Microwaved wort?

[JOHN51277]

Was sitting here smokin a cigar thinking.... Has anyone ever boiled wort in a microwave? Call me crazy!

 

[Rick500]

It would certainly boil in there. The problems are going to be (1) volume of wort that needs to be boiled, and (2) boiling it for an hour.

Oh, and (3) boilovers.

 

[nostalgia]

Sure, meet OneDerBrew, the most unfortunately named beer doodad, ever.



-Joe

 

[JOHN51277]

What about doing a 1 gallon boil volume and say a 3/4 gallon batch size? Not sayin I would do this, but, Im sure it can be done. And maybe even do just a 20 minute boil.

I might have to mess around with something like this one day. Hell, it would be a great marketing ploy! Sell it in a glass jug with an airlock taped to the side and all you do is put it in the microwave, cool to room temp, and thenadd supplied yeast, wait and then bottle!

Kinda gives another meaning to Micro-Brew!

 

[JOHN51277]

Damn, I want a OneDerBrew now! That is cool as hell! Strange, yet brilliant!

 

[KCBrewer]

You may have just discovered the secret to BMC!

 

[Kickass]

What’s the point stretching a $1.45 pack of yeast when this “OneDerPoo” probably cost more than the most economical ale pale, air lock, and plastic bottles?

 

[SankePankey]

http://cgi.ebay.com/OneDerBrew-HOME...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ceecf8f28

It's not mine, I just saw it.

 

[SankePankey]

I posted about it in the "closed system pressurized fermentation" thread cause that is how it carbonates.

 

[DoctorDuvel]

Since microwaves change the molecular structure of food (a good reason to not use them), I would think this might be a problem for the yeast and the overall product. Plus, radiated beer just doesn't sound appetizing..to me at least...

 

[GregR]

Since microwaves change the molecular structure of food (a good reason to not use them), I would think this might be a problem for the yeast and the overall product. Plus, radiated beer just doesn't sound appetizing..to me at least...

where did you hear that crap? microwaves are just a source of heat energy like gas or electricity.

all types of thermal energy change to the chemical/molecular composition of food. so if you aren't using your microwave for fear of altering the food molecules you'd better stop cooking all of your food by any method of heating.

and I'm not sure what you mean by radiated beer. do you honestly believe microwaves cause radioactive radiation? harmful ionizing radiation occurs only in wave frequency above the visible spectrum and microwaves fall far below the visible spectrum, below even infrared.

 

[DoctorDuvel]

it's not "just a source of heat"...cooking food in a microwave is a violent, very high frequency process which has very different effects than conventional stove-top cooking...it destroys health benefits of food to the point of having negative/degenerative effects in the body, etc, etc...look into it instead being so quick to call it crap...

 

[SankePankey]

There are about 2 dozen countries that ban micros so I have heard. Just like eating GMO crops or hormonal milk. Nooo problem. Jury's out. I still use one though

 

[Edcculus]

All conspiracy theories aside, your biggest setback is volume. Unless you have a industrial microwave, I'd bet you can max it out just above 1 gallon. You also won't be able to control the vigor of the boil. The closed space won't allow vapor to vent properly, so you are likely to end up with some DMS too. You are also faced with finding a huge plastic or glass vessel to put the wort in. Finally, unless you use fermcap, boil overs will be impossible to regulate.

I don't have any bias toward or against microwaves, those are just some good solid brewing reasons not to use it for wort. Making starters on the other hand, I bet it would be great. Or for boiling/sanitizing stuff like oak cubes.

I'd also like to state that I've never tried it, but then again, I've never had the desire to brew 1 gallon of beer.

 

[doctorRobert]

The only downside is that the salsbury steak will be burnt by the time the mashed potatoes are hot enough to eat...

 

[fatmoose]

Almost feel like I'm being trolled here but I have a hard time letting these types of things pass.

Microwaves work by exciting water molecules by passing electro-magnetic radiation (oooooo, scary word) through substances at the 2.4 Ghz frequency. This causes the water molecules to exude heat energy and cook the food in the microwave. Microwaves do not "alter" food at the molecular level and there is no substantive scientific evidence to back up any of the claims bandied about on the interwebs. This article does a good job of summarizing most of the claims that exist out there today:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_3_32/ai_n13664949/

For genuine scientific answers to microwave related questions you can check out this site run by a physicist from the University of Virginia, he posts lots of tidbits on this topic amongst others: www.howeverythingworks.org

 

[bdleedahl]

Almost feel like I'm being trolled here but I have a hard time letting these types of things pass.

Microwaves work by exciting water molecules by passing electro-magnetic radiation (oooooo, scary word) through substances at the 2.4 Ghz frequency. This causes the water molecules to exude heat energy and cook the food in the microwave. Microwaves do not "alter" food at the molecular level and there is no substantive scientific evidence to back up any of the claims bandied about on the interwebs. This article does a good job of summarizing most of the claims that exist out there today:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_3_32/ai_n13664949/

For genuine scientific answers to microwave related questions you can check out this site run by a physicist from the University of Virginia, he posts lots of tidbits on this topic amongst others: www.howeverythingworks.org

+1... yes and for those who don't know electromagnetic radiation is just light, yes the same stuff that comes out of your light bulbs, just at a much longer (and therefore holding less energy) wavelenth.

