Researchers Test Space Beer

With space tourism becoming a real possibility in the near future, brewers are trying to figure out how to provide a good beer in space. To this end, a non-profit space research corporation Astronauts4Hire will begin testing an Australian brew created to be enjoyed in microgravity. From the article: "In the past, NASA has also sponsored studies on space beer, and whether or not the popular beverage can be brewed in space. Under current policies, however, alcohol remains forbidden on the International Space Station."

Comments

Re:0G beer

[toastar]

What do the bubbles do in zero-g?

You've seen this right? the part your asking starts about a min in

Fermenting in space?

[pclminion]

I thought the article would be about how to formulate a beer that drinks well in space. Instead it seems to be about actually brewing in space.

I really don't see why you would want to do that. Even a simple brewing setup involves several bulky pieces of equipment. And five gallons of beer fermenting will release somewhere around 200 liters of CO2 (number pulled from the depths of my memory, could be wrong) which is obviously not something you want an excess of in space.

However, the observation that the yeast seemed to be more "efficient" in space makes sense to me. Fermentation in beer basically consists of three phases. During the first phase, the yeast consumes oxygen (aerobic respiration) as it reproduces in the wort. Once the yeast population gets high enough, they switch their metabolism to anaerobic and commence the fermentation proper. Finally, the yeast begin to aggregate together (it's called "flocculation") and form large globules which drop out of suspension and form a "cake" on the bottom of the fermenter. In a zero-G environment, these globules will instead stay in suspension and the yeast will remain in an active state for a longer period of time.

Re:Fermenting in space?

[Korin43]

I would guess that they are interested in using yeast for vitamin synthesis on long missions.

If it was me, I'd be more interested in beer for the long missions.

Re:Fermenting in space?

[compro01]

200L of CO2 wouldn't be a huge problem. An average human produces more than twice that every day.

Re:Fermenting in space?

[pclminion]

Keep in mind you're just removing the dissolved oxygen, not atmospheric oxygen, so it's not like you're taking it out of the air tanks. If you could find a way to extract that prior the the fermentation process, it could even be a net gain.

If there was no dissolved oxygen at the outset, you would have to pitch a LOT more yeast. In my experience the volume of yeast increases by a factor of 10 or more during the reproduction phase (although this is based on measuring the primary yeast cake, which admittedly isn't entirely composed of yeast).

I do like the idea of using it to grow plants. Perhaps barley? ;-)

The Question Is...

[Relic of the Future]

The question is, if you brew a beer in microgravity, where there isn't really a sense of what's "up" and what's "down", how do you know if you've brewed an ale or a lager?

In other news...

[countSudoku()]

NASA Scientists also mention that "Space Brownies were invented in the '60s by Earth-bound hippies and no further research is needed in this area. Thank you."

"Packing for Mars" says no...

[dpbsmith]

I found Mary Roach's Packing for Mars to be fascinating, informative, and it made me ROFLMAO about every third page.

On page 296 she writes "Beer is a no-fly, because without gravity, carbonation bubbles don't rise to the surface. 'You just get a foamy froth,' says Bourland. He says Coke spent $450,000 developing a zero-gravity dispenser, only to be undone by biology. Since bubbles also don't rise to the top of a stomach, the astronauts had trouble burping. 'Often a burp is accompanied by a liquid spray,' Bourland adds."

So we must assume that Astronauts4Hire have either not read the book, or didn't want to let the facts spoil their publicity ploy.

Mary Roach described herself on NPR as "having the mind of a twelve-year-old boy." The book is indescribably marvelous to those of us who are similarly gifted with youthful imagination.