Pranking my buddy

[Jeremy_84]

I have a good friend that's comes over to the house a lot. No big deal on that part he helps me brew beer and helps around the house. When he leaves he loads up an empty six pack holder of my beer. Good part is he always brings the bottles back. We're always playing jokes/pranks on each other and we team up against the wives sometimes. All in good fun... His birthday is late next month and I'm going to brew him a batch of beer. Here's where I need help has anyone brewed a non-alcoholic beer if so how is it done. I know this is probably against some unwritten rule of home brewing but I think it would be hilarious to give him a batch of NA Beer.

 

[EDF713]

The other day I saw this thread, I think it has what you're looking for - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=39433 .

 

[JoshuaW]

You can boil the alcohol out, which kind of works, especially if you start with a low alcohol base beer.

In your situation, I would approach the prank a bit differently. I would probably bottle plain water, or maybe something entirely different like cold coffee. Maybe even boil some hops in the water, then when he says something about it just reply "Huh, must have forgotten to add the grain. Oops!"

 

[schematix]

Maybe just rebottle some o'douls? what the heck would you do with the other 45 bottles of NA beer?

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

In your situation, I would approach the prank a bit differently. I would probably bottle plain water, or maybe something entirely different like cold coffee. Maybe even boil some hops in the water, then when he says something about it just reply "Huh, must have forgotten to add the grain. Oops!"

+1

Have you considered setting aside some wort after the boil (pre-pitching), and bottling that?

 

[Psylocide]

Save yourself a ton of trouble, go buy a sixer of Odouls, transfer to new bottles.

 

[sfish]

Maybe ferment first then heat to 175 ish to boil off ethanol. then cool quickly, dry hop in secondary (to add flavor back) and keg to carb.

Or get some Kaliber and add some hops and rebottle

 

[WI_Wino]

+1

Have you considered setting aside some wort after the boil (pre-pitching), and bottling that?

Seriously though that could be really bad if it developed mold or god forbid botulism. Unfermented wort has no alcohol or a low enough pH (as I understand) to preserve it.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

you could fill with your regular beer and then "dry spider" in the bottle?

 

[PlexVector]

outrageously dry hop some O'douls.

 

[m00ps]

you can just siphon off like 1/2-1 gallon of the next beer you are going to bottle and do the 175F heating thing. I'd toss in hops to counteract the loss of aromatics. Then cool, pitch some dry yeast and bottle

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Seriously though that could be really bad if it developed mold or god forbid botulism. Unfermented wort has no alcohol or a low enough pH (as I understand) to preserve it.

Bottle before it cooled completely and keep in fridge until pranking? I know people can wort without a pressure cooker.

Fair point though, probably not best practice to mess with that for a prank

 

[Psylocide]

Ok... this is all just goofy.

Here is a brown bottle of easily obtainable NA beer.

Remove labels, possibly recap and call it a day.


The worst part of the whole thing is when he calls you up to tell you how this is the best tasting batch of beer you've ever brewed.

ZING!

 

[Spartan300man]

I would consider adding some of that Capsaicin, the hot oil that is in hot peppers.

....or maybe an Ex-Lax Stout?

 

[Roadliner]

....or maybe an Ex-Lax Stout?

That's just mean, man lol

 

[ImNoExpert]

Or poison! Poison him!

If he survives, that'll learn 'em REAL good!

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Clear Eyes pilsner.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-maltgAQwxo[/ame]

 

[Brettomomyces]

maybe some crocodile bile?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Just pee in the bottle already. We're all thinking it, you really want to do it, you're just waiting for the word.....word.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I like to cold coffee idea. Tell him its your new favorite stout.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Bottle some hopped yeast starter liquid. See if he comments about that one bottle that didn't taste very good.

 

[HumulusHead]

Re bottle something super strong like a steel reserve or hurricane. Tell him it's a blonde ale or something. But actually do brew up a blonde ale. Go one to one with him while you drink the blonde and he swigs the high grav.

Bonus if his wife is around!

 

[harleybug88]

Naw, brew him some good beer so you can help him drink it, and give him a new hat.

 

[Jeremy_84]

Love the ideas I will let yall know which way I go with this. Love the ex lax stout idea might have to keep put that one in the cook book ideas. Defiantly not going to pee in a bottle though. I did that back in my college years.

 

[Psylocide]

Love the ideas I will let yall know which way I go with this. Love the ex lax stout idea might have to keep put that one in the cook book ideas. Defiantly not going to pee in a bottle though. I did that back in my college years.

Why so defiant?

 

[biertourist]

I'd recommend buying some NA beer, pouring it into a 1 gallon demijohn and dry hopping the crap out of it, then adding a bit of yeast and priming sugar and just rebottling it.

I had some co workers give me a case of bud light and I poured it into a one gallon demijohn and dry hopped it with Amarillo and Citra and then force carbed it and it honestly tasted like peaches.



Adam

 

[ImNoExpert]

Yeah, stop coddling this beer moocher and really maim him good!

 

[drainbamage]

Love the ex lax stout idea might have to keep put that one in the cook book ideas.

