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11-Year-Old Coloradan Will Brew Beer In Space, By Proxy
minty3 writes "An 11-year-old Colorado boy may have found a way to literally make a beer that's out of this world. Michal Bodzianowski, a sixth grader at Douglas County's STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colo., recently won a national competition where his beer-making experiment will be flown to the International Space Station." Noting that beer is safer than contaminated water, Bodzianowski pointed out that beer could be useful “in future civilization as an emergency backup hydration and medical source."
Noting that beer is safer than contaminated water, Bodzianowski note that beer could be useful “in future civilization as an emergency backup hydration and medical source."
Yeah, nothing is safer in a confined zero-G environment full of electronics, than a liquid electrolyte pressurized with toxic gas. Don't believe me? Here, have a beer and we can go ever the details.
"emergency backup hydration"
I always thought beer actually dehydrates your body because of the alcohol... I like the medical source part tough ;)
"could be useful “in future civilization as an emergency backup hydration and medical source."
Except it dehydrates humans when they drink it and it's not nearly strong enough of an alcohol content to be an antiseptic. The sugars would actually cause an infection. All this article tells me is that the judges were idiots and Colorado alcoholic rednecks start pretty young.
>> recently won a national competition...
Surprisingly, the kid with the poo to food recycling experiment lost again this year.
We have plenty of crappy beer that belongs in orbit already...
Hey, it worked in Neuromancer.
I'd consider meth if it was sold by cute girls loitering outside stores in military uniforms. As long as they didn't look like they were going to stab me.
Anyway, this should be a good test of science. Beer in space, sounds like a good combination (probably better than meth in space to be honest). It should be better than the "vodka" those Russians make out of old tang.
It works for dwarves.
Clearly, what's being prototyped here is a hybrid of Dwarf Fortress and Kerbal Space Program.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
It's the new moonshine
What exactly is wrong with that?
Methamphetamines have all kinds of medical uses and battlefield preparation can be very useful.
Oh yeah you're just a shitty troll.
What next, the five year old girl gets flown to the capitol to cook a batch of meth in the bathtub?
You obviously haven't taken the tour of the white house.
Why?
If it was suitably low alcohol it would be fine. Think 1% or so. Why not for grownups?
Stupid troll is stupid.
For centuries before potable drinking water became widespread, beer was the beverage of choice. It wasn't strong beer, but what would be called "small beer," which was maybe 1-2% ABV. It's safer than untreated water, beer must be boiled in the brewing process. No known harmful microorganisms will grow in beer, though some which give it an off taste will. When given the choice between a possibly unsafe water source and beer, beer is the best choice.
... they might as well just remove a few steps from the water reclamation apparatus and use that.
I would imagine that you would have to centrifuge it to get the yeasties to settle properly as they do back on Terra Ferma. Also, I doubt the bubble airlock would work properly in zero g as well.
The concept is still pretty interesting though. I wonder how the yeast-sugar interaction would be in zero g.
Didn't you learn anything in basic chemistry, you need a boiling flask to make meth.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
There are studies that claim that - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/10/scientists-suggest-beer-after-workout/
Here.
That STEM school is about a mile from where I am typing this. But I dont know much about it.
Oh yeah you're just a shitty troll.
You know, people do make these things called `jokes' some times. I thought it was kinda funny. But it's okay if you want to karma whore too I guess.
This is what people in ancient Egypt did, because water in/around the Nile wasn't exactly mountain stream pure.
With enough alcohol to kill the bad bugs, a beer can do a good job at getting rid of thirst but without getting people too drunk or dehydrated.
There are brewing recipes for homebrewers from those times (how authentic, I have no clue). It might be interesting to brew a "small beer", and see how it works versus say, Gatorade.
There's no guarantee that yeast will behave in microgravity the same way they do at 1g. Microgravity has an interesting way of affecting protein expression. My guess is that brewing in space won't be very effective. Some people have enough trouble doing it on terra firma.
Also, backup hydration? And "medical source?" Glad we don't let 11-yr olds do important things...!
Apparently all the brilliant folks here on Slahdot don't remember their history.
When the water is too polluted and bacteria-ridden, the fermentation process making small beer (low alcohol content) removes the nasties as they can't live in the presence of even small concentrations of alcohol.
Time travel back to 1500s and drink the water in any major European city. If you don't die from it you too will be singing the praises of small beer.
Beer, for when the water WILL KILL YOU!
Reinheitsgebot = German Beer Purity Law. It was considered fair game to throw plague bodies in the wells of your adversaries, but woe unto those who would dare mess with beer!
If he were really clever, he'd have got them to launch his smart ass into space with the experiment. No laws up there preventing him from drinking the whole batch.
To Alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems.
And with the exception of child soldiers, I've yet to see a regular military that has it's soldiers use crank in battle.
You don't seem to know what you're talking about.
I doubt that America allows 11-year olds to produce alcohol.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
You are junkie scum. When the race wars come you'll be executed with the other degenerate filth that pollutes our streets.
It's not really the alcohol that kills the bugs (you need a very high concentration for that, and you can only get that through distilling), it's the yeast outcompeting the other microorganisms.
