Wort pH and Risk of Botulism

madscientist451 · Jan 13, 2021

Vale71 said:
Where are you going to put the steaks once your freezer is full of frozen wort? Properly canned preserves (in general, not just wort) have the advantage of room temperature storage.

I suppose freezing the wort just exchanges one hassle (canning) for another, so I'll just stick with using DME for starters.

twd000 · Jan 13, 2021

Birrofilo said:
I find the asseveration in this article " Avoid drinking raw milk (milk that has not been pasteurized) or consuming foods that have unpasteurized milk in them. " quite daring.

Food which has unpasteurised milk in it is cheese. If cheese is allowed to season for a certain amount of time, use of unpasteurised milk is perfectly safe.

EU food norms are quite "anal" and they do allow unpasteurised milk in seasoned cheese. For certain "protected denomination of origin" cheeses, the use of raw milk (unpasteurised and "unthermized", proper raw milk as it comes out from the nipple of the cow) is for what I know mandatory, e.g.

Parmigiano Reggiano Dop
Grana Padano Dop
Fiore Sardo Dop
Fontina Dop
Caciocavallo Silano Dop
Strachitunt Dop (this is made "a munta calda", while the milk is still warm from the cow body temperature)
Castelmagno d'Alpeggio Dop

Emmentaler Dop (Switzerland)

And certainly many others.

There is no risk of foetus damage from eating superior quality cheese!

PS Consumers should be aware that imitations such as "Parmesan" sold in certain countries outside the EU is very distant in quality from properly made EU DOP cheeses, which are prepared according to a strict "production disciplinary".

PPS For what I know, seasoned cheese is the only case in the EU of admission of raw milk. In all other cases, raw milk must be heated during the transformation process.

aged cheese is made safe due to reducing the "water activity" level: Water Activity in Food
for the same reason raw meat can be safely made into shelf-stable beef jerky, by removing enough water that bacteria can't grow

bu_gee · Jan 13, 2021

Birrofilo said:
Food which has unpasteurised milk in it is cheese. If cheese is allowed to season for a certain amount of time, use of unpasteurised milk is perfectly safe.

EU food norms are quite "anal" and they do allow unpasteurised milk in seasoned cheese. For certain "protected denomination of origin" cheeses, the use of raw milk (unpasteurised and "unthermized", proper raw milk as it comes out from the nipple of the cow) is for what I know mandatory, e.g.

I'm veering well off topic here, but what the hell, hold my homebrew.

US laws are pretty similar. Again, I'm going from memory for the numbers, but cheeses aged less than 60 days are required to be made from pasteurized milk.

As I has been said, as cheeses age, the reduced water availability and "desired" microbiological and enzymatic activity eventually make for an outright hostile environment for pathogens.

I also dabble in yogurt-making and once your colony takes hold, they hold. From what I understand, even at refrigerator temps, they produce peroxides that actively kill competing species and keep it fresh for months in the refrigerator.

Essentially the game is the same no matter the target. Use the tools you have at your disposal to keep the nasty stuff at bay. I mean, that's why our ancestors started making beer in the first place. Unfortunately, sometimes for the sake of convenience we end up thwarting ourselves.

twd000 · Jan 13, 2021

madscientist451 said:
I suppose freezing the wort just exchanges one hassle (canning) for another, so I'll just stick with using DME for starters.

I guess everyone's idea of a "hassle" is different, but I find canning to be a lot of extra work. Filling the huge canning pot, sanitizing lids, jars, and rings...etc.

So canning is shifting work from brewday to pre-brewday, and batch-processing.

Freezing a liter of wort that I've already made is not extra work in my view. The only extra step is taking it out of the freezer to let it thaw the day before I need my starter.