Just bottle the dregs and yeast cake. Depending on how much home brew he drinks, it might have the same effect anyway.

 

[Jsamp]

Bottle before it cooled completely and keep in fridge until pranking? I know people can wort without a pressure cooker.

Fair point though, probably not best practice to mess with that for a prank

Botulism can grow at fridge temps and boiling temps do not kill the spores. That's not the only food borne illness I'd worry about. Food safety isn't a joke. People die every year due to unsafe food practices.

 

[Resonator]

Prime some bottles of dark beer with that mouth dying candy.

Add some super bitter substance. (sour green apple spray for dogs maybe?)

Add some ghost pepper juice?

Superglue bottle caps shut? (Potentially dangerous though)

 

[andrewmaixner]

Botulism can grow at fridge temps and boiling temps do not kill the spores. That's not the only food borne illness I'd worry about. Food safety isn't a joke. People die every year due to unsafe food practices.

Good to know.
Some more info:
http://beerandwinejournal.com/botulism/

Clostridium botulinum grows under anaerobic conditions, when the pH is over 4.6. Refrigerator temperatures (under 38 °F/3 °C) will impede the growth of some strains of the bacteria, but not others. (Very salty solutions will also slow its growth.) As such, when canning low acid foods (pH>4.6), the USDA recommends pressure canning. This involves heating the food, at 10 PSI, to 240 °F (116 °C) for 20 minutes. This is not sufficient to completely kill all the C. botulinum spores. However, it will greatly reduce their numbers. And, if the food is heated to 185 °F (85 °C) for 5 minutes before serving, the botulinum toxin will be denatured, and the food is generally considered safe. [Some sources give a more conservative recommendation of heating the food to 212 °F (100 °C) for 20 minutes.]

In the United States, commercial canneries are required to heat food to 250 °F (121 °C) for 3 minutes. At this temperature, all the spores should be killed in 12 seconds, but exceptions occur.
...
...

Relevance to Homebrewing
Botulinum_toxin_3BTA

Botulinum toxin (type A)

Post-boil wort generally has a pH of 5.0–5.2, in the range that C. botulinum can easily grow. It has not been exposed to temperatures around 240 °F (116 °C), and therefore the numbers of C. botulinum spores (if present) have not been reduced much. Boiling temperatures (212 °F/100 °C) will slowly kill C. botulinum spores, but you would need to boil your wort for many hours to reduce the numbers of spores (if present) to a safe level. In addition, sealed in an air-tight container, the wort is anaerobic (does not contain oxygen). The small amount of oxygen permeability that plastic shows is not sufficient to let in enough oxygen to inhibit C. botulinum. Oxygen levels over 2% are required for this.

Therefore, if you are boiling your wort, running it off to a container (such as a food-grade plastic cube) and letting it cool overnight — then storing the wort at room temperature for extended periods of time — the conditions for C. botulinum to grow are present, and you are putting yourself at risk for botulism.


Potential Objections

I imagine that many homebrewers, upon hearing this, will have some objections. For example, some will say, “But I’ve done this before and never had any problems.” That is true, but irrelevant. Botulism is rare. In the US, with over 300 million people, there only around 20 cases of food-borne botulism in adults per year. You wouldn’t expect it to happen frequently enough that there would be multiple cases of this traced to homebrewing yet. Even though no-chill brewing has been popular for awhile in Australia, how many brewers have saved their wort for an extended amount of time?

Also, producing wort that is not contaminated by common wort-spoiling or beer-spoiling bacteria or wild yeasts is not proof that C. botulinum spores are destroyed. Common wort-spoilers and beer-spoilers are killed by boiling temperatures; C. botulinum is not.

Other brewers may say, “But, pathogens can’t grow in beer.” This is true — as far as we can tell — but C. botulinum isn’t a pathogen. It’s not the bacteria that kills you, its the toxin secreted by the bacteria. (There are mycotoxins from fungi in the genus Fusarium that can also poison beer. This fungus can infect barley and maltsters test for it so it doesn’t show up in malt.)

Also, most importantly, wort isn’t beer. Although pathogens can’t survive in beer, they certainly can survive in sugary solutions. Infant botulism, for example, is most commonly caused by infants eating raw honey. (And furthermore, botulism is fairly common in prisons when inmates try to make their own homemade prison hooch, such as pruno, from sugary solutions.)

Finally, a brewer might ask, “If boiling doesn’t kill C. botulinum spores, why isn’t botulism more common in homebrew?” When beer is fermented, the pH drops — usually to 4.0–4.4 — below the threshold that inhibits growth of the bacteria. If C. botulinum spores are present, they can’t grow and produce enough toxin in the time between the wort being cooled and fermentation finishing to cause a problem.

 

[Jeremy_84]

I went with the NA beer and dumped about 3oz of random hops I had in the fridge. Wife looked at me funny until I told her what I was doing. Hops where Zeus, Cascade, Amarillo, and Citra I believe. Should be a pleasant tasting beer lol. Had some Chinook hops but didn't want to waste them on him I'm about to brew a Chinook IPA.