With enough alcohol to kill the bad bugs, a beer can do a good job at getting rid of thirst but without getting people too drunk or dehydrated.
Pretty sure it's not the alcohol production that staves off bacteria. Rather it's the boiling of the water in conjunction with the antiseptic properties of hops.
Methamphetamine and amphetamine were given to Allied bomber pilots during World War II to sustain them by fighting off fatigue and enhancing focus during long flights. The experiment failed because soldiers became agitated, could not channel their aggression and showed impaired judgment.[18] Rather, dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) became the drug of choice for American bomber pilots, being used on a voluntary basis by roughly half of the U.S. Air Force pilots during the Persian Gulf War, a practice which came under some media scrutiny in 2003 after a mistaken attack on Canadian troops.[31]
Not meth (admittedly, on a technicality).
What I want to know is why an eleven-year-old is brewing alcoholic beverages to begin with. Those are for grown-ups. And preferably not for them either.
For most of the history of civilization children have been drinking alcohol. It's much healthier than cholera.
It was a combination of the fermentation and boiling that purified the water.
http://www.myconfinedspace.com/2009/07/20/its-never-miller-time-in-space/bloom-county-jpg/
Be who you are...and be it in style!
Bingo.
Same for wine. IIRC, ancient wines had lower alcohol and were ndeed used for drinking, not just for the alcohol effect. You might carry a wine skin for drinking, not drunking.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Wasn't this pretty much the key to Europe's success for several hundred years, and why the monks were always boozing it up?
Contaminated water wasn't safe to drink, but turn it into alcoholic beverages and it's safer.
Brilliant; beer, making civilization better for thousands of years. That's awesome.
Of course, I'm also forced to ask, did an 11 year old make beer for a science experiment? "No mom, I'm just verifying my test results, it's OK." Very ingenious solution to an age old problem. ;-)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Uh ever hear of "Go Pills" go ask your local fighter pilot. The military still uses them. They are some sort of amphetamine.
The Nazi's actually prepared methamphetamine in the field and used it.
I am not speaking of using tweakers as soldiers, just keeping your current soldiers up and running with no sleep or food for days at a time.
Hops, alcohol, and the carbon dioxide dissolved in it are all going to help stop unwanted bacteria from growing in beer.
For your enjoyment - The Lego Beer Song!
http://youtu.be/ATBl4qH9I54
Paul: Father... father, the sleeper has awakened! - Dune
Everything I know about making Meth I learned from Breaking Bad.
I read the internet for the articles.
Hops are a fairly recent addition to beer. Certainly not something that the ancient cultures used.
Ezekiel 23:20
America become so retarded...
"There's no German beer here, okay, Hitler?"
The pathological aversion to any combination of children and alcohol is a Puritan thing that seems unique to the USA.
I live in wine country Australia, and the local high school not only has winemaking as part of the curriculum but the school has a cellar door. Wine sales 9am-3pm Mon-Fri.
My 8-year-old son can pick the difference between Syrah and Grenache.
I'll never forget my first family holiday to the USA, I would have been 15 years old. Sitting at a restaurant in Anaheim recovering from a day pounding the paths of Disneyland, waiter comes up to the table to take our drinks orders; when I got to me I asked "what beers do you have on tap here?" The waiter sputtered a bit in confusion then explained to me that he could not serve alcohol to a 15-year-old no matter what my preference of beer was. My parents just shrugged like "meh, when in Rome," and I had a soda.
Weird.
But this is American beer, The crew can just piss in a cup and save the time and effort
Actually... I think that's only partially true. You can kill most bacterial and fresh water pathogens with a concentration of over 10%. In addition I myself can and have brewed mead (honey wine) at between 20-22% abv using a champagne yeast that is bred to survive in high alcohol environments and attempts to ferments to dryness. (I kept feeding it honey till the little monsters just couldn't go on.)
But the argument is more about small beer, which was much weaker. So it's probably a combination of the yeast crowding out bad bugs, the carbon dioxide, and boiling (if they did, not all beers are boiled) and lastly the minor amount of alcohol in the beer.
As a brewer, I can tell you that this is not the case. When making alcohol, any kind, sanitation is taken very carefully because you want to make sure that only your yeast makes it into your must. Wild yeast is "fine" but will give off-flavors and won't ferment to a higher ABV. Anything else that gets in there is going to ruin your batch and make it undrinkable.
Even after fermentation, you typically add potassium metabisulfate and potassium sorbate to kill off anything that's living in there and prevent it from coming back.
In short, it's the other way around. You are protecting your yeast from any other microorganisms.
"The Nazi's greengrocer actually prepared methamphetamine in the field and used it."
FTFY. Look up "grocer's apostrophe" and blush. You have no idea how stupid that makes you look to an educated person.
Look up "I noticed after I hit submit and slashdot has no edit button".
Then surely your mother's snatch must be a great source of refreshment. You should give it a try.
Unfortunately Europe is slowly going the American way too ( in a lot of ways) and surprise , surprise , the drunk driving accidents are on the rise here among youth.
