got sensitized to old degraded latex gloves at work and have to be careful about the gloves I wear when cleaning with Oxiclean or PBW.

I sure hope your situation isn’t related to your brew.🤔
 
Could be a reaction to some cleaner or sanitizer. Not that it's ever happen to me (except with peracetic but that's really strong stuff that should never touch your skin) and it would only affect family members that were directly involved in the actual brewing and/or cleaning. Unexplained rashes can unfortunately be symptoms of COVID so I'd try and rule that out before trying to find any link to homebrewing.
 
Could be a reaction to some cleaner or sanitizer. Not that it's ever happen to me (except with peracetic but that's really strong stuff that should never touch your skin) and it would only affect family members that were directly involved in the actual brewing and/or cleaning. Unexplained rashes can unfortunately be symptoms of COVID so I'd try and rule that out before trying to find any link to homebrewing.
Thank you! We're all fine at the moment. It's not likely to be Covid since we don't have any other symptoms. As I was saying, two of us are nurses anyway, so we'll be sure to use our clinical judgment as far as checking ourselves with the virus.
 
Do any of you have wheat allergies? I believe that nuruk is made with wheat and a type of yeast and bacteria.
Yes, you're correct. Nuruk is a fermentation agent made of barley. I don't think we have any wheat allergies. We eat a lot of wheat bread, and another Korean drink called Shikhye has a common presence in this house. The brew is starting to smell really good though, I have to say! I'm very proud of it!
 
How is the humidity in the environment? Here in MN the colder it gets the lower the humidity goes. After a certain point you can see how dry your skin gets.
It does get dry here as it gets colder. That being said, the skin reaction we have to such a circumstance is dry skin with whiteness and cracking. Although, in this case, we're having red spots instead. I'm just assuming it's idiopathic for now. I doubt it's anything serious. Anyway, it's already the afternoon of the day after and no one has complained since.
 
I do itch after a few minutes if I touch a diluted Saniclean sanitizer solution and don't rinse it out immediately. Nothing dramatic, but noticeable.

Did you all participate in the preparation - sanitization, or only some of you? The Inspector Cluseau in me is suspecting the sanitizer, or bleach etc.
 
I do itch after a few minutes if I touch a diluted Saniclean sanitizer solution and don't rinse it out immediately. Nothing dramatic, but noticeable.

Did you all participate in the preparation - sanitization, or only some of you? The Inspector Cluseau in me is suspecting the sanitizer, or bleach etc.
Yep, all of it is me. I'm only brewing to keep myself occupied. But I didn't really do any chemical sanitizing. I just soaked the bottle in hot water as is typically done in makgeolli video tutorials.
 
I had to quit using a shampoo that had wheat protein because it was feeding the Candida on my skin and making me itch. Possibly something similar with airborne particles?
 
If I get PBW on the skin of my arms, it causes me to break out in little red bumps that look like a rash. I repeated the experiment a couple of times to confirm that it was the PBW. I wear a lab coat as well as gloves now when I'm cleaning up.
 
Star San dries out my hands pretty good, but everybody? I'm guessing post hoc, ergo propter hoc?

If I get PBW on the skin of my arms, it causes me to break out in little red bumps that look like a rash. I repeated the experiment a couple of times to confirm that it was the PBW. I wear a lab coat as well as gloves now when I'm cleaning up.

I switched to Alkaline brewery cleaner, and I like it. Might not cause the same issue for you.
 
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