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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."

13 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Very safe indeed by pesho · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Very safe indeed by rgbatduke · · Score: 5, Informative

      The "healthier than water" part comes from hundreds of years ago when Beer was cleaner than water.

      Or, the 10 seconds ago where beer is still cleaner than water in much of the world. I grew up in India, under "water discipline" -- drink only water that has been boiled (possibly in e.g. the form of tea) or drink coca-cola (nothing lives in coke!) or drink beer. When we went on long road trips and ran low on water, I drank Golden Eagle way back when I was seven or eight years old. Over seven years, I never got amoebic dysentery, cholera, or more than the usual (mild) viral enterics because I never, ever, drank unboiled water.

      If I returned to India tomorrow, I would probably follow exactly the same discipline, possibly with more beer and less tea or coke. Wouldn't you?

      rgb

      --
      Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
  2. Who Judges These Things? by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 5, Funny

    >> recently won a national competition...

    ...judged by the astronauts scheduled for that mission.

    Surprisingly, the kid with the poo to food recycling experiment lost again this year.

  3. Re:dehydrates by Luthair · · Score: 3, Informative

    It dehydrates when over 10% content

  4. New definition by dieu1979 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the new moonshine

  5. Re:11-year-old? by h4rr4r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why?
    If it was suitably low alcohol it would be fine. Think 1% or so. Why not for grownups?

    Stupid troll is stupid.

  6. Re:Yeah sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  7. Centrifuge by Scottingham · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  8. Re:Yeah sure by rjlouro · · Score: 3, Interesting
  9. better article from denver newspaper by peter303 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here.
    That STEM school is about a mile from where I am typing this. But I dont know much about it.

  10. Re:Yeah sure by mlts · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  11. Re:Um no by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All this article tells me is that the judges were idiots and Colorado alcoholic rednecks start pretty young.

    Right. And I'm sure that NASA didn't consider any of these things before they decided it would be sent up on a payload, and the The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education haven't considered any of these issues. Nosiree. Just a bunch of idiots who lack your brilliant insight.

    Or, alternatively, it's an experiment which has merit, which is why it was selected.

    My money is on the latter option.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  12. Re:11-year-old? by Swampash · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.