Beer In Space

Matthew Moyle-Croft wrote to us regarding a very important development concerning the consumption of beer in space. I'm going to sleep easier knowing this *grin*. Update: 12/22 06:07 AM by T : Thanks to alert reader toad (who was not drinking within sight) for the updated URL.

Comments

In theory

[Anonymous Coward]

You get a really big piece of lead, jack it up 6 feet in the air, and work underneath it. The gravitational pull cancels. The problem is, there are no materials strong enough to hold it up there. A few years ago I read a discussion of controlling gravity by methods like this -- using well-understood science, but technology that is _way_ out there. I think it was in an afterword to a science fiction novel by Dr. Robert Forward, a physicist who probably knows more about gravity than anyone else on earth.

Seriously, I'm sure they used computer simulations. The only way to really test it is to lease the space shuttle for a kegger. I would trust that their membrane & compressed air system for getting beer out the tap works -- how could it fail? Plus, you can test that just by verifying it pumps the beer out with the keg upside down (tap up). Of course that's the easy part of the problem, what do you do after it comes out? It won't stay in a mug. I rather doubt that carbonated liquid would float around in nice blobs instead of spraying everywhere, no matter what the computer simulation says. You'd have to drink straight from the tap. And then there's the issue of fizz in your stomach, without gravity to collect it at the top...

Obviously, the Netherlands government must rent the space shuttle for the first weightless kegger. Do it for science!
8-)
Mark Moss

Re:Three years??

[jafac]

and you could use belching to propell yourself in zero G.

Not to mention the uses for beer-farts! (better not do this until those scrubbers get fixed!)

What could be more fun than pizza in space?

[dattaway]

A pizza would be a fine food to eat in space too. It would fload and you could spin it just slightly, like a cdrom. All those colorful tasty toppings whirling around on a yummy disk saturated with rich, steaming pizza sauce. Break off a piece, munch it down, and grab another off the roatating work of art.

Here's the updated link

[VValdo]

Yes, yes... the link went bad apparently, but I found it here

Also, the story refers to an original article in New Scientist magazine, which can be found here, although for some reason the link is down for me right now.

W
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Re:Three years??

[Ptolemarch]

BTW, the article mentions that there would be no foamy head because that requires gravity. But since it is microgravity, not true 0-g, there would be a slight amount of foam, yes? And couldn't you apply a spin to the barrel to force any bubbles to the surface of the beer?

First: it really is microgravity. Like, really small.

Second: Spinning a thing encourages the heavier stuff to move to the outside. So, surprisingly enough (even to me, as I think of this), spinning beer in microgravity would actually make the bubbles go to the middle of the beer.

there's a sense of humor issue here...

[alienmole]

...i.e., you need one. C'mon, relax, forget about your next project deadline for a second, and truly think about the concept of "Beer in Space!" After a while, you might see the point. Of course, it might help if you consume a few beers first yourself...

Re:What about hang overs?

[hugg]

Yeah, I think about 1 in 3 Apollo astronauts yuled, despite their bravado before the mission.

What is even scarier is that at least one Apollo astronaut did not have a bowel movement all the way to the moon and back ... that's two weeks... talk about yer low-fiber diets :)

Re:What about hang overs?

[sohp]

Yakking in space? Very common. Off the top of my head I know that Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8, was quite sick for a while, and Fred Haise, lunar module pilot for the ill-fated Apollo 13, was sick early on. NASA of course has researched this and has a relatively technical paper on what is known as vestibular alterations, or space sickness.

The cleanup is to vacuum up the gunk. I'm eating my breakfast right now so I don't want to get into details.

Shuttle astronauts have an amazing menu to choose from.

This is just.....

[Cef]

They've put a Wine Bladder (as in a cask bladder) in a keg. BIG DEAL!

Why bother with the air in the first place. Just use a cask bladder anyway!

Anyway, back to being drunk. *grin*

What a ride

[Shotgun]

The more detailed article that someone else posted talked about the problem of not being able to belch in space. The bubble don't rise in the beer and so get transferred directly to the stomach. The bubbles don't seperate in the stomach either, so the body can't expel the gas while retaining the liquid.

