smmcdermott, I'll presume you're laughing at the top statement. His entry IS as silly as saying the earth is flat.
I'm glad this topic came up.(again) Someone needed to dispel some of the foolish misconceptions about beer.
The notion that bacteria(e.coli) can't grow in beer is a total fallacy and a complete misconception.
E. coli are not the only bacteria. Lactobacillus, for example, do grow very well in wort, and are the most alcohol tolerant of the bacteria.
Without getting all 'brainy' on you, I'll try to state this in the simplest terms I know how.
Hit me with the brains! I have a PhD.
You state: "The pH is too low" in beer to grow e.coli.
WRONG!
FACT:
-e.coli lives in the bowel.
-Highly acidic stomach contents empty into the bowel where the e.coli not only survives, but thrives.
Conclusion: e.coli CAN live in acidic conditions. (A much more acidic environment than beer.) If it couldn't, you'd eventually die after your first good case of diarrhea.[/COLOR]
Not quite. E. coli live in the GI tract. The stomach acids get pretty much neutralized by bile juices. However, E. coli can live at pH 4 ish. While we mash at about pH 5.2, beer itself gets even lower, below 4, IIRC. So, very hard for even E. coli to grow.
You state: "The alcohol kills off the microbes."
WRONG!
Unless you're talking about percentages of 90% or more, (Enough to overcome the bacterial load presented. Which I'm certain you're not.)
FACT:
-e.coli is in the gut.
-When you drink beer,(or any other alcoholic beverage) alcohol ends up in the bowel and is absorbed by the gut.
Not quite right again. E. coli, under optimal conditions, can handle ethanol concentrations up to 6% by volume. But the GI tract, by the time the beer you drink gets to the bugs, is not 6% ABV.
Still, beer is not a favorable enviroment. The pH is very low, which will stress the organisms. Add hop oils and other factors, and it is certainly not optimal for E. coli growth. I think the science says that, basically, E. coli do not grow in wort.
Conclusion: Do I have to spell it out, or are you catching on?
How many hundreds(perhaps thousands) of post are there presenting anecdotal evidence demonstrated by pictorial exhibits that PROVE pathogens can grow in beer???
If there was "no risk of infection in beer", as you state, then we are all very well practiced in the art of futility by sanitizing our equipment and putting a lid/airlock on our fermenters.(I'll presume you don't, since your confident pathogens can't grow in beer.)
But by pathogens we mean organisms that are
pathogenic to humans. Not just "bacteria that can cause an infection in beer". Lactobacilli grow very well in wort. They infect the wort and sour it. But they are not pathogenic to humans.
They do not cause disease. Do you see the difference?
Read this:
Beer has been recognized for hundreds of years as a safe beverage. It is hard to spoil and has a remarkable microbiological stability. The reason is that beer is an unfavorable medium for many microorganisms due to the presence of ethanol (0.5–10% w/w), hop bitter compounds (approximately 17–55 ppm of iso-α-acids), the high content of carbondioxide (approximately 0.5% w/w), the low pH (3.8–4.7), the extremely reduced content of oxygen (<0.1 ppm) and the presence of only traces of nutritive substances such as glucose, maltose and maltotriose. These latter carbon sources have been substrates for brewing yeast during fermentation. As a result, pathogens such as Salmonellae typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus do not grow or survive in beer [Bunker, 1955. H.J. Bunker, The survival of pathogenic bacteria in beer. In: Proc. Eur. Brew. Conv. Baden-Baden, Elsevier Publishing Company, Houston (1955), pp. 330–341.Bunker, 1955].
However, in spite of these unfavorable features, a few microorganisms still manage to grow in beer. These, so-called beer spoilage microorganisms, can cause an increase of turbidity and unpleasant sensory changes of beer. Needless to say that these changes can affect negatively not only the quality of final product but also the financial gain of the brewing companies.
A number of microorganisms have been reported to be beer spoilage microorganisms, among which both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as so-called wild yeasts. Gram-positive beer spoilage bacteria include lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genera Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. They are recognized as the most hazardous bacteria for breweries since these organisms are responsible for approximately 70% of the microbial beer-spoilage incidents [Back, 1994]. The second group of beer spoilage bacteria is Gram-negative bacteria of the genera Pectinatus and Megasphaera. The roles of these strictly anaerobic bacteria in beer spoilage have increased since the improved technology in modern breweries has resulted in significant reduction of oxygen content in the final products. Wild yeasts do cause less serious spoilage problem than bacteria but are considered a serious nuisance to brewers because of the difficulty to discriminate them from brewing yeasts.
[My bold]
link
This goes to a Yahoo Business page. Maybe not what you meant?
PS: Did you ever wonder how Apple Cider Vinegar(Acetic ACID) was discovered/made???
Why are there no other "Beer Authorities" speaking up about this important topic?
So, do you consider yourself a beer authority?
Beer is safe. Humans have been drinking beer for ages, before we understood yeast and pathogenic bacteria. For a long time beer was actually safer than water, as the process of boiling the wort and fermenting it removed the bad microrganisms.
Please don't scare people unnecessarily. Beer is safe!
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