 

[GregR]

Almost feel like I'm being trolled here but I have a hard time letting these types of things pass.

Microwaves work by exciting water molecules by passing electro-magnetic radiation (oooooo, scary word) through substances at the 2.4 Ghz frequency. This causes the water molecules to exude heat energy and cook the food in the microwave. Microwaves do not "alter" food at the molecular level and there is no substantive scientific evidence to back up any of the claims bandied about on the interwebs. This article does a good job of summarizing most of the claims that exist out there today:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_3_32/ai_n13664949/

For genuine scientific answers to microwave related questions you can check out this site run by a physicist from the University of Virginia, he posts lots of tidbits on this topic amongst others: www.howeverythingworks.org

Thank you!

in fact there are even some studies that suggest microwaves degrade the nutritional value of food less than standard cooking (all cooking can degrade nutritional value by hurting some vitamins in the food) because the SHORTER cooking time required to cook the food.

 

[GregR]

it's not "just a source of heat"...cooking food in a microwave is a violent, very high frequency process which has very different effects than conventional stove-top cooking...it destroys health benefits of food to the point of having negative/degenerative effects in the body, etc, etc...look into it instead being so quick to call it crap...

I did look in to it. many a times.

 

[conpewter]

I have used the microwave for starters before, works quite well.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

I have used the microwave for starters before, works quite well.

+1

I always used the micro for boiling the water for the priming sugar. 3 minutes in the micro, add sugar and stir, cover and let cool while you sanitize everything...

 

[fatmoose]

I have used the microwave for starters before, works quite well.

As I was browsing that physicist's site I found this article on the potential hazard of boiling water in the microwave: http://www.howeverythingworks.org/page1.php?QNum=1576. I'd not consider this a call to alarm over using the microwave for this purpose but it's interesting reading and probably good information to keep in mind. Of course I've boiled water in the microwave for numerous purposes without anything more than a mild scalding due to my carelessness.

 

[GregR]

As I was browsing that physicist's site I found this article on the potential hazard of boiling water in the microwave: http://www.howeverythingworks.org/page1.php?QNum=1576. I'd not consider this a call to alarm over using the microwave for this purpose but it's interesting reading and probably good information to keep in mind. Of course I've boiled water in the microwave for numerous purposes without anything more than a mild scalding due to my carelessness.

super heating is a very hard phenomenon to create on accident. you need basically pure distilled water with almost no impurities to super heat it. the sugars dissolved in the water will provide more than ample surfaces for boiling to occur.

 

[carnevoodoo]

As I was browsing that physicist's site I found this article on the potential hazard of boiling water in the microwave: http://www.howeverythingworks.org/page1.php?QNum=1576. I'd not consider this a call to alarm over using the microwave for this purpose but it's interesting reading and probably good information to keep in mind. Of course I've boiled water in the microwave for numerous purposes without anything more than a mild scalding due to my carelessness.

Yeah, yeah. Lack of nucleation points in water make boiling it dangerous in a microwave. You know, if you stick ANYTHING in that glass while it is boiling, it'll give it an adequate nucleation point. Even a toothpick would prevent this from happening. If you're careful around boiling liquids, you don't have to worry.

 

[fatmoose]

super heating is a very hard phenomenon to create on accident. you need basically pure distilled water with almost no impurities to super heat it. the sugars dissolved in the water will provide more than ample surfaces for boiling to occur.

That's good to know, thanks!

 

[GregR]

That's good to know, thanks!

myth busters actually had a whole segment about this. you can probably find it on youtube if you're interested.

 

[fatmoose]

myth busters actually had a whole segment about this. you can probably find it on youtube if you're interested.

Not sure how I missed that, big fan of that show. Especially Kari

 

[JayInJersey]

Isn't Kari the surfer guy ?
Not that there's anything wrong with it...




I kid...but for a year I thought her name was Tori and my buddy just let me tell people "Tori is the hot one"

 

[BeerWars]

Microwaves suck. I haven't used mine in 5 years.

Could YOU do it well with experimentation? Sure.

Would I? You gotta better chance of seeing Baby Jesus

 

[DoctorDuvel]

i take my health seriously, so i'd rather be safe than sorry...there is enough info and research on the subject to have steered me away from using microwaves...much of the info i've come across is contained in this rather comprehensive article...just a small snippet, discussing what an independent, non-profit group called Powerwatch has found:


* The microwaving of milk and grains converted some of the amino acids into carcinogenic substances.
* Microwaving prepared meats caused the formation of the cancer-causing agents d-Nitrosodienthanolamines.
* Thawing frozen fruits by microwave converted their glucoside and galactoside fractions into carcinogenic substances.
* Extremely short exposure of raw, cooked or frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens.
* Carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants—especially root vegetables.
* Structural degradation leading to decreased food value was found to be 60 to 90 percent overall for all foods tested, with significant decreases in bioavailability of B complex vitamins, vitamins C and E, essential minerals, and lipotropics (substances that prevent abnormal accumulation of fat).

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/18/microwave-hazards.aspx