Food: Beer: Alcohol Content
The strongest beer ever   (+2, -4)  [vote for, against]
Super super super yeast

This invention details a machine combining a bioreactor with a tiny brewery.

It is a known fact that yeast dies as beer gets strong. This is bad. That stops beer getting stronger. Same goes for wine. Many beer brewers control strength by limiting malt amounts; that is also bad, and will not be considered in this discussion.

The machine takes in sterile maltose solution to fill a tank. Yeast is already in the tank. Fermentation ensues. pH measurement assesses the progress of yeast. At plateau, 95% of liquid is jettisoned. Tank refills. Alcohol hardy yeast which was still alive after plateau will now be happy to be in something a bit less toxic, and will grow fast gain. Yet again, as plateau is detected, 95% is jettisoned and tank refilled.

This process continues, with the plateau level increasing each time as we selectively use only the most alcohol resistant yeast. The machine runs for a few years, non-stop. Once it has finished it's run, we should be able to produce 80% proof beer by fermentation.
-- vincevincevince, Mar 26 2008

Sam Adams Website http://www.samueladams.com
look in the "World of Beer" section, under "Extreme Beer" and then select "Utopias" [jhomrighaus, Mar 26 2008]

Alcotec 23% Turbo-yeast https://www.easybre...products.php?id=155
Become an alcoholic or your money back! [wagster, Mar 26 2008]

Beer Concentrate Law http://www.ttb.gov/rulings/94-3.htm
Beer from concentrate must exist, since there are laws about it. [Spacecoyote, Mar 27 2008]

Beer Concentrate Shampoo http://www.freepate...ne.com/3998761.html
interesting [Spacecoyote, Mar 27 2008]

Frank Zappa - Beer Shampoo http://www.seeklyri...a/Beer-Shampoo.html
and there's even a song about it... [Spacecoyote, Mar 27 2008]

Sam Adams brewery has done something like this in order to produce their Utopias "beer" which is 27% alcohol by volume which by the US system makes it 54 proof which is pretty mean stuff.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 26 2008


I'd be surprised if any yeast could withstand alcohol concentrations that high. If you really want beer that strong, you can simply add more alcohol to traditionally-brewed beer. The result will be no different.
-- angel, Mar 26 2008


I thought the whole point of beer was the taste? (It's certainly what puts me off it.)
-- DrCurry, Mar 26 2008


//I thought the whole point of beer was the taste?// Not at all. Beer is consumed as a medicine, to soothe the system and add cooling humours. The Chinese name for it reflects this, and translates not as 'tasty drink' but as 'white person cooling tonic/tea'.
-- vincevincevince, Mar 26 2008


[DrC], it is, and it's also what puts me off most American beer (and quite a lot of British beer). Becoming more or less drunk is a side-effect.
-- angel, Mar 26 2008


I'd also point out that alcohol-resistance doesn't necessarily mean you're going to end up with something palatable (or potable).
-- phoenix, Mar 26 2008


The homebrewing industry has been doing precisely this for some years now. See link to the scarily-named "Alcotec 23% Turbo-Yeast". That's pretty much the limit for yeast though, which is probably a good thing.
-- wagster, Mar 26 2008


Turbo-Yeast? ["Aw, damn, Marge, it just got the cat!"]
-- DrCurry, Mar 26 2008


This sounds suspiciously similar to the process for making Romulan Ale, and they're terribly unsympathetic when it comes to patent litigation.

<Bones>

"It's beer, Jim, but not as we know it...."

</Bones>
-- 8th of 7, Mar 26 2008


(marked-for-tagline)

Perhaps some sort of osmotic pressure nano lipid oil membraney thing that's yet to be invented.
-- normzone, Mar 26 2008


Alcotec [et al] turbo yeast is used to produce wash for use with a still.

Water+sugar+turbo => alcohol+water+contaminants. I mean it smells really bad before you still it.

