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A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

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Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#111

Post by jessaustin »

buckminster wrote: post #108
jessaustin wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see why sanitizer used in a hospital would have to be "medical-grade", whatever that means. Why would any other sanitizer need this? If the fluid was safe to drink (most alcoholic beverages are sold for this purpose), why wouldn't it be safe to rub on hands?

I don't know about medical-grade but it's usually illegal for a brewery to produce alcohol strong enough to be useful as a sanitizer.

Thread parent referenced a distiller. Distillation is the process that turns fermented products into sanitizer and other wonderful fluids.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#112

Post by thebean11 »

tonyarkles wrote: post #86
gumby wrote: post #38

My son in college (well in his apt with his gf, taking classes online) could easily take care of one before it expired. Hell, we could too. In Germany we had the “beer man” who would drop off beer weekly and collect the empties. This should be adopted in the USA.

I’ve been chuckling a fair bit at the changes around here. Alcohol delivery very rapidly became a thing here as the lockdown was looming; local breweries teamed up to put together a website and the logistics to deliver their products together (Want craft brew from these 3 companies? You can get it all in one order!). Other companies are also delivering “mainstream” beer and wine as well. In-person liquor stores are s…

It would be pretty ironic if it became harder to buy pot in legal states than non-legal states because the only sellers left were the ones following the law.

As funny as that would be, I think allowing pot delivery is the right call. No reason to shut down businesses that don't pose much of an infection risk, it's more economic strain we can't afford.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#113

Post by gumby »

subpixel wrote: post #92
boomboomsubban wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In Germany we had the “beer man” who would drop off beer weekly and collect the empties. This should be adopted in the USA. This is standard practice in the US, empty kegs end up back at a brewery where they are sanitized and refilled. Part of the problem reported here is that kegs aren't being used, leading to a lack of kegs available to be refilled.

No, the beer man in Germany comes to your house and delivers a crate of .5l bottles of beer, and picks them all up the next week with your next delivery. The bottles are washed and are reused (not melted down and recycled). That - along with the bierautomat - ranks up there with the things I miss most about Germany.

Bierautomat is also common in Japan, luckily!

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#114

Post by thebean11 »

gumby wrote: post #38

My son in college (well in his apt with his gf, taking classes online) could easily take care of one before it expired. Hell, we could too. In Germany we had the “beer man” who would drop off beer weekly and collect the empties. This should be adopted in the USA.

I think beer delivery like this is tricky here because someone 21+ needs to sign for it. The poor beer guy would end up needing to wait for everyone, and skip houses where nobody was home.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#115

Post by yellowapple »

sizzle wrote: post #109
yellowapple wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Thankfully I've got enough booze stocked up that even if the liquor stores shut down I'd be good for awhile, and I don't smoke so that's a non-factor for me. The lack of hockey and NASCAR is annoying but manageable.

Curious what you have stocked up, mind sharing?

Sure! Current inventory:

- 1 box and 3 bottles of cheap moscato

- 1.1 bottles of rum

- 4-ish bottles of various whiskeys

- 0.7 bottles of brandy

- 1 giant bottle of tequila

- Half a gross of bottles/cans of beer

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#116

Post by wolco »

alknemeyer wrote: post #82
wolco wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a bad idea. Many people will die without any alcohol. Forcing people inside and then stopping the sales of cigarettes seems like it would create more agression in the short term.

Part of the idea is to curb domestic violence and reduce the strain on emergency services [0]. I personally think that it will also help people budget, as most expected a three week lockdown but the reality is that many could be with reduced income for far longer [0]: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/why-alcohol-sale-banned...

The cigarette ban would increase domestic violence as people without any support aid would be forced into limit spaces with partners. How do they justify that decision?

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#117

Post by URSpider94 »

jessaustin wrote: post #102
URSpider94 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been issues in that many ethanol producers are not licensed to produce medical-grade ethanol, which is what’s required for hand sanitizer. So it hasn’t been entirely straightforward to convert biofuel or drinking alcohol production over.

I can see why sanitizer used in a hospital would have to be "medical-grade", whatever that means. Why would any other sanitizer need this? If the fluid was safe to drink (most alcoholic beverages are sold for this purpose), why wouldn't it be safe to rub on hands?

Hand sanitizer is ordinarily considered a medical product, and is subject to FDA controls. (Medical grade in this context means United States Pharmacoepia [USP]) The requirements for anything put into a medical product are stricter than those for food and drink. That doesn’t mean that it’s any cleaner per se. The link below describes the situation from last month, since then the FDA has temporarily relaxed the regulations to allow compounding of sanitizer using other grades of ethanol. https://www.google.com/amp/s/cbs2iowa.com/amp/news/local/eth...

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#118

Post by yostrovs »

capn_cabbage wrote: post #105
yostrovs wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Puritans had beer upon arrival, so don't lay this on them.

Yes, beer would be acceptable in moderation by the Puritans and their Protestant descendants. Early Americans advocated temperance rather than complete abstinence. Much of this was a result of seeking a better/perfect society after the American Revolution. Evangelical Protestants spread religion and reform through the USA in what is known as the "Second Great Awakening" from 1790 to 1840. During this time, the temper…

Puritans, mostly because of the modern misunderstanding of the term, are blamed for all enforcement of any vice in the United States. I'm saying that the larger society, made up of different religious beliefs, has its own course and its social institutions are not constantly controlled by the "Puritans".

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#119

Post by sizzle »

yellowapple wrote: post #115
sizzle wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious what you have stocked up, mind sharing?

Sure! Current inventory: - 1 box and 3 bottles of cheap moscato - 1.1 bottles of rum - 4-ish bottles of various whiskeys - 0.7 bottles of brandy - 1 giant bottle of tequila - Half a gross of bottles/cans of beer

Good stuff, cheers!

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#120

Post by cthalupa »

batty_alex wrote: post #72
cthalupa wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would go unspoiled, which is a bit different of a thing than tasting it's best. Grain has quite a bit of lactic acid producing bacteria in it, on top of it's just being readily available in nature in general, so breweries naturally have a ton of it around. Most common lacto and pedio bacteria, the primary two type of LAB, is not very tolerant to hops. If you make a really hoppy beer, this naturally helps prevent t…

To add to this, the high alcohol content typically found in IPAs helped with transportation, too. And, if you’re not a fan of extra-hoppy ipas, letting an ipa age will mute the hoppy flavor and could potentially make a more enjoyable beer.

I'd probably recommend people just go for a different style of beer if they don't like IPAs :)

The alpha acids in hops oxidizing will have an impact on the flavor of the beer - largely it will reinforce the malt flavor, but depending on your susceptibility to off flavors, you might get cardboard or BO type flavors.

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