I could see this providing for a completely new artform and justifying the whole space program. Musicians would travel to space where they would go on a 2week binge. Then they would travel back to earth where they would be put in a decompression chamber. The gas would swell, and now being under gravitational influence, seperate, allowing the musicians sufficient time to compose musical lyrics from the escaping gas.

Heh, it couldn't be much worse than what they broadcast on the radio.

They're missing one point

[eroberts00]

Carbonated beverages (beer, soda, etc) are not used in space as the body relies on gravity to dispose of the excess CO2. So unless you want your stomach to fill up with carbon dioxide, I would recommend sticking to other forms of alcohol. The vodka that the Russians drink seems like a better choice.

What about hang overs?

[antdude]

I wonder what hang overs would be like in space. And pukes. Ew! Has any astronauts puked in space in the past? If so, then was the yucky stuff floating around? :)

Re:What about hang overs?

[donglekey]

Actually I would be willing to bet that probably every astronaught has puked in space.

More detail

[Scrymarch]

Here.

Three years??

[donglekey]

It took them three years to develop that? Maybe they tested it too much.

Re:Three years??

[Ace905]

Now, if they were trying to find a way to brew beer in space, that would be different. I'm not sure how, if at all, fermentation would be affected by microgravity.

When you ferment something, Yeast grows exponentially and slowely dies off as the Alcohol content rises. Once a sufficient amount dies, you have to 'rack' the beer/wine/moonshine. This means removing the liquid from the top of the barrel and leaving the dead yeast at the bottom. Otherwise, you end up with a yeasty/moldy smelling drink.

Without gravity the yeast would not drop, and the dead yeast ("lees") would make it a colloid mixture of pretty gross proportions.

On another note, someone mentioned centrifical force would force carbonation to the centre of a barrel, which would be useless. This is only true if the barrel were spun so both ends were cut symmetrically in two: meaning the spinning of the barrel on its own, would force the liquid to both ends, and carbonation to the middle.

If the barrel were placed inside a large circle which spun, then carbonation would rise. During fermentation - yeast would drop. This is due to the fact that the bottom of barrel would be moving fastest, and subject to the largest amount of centrifical force. As you move away from the bottom, each slice of the barrel is moving in a smaller and smaller circle, and is therefore under less centrifical force. This produces force in a downwards-direction, the same as gravity.

I'm speaking of the large circular rooms we all love from 2001.

I have too much time on my hands, I know.

Re:Three years??

[Kierthos]

Maybe they wanted a beer container that would spew beer all over the inside of the shuttle when it was opened.... but then, what's wrong with using a squeeze bottle.

Now, if they were trying to find a way to brew beer in space, that would be different. I'm not sure how, if at all, fermentation would be affected by microgravity.

BTW, the article mentions that there would be no foamy head because that requires gravity. But since it is microgravity, not true 0-g, there would be a slight amount of foam, yes? And couldn't you apply a spin to the barrel to force any bubbles to the surface of the beer?

Kierthos

Well thats a relief

[sstrick]

That was the last major barrier stopping me from being an astronaut. Now that it's out of the way I might as well volunteer my services....

Ping Pong Beer Balls

[Emugamer]

I can see that drinking games in space will be oh so much more fun. Can we say Pac Man?

Why did this trivial crap get posted while.....

[deglr6328]

an important space story like THIS gets ignored?

IMHO this is pretty serious, if Cassini is forced to use the Reaction Control Subsystem instead of it's gyros for the rest of the mission, I dont see how it could possibly have enough fuel to complete the original length Saturnian tour. And would therefore put the entire 3.4 Billion mission in jeopardy.

The link is broken, here is an accurate one.

[mallie_mcg]

For those afraid of goats:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/space/2000/12/i tem20001221103834_1.htm

Beer in space, at ABC.


How every version of MICROS~1 Windows(TM) comes to exist.

Re:carbonation...

[BurpingWeezer]

I doubt it. The bubbles are the result of pressure differences between the CO2 gas in the drink and the air. If the pressure was higher in spacecraft/spacestation then the bubble would come out slower. If it was lower, which it ususally is in spacecraft, then it would come out faster.