Disinfect the wound with beer! Wait, isn't "yeast infection" a thing? Besides, we could just design astronauts that produce their own intoxication.
> 2013
> Not brewing beer in belly.
Silly humans...
You do realize that they didn't have StarSan in Sumer circa 10,000 BCE, right?
Remember that article about the guy who brewed his own beer? He had a hardy version of Saccaromyces Cerevisiae (sp?) resident in his stomach. Everytime he ate anything starchy he got drunk.
Hope they saved a sample of that yeasty.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
They used meth widely before the side effects were properly understood. 70 years isn't that long ago.
They used dextro (which, as you mentioned, differs technically from meth) very recently. I believe it is still in use currently, though probably not for much longer if so.
I suspect there are numerous not-so-above-board governments and extra-governmental groups that still distribute meth to certain personnel even today, since it's easy to make in a pinch and meets their short-term goals. Admittedly I have not done much research into this.
Why not have a "Small Beer"?
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
11 year old children may not drink beer. You don't need to drink beer in order to brew it.
Looks fine to me, he just misspelled "actuary".
It's a little known fact that Hitler had just one guy making all his meth for him and this guy happened to perform calculations for insurance companies before the war. So naturally he's referred to as "the Nazi's actuary".
You must not know about go pills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJj5QoboVg
Boiling and the change in PH are more important than the alcohol content when it comes to keeping the bacterial load low, although that certainly helps.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Wikipedia is quick to point out that, since there's more than one grocer guilty of that particular offence, it's properly referred to as a grocers' apostrophe. (And now I, Zoidberg, will make with the oh-ing and the snapping.)
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
I grew up in northern Michigan, and made my first wine when I was about 10. Picked a bucket full of mulberries, squeezed the juice, my mom supervised so that I didn't burn myself with the sugar syrup, and my dad helped me make a bubbler. I'd been drinking a small glass of wine at family dinners since probably five years old, so I knew enough to recognize that I had a really good touch making wine when I tapped that first gallon a couple of months later. Been making homemade wine ever since, taught my nephew how to do it, and my wife's niece too.Don't know why more people don't, it's a lot of fun.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Uh ever hear of "Go Pills" go ask your local fighter pilot. The military still uses them. They are some sort of amphetamine.
The Nazi's actually prepared methamphetamine in the field and used it.
I am not speaking of using tweakers as soldiers, just keeping your current soldiers up and running with no sleep or food for days at a time.
Ya, that's how you turn into a tweaker- by staying up for days at the time. Drugs or not, after a few days with no sleep you'll start to hallucinate and your judgement goes to shit, you start getting paranoid and having other side effects. The drugs tweakers take actually don't do all that much directly other than rot your teeth out of your skull and cause nasty skin conditions. Most of the crazy shit tweakers, geekers, and crackheads do is usually a result of staying awake for upwards of a week or two (or more) at a stretch.
As for the "Go Pills", those are Dexadrine, which is also an amphetamine very similar to methamphetamine (and often simply called "Dexies"). They prescribe them to people with narcolepsy and kids with ADD/ADHD. And yes, the USAF has been giving them to fighter pilots... that issue surfaced when someone bombed a convoy of Canadians by mistake after staying awake for several days.
People tend to get confused because the terms "crank" and "meth" are used to refer to a wide variety of amphetamines, not just the substance which a scientist would refer to as 'methamphetamine'. "Meth" (in street language) is a pure (or at least relatively pure) form, crank is a bathtub concoction which usually has some amphetamine component but usually a whole lot of other (often random) crap mixed in as well.
I've yet to see a regular military that has it's soldiers use crank in battle.
How about the United States Air Force?
BTW, "it's" is a contraction of "it is."
Free Martian Whores!
You know, people do make these things called `jokes' some times.
Bad joke, offtopic, and insulting to beer drinkers. What's worse, so many people bit the troll that by now, actual discussion of the topic is done. Read the /. FAQ -- it's a troll.
Free Martian Whores!
I do.
You do realize that what your arguing has absolutely nothing to do with anything, right?
Whether or not StarSan was invented did not fundamentally change yeast or brewing as a whole. They would still need to worry about sanitation back then or they would end up with an infected batch just the same as now.
Sanitation is important in brewing for taste moreso than safety.
A little something extra might make your brew a bit funky... but it's still significantly safer than the water, pre-beerification.
This signature is false.
Yeah but if your dwarves are injured they have to drink water or they'll die of thirst!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Haha, nice work!
Yep, America's weird. You can give a kid a loaded gun no worries, but a sip of wine? YER GOIN' TA HELL!
Fucking genius...
The drugs do not rot out your teeth or cause those skin conditions. Those are side effects of not taking care of yourself and poor lifestyle in general. Most of those folks would have similar hygiene issues without the drugs. Go visit very poor folks sometime.
That is why they also have "no-go pills".
> Yep, America's weird. You can give a kid a loaded gun no worries, but a sip of wine? YER GOIN' TA HELL!
And God forbid a child should see a naked breast or penis. That means the END of the WORLD.