Turbos are not suitable for beer production.
-- Custardguts, Mar 26 2008


Anhueser Busch uses reverse osmosis to remove alcohol from its non-alcoholic beers. They are brewed like conventional beer then the alcohol is removed.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 26 2008


For those of you who live in the western United States: when sitting at the railroad crossing, keep on the lookout for large, stainless steel tank cars marked 'CORS.' They supposedly contain 90 proof Coors on its way from the brewery to the bottling plant, where it is watered down to commercial-weight beer (using water trucked in from icy mountain streams, I suppose). I am not %100 on this info, but it was presented during a Hazmat class I took when I worked for the railroad, so I give it some credit.

Incidentally, I also know that Budweiser is shipped to distribution points nationwide in refridgerated boxcars marked 'ABBC' and 'ANBH.' They are very securely locked, but look closely the next time you see a derailment. You may get lucky.
-- Alterother, Mar 26 2008


I can feel my leg being pulled.
-- normzone, Mar 26 2008


No, you can't. I don't joke about beer.
-- Alterother, Mar 27 2008


There are references on the Internet to beer concentrate. They ship orange juice that way (concentrated), so I wouldn't put it past them.
-- DrCurry, Mar 27 2008


I googled - stories are mixed. Maybe true, maybe not, but if so, that's not beer, that's just readily transportable alcoholic malt beverage concentrate.
-- normzone, Mar 27 2008


BLASPHEMER!

Grab your torches and pitchforks!
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 27 2008


Wait, let me finish my beer first.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 27 2008


Drink up, drink up, man ! These torches won't burn forever, and the barrel of tar is going off the boil.

<sound of pitchfork being sharpened>
-- 8th of 7, Mar 27 2008


Beer is an acquired taste, much like UnaBubba.

It took me far more years to appreciate his attempts at making me sick, but much like beer, in reasonable quantities, he can be somewhat enjoyable.

However an extra strong version might be a little much :P
-- Giblet, Mar 27 2008


Oh yeah, the whole idea is kind of moot anyways, since every country has brewing laws, and once beer reaches a certain alcohol level, it is no longer beer. It has now become Malt Liquor, or in the UK, Super-Strength Lager.
-- Giblet, Mar 27 2008


I've brewed my own beer, wine, sake, malt liquor, but the high proof tanker loads referenced would have to be made beer-like by brewing, distillation to increase the alcohol and decrease the volume of water, shipping to an appropriate destination (I'm thinking a drain someplace), then adding back water and forcing carbonation.

Most people who don't like beer are repelled by the taste of hops. I make a low-hops cherry beer that makes converts out of those people.
-- normzone, Mar 27 2008


We are already comverted. We will assimilate your cherry beer. We will add your alcoholic and olfactory distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile ...
-- 8th of 7, Mar 27 2008


I LOVE hops. One time I tried to make hop tea, and it was unexpectedly nauseating.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Mar 28 2008


Thanks, [8th of 7]. I'll let you know when I make the next batch, but it doesn't travel well. You may need to come to San Diego.

[GutPunchLullabies], been there, I agree, thought it would be good but it's as though if you like water, drinking liquid hydrogen and oxygen and expecting refreshment. Possibly a light brew from the flowers would work, but the pellets are overkill.
-- normzone, Mar 28 2008


//I LOVE hops// Me too. Get the dried flowers and put them into a steak marinade.
-- vincevincevince, Mar 28 2008


[Giblet], "strong beer" is not necessarily "Super-Strength Lager", in UK or anywhere else. "Roger and Out", formerly brewed at the Frog and Parrot in Sheffield, weighed in at 12.9% and was as far from lager as you could want, but was, at the time, the strongest beer available in UK. That title is now held (I think) by Baz's Super Brew from the Parish Brewery in Somerby at 23%. This is also not remotely like lager.
-- angel, Mar 28 2008


//I love anything that is part of the cannabis family.//

Don't bother smoking hops, though. It's not good.
-- wagster, Mar 28 2008


You MUST have been desperate .....

// Roger and Out //

Amazing stuff. Marston's Barley Wine, brewed in small quantities at their Burton on Trent premises is similar, at 13.2%, and is sold only in half-pints. The conversation went, "Four pints of barley wine, please." "Sorry, we only sell it in halves." "Eight halves of barley wine please."

That stuff would be a good starting point for mixing a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
-- 8th of 7, Mar 28 2008



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