THe only reason you can't get foam is because the bubble have to connect together and usually they wont without gravity pushing down on them to squish them together.

You'd also need a container to hold htem close to each other. Ever spill a drink on the floor? The foam comes and goes very fast but can't stay together since there is no container.

Coke In Space?

[Scooby71]

Not sure I understand why this is such a big deal - is it just because they managed to do it with a keg of beer?

In the Science museum in London there is a Coke can with a special adaptor that IIRC was used on one of the moon shots, so late 60s or early 70s (Coke thought it would be good publicity) - if the adaptor worked with a can of Coke it would surely work with a can of beer. BTW the astronauts said that Coke was strangely unsatisfying in zero-G - tasted odd.

Maybe you misunderstood.

[stubob]

Trivial? Let me explain this more slowly. They have found a way to serve beer. In space. That is an Amazing Achievement. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cassini is screwed up. JPL has a problem with that (NOT Lockheed. JPL didn't bother to notice what units were being used for thrust, they just assumed they were metric). Beer in Space is a precursor to true Geeks in Space. Once you can deliver a pizza (and not the crappy, dehydrated kind) to the ISS, then we'll be lining up at Cape Canavral or Sunnyvale. Anyway, shouldn't a nitrogen-powered keg (Guinness) work? Or any other frat-powered, pump-it-yourself keg, for that matter?

If this post is incoherent, let me just say I've been verifying that Ground-based Beer distribution works. Works fine here, Houston.

So that means..

[evanbd]

However, there is no foamy head, as gas bubbles need gravity to rise.

That the missions that have a centrifuge on board will be much more popular.

but...but....

[mtvsucks]

wow, beer and cartoon porn stories posted in the same day. good work guys. glad to see you are keeping on top of the importent stuff.

---
pack

They ain't engineers...

[dmatos]

'Cause we engineers know that there's no such thing as centrifugal force. Centripital force exists, yes. It is the force that holds a spinning object to the centre of its axis - example, the tension (force of) in the string attached to the yo-yo you're winging around your head.

There actually is no outwards force when you wing something around in a circle.

Re:They ain't engineers...

[dmatos]

You hit the nail on the head there.

I can't recall exactly how all the forces add up

In the case of the yo-yo whirling about your head, the two balanced forces are the tension in the string pulling the yo-yo in, and with equal force pulling your hand (holding the other end of the string) out. Through muscluar control and friction, this force is transferred from your hand to the earth. Balance acheived.

homer simpson...

[Nyckname]

needs to be sent back up on the shuttle to test this one out.

Re:mmm, beer

[Zocalo]

The "zero-gravity pretzel" huh? That would be an edible mobius toriod that we could wash down with this beer out of a Klein Stein.

Exactly what the space program needs

[zania]

Okay, so beer in space won't help with problems like fluid loss or loss of coordination brought about by the microgravity environment, but it will help keep moral up on those long, long missions. I'm sure the Russians have already brought Vodka to space, their culture being a little less plagued by puritanical fanatacism. Beer in space will certainly make it a more attractive place for space tourism, and Casino's which are right now only pondering space voyages, might see the light now! Of course, it is crucial that the Beer is dutch, because if we started sending US domestic beers to space no one would ever go again! Talk about space debris!

Re: I missed it.

[Amomynous Coward]

Here ya go...

Scientists develop space ale

Dutch scientists are on their way to cracking one of the most urgent problems of the space era - how an astronaut can get a decent beer in zero gravity.

The first challenge has been how to get the ale out of the barrel.

Researchers from the Delft University of Technology have spent three-and-a-half years on the dilemma and now appear to have the ideal barrel.

Britain's New Scientist magazine reports the revolutionary container has a flexible membrane which contains the beer inside the barrel.

Air is pumped between the barrel wall and the membrane to force the beer out.

The team has tested its invention in zero gravity on Earth and found the beer plopped neatly out of the tap, floating in identical, ping-pong ball-sized amounts.

However, there is no foamy head, as gas bubbles need gravity to rise.

mmm, beer

[c_g12]

For their next study, scientists will be researching the zero-gravity pretzel.