Can Homebrew Kill You? (Dangers of homebrewing wine, cider and mead) Info for 2020
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Homebrew wine cider and mead can kill you? Well, some people think so. Some people also think the earth is flat. Today we talk about some of the myths and misinformation and some of the current events that lead people to believe. It's murky waters out there today to find out the truth about homebrewing. Many will say it's deadly, many will say the opposite. Those that say it's deadly are either misinformed or trying to sell something. Homewbrew is not DISTILLATION. That's a whole other animal and CAN be dangerous if not done properly. Well, certainly anything CAN be dangerous if not done properly. I've actually heard of people adding rubbing alcohol, gasoline, turpentine and other crazy things to their brews in an effort to boost the power of it. Don't do these things, as they are EXTREMEMELY toxic. If you wouldn't drink it or eat it, don't put it in your brew. It's that simple.
Another major issue with homebrew is sanitation. If you don't keep things clean, you can get bacterial infections that are hard to identify or notice that CAN be dangerous. It's very rare though, to be honest. So stay clean, sanitize your stuff, and you'll be fine.
If homebrew was so dangerous, we'd hear a lot more stories about people dying from it. Millions of people around the world make wine, cider, mead and beer at home, yet in the last 10 years or so, I've only heard of a handful of reports of major issues from doing it, and EVERY ONE did something stupid.
Home brewing of wine, cider and mead is safe.
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#homebrew #dangersofhomebrew #homemadewine #homemadebeer #homemademead
I am living proof that home-brew is no more harm than commercial brews. made my 1st beer at 19 YO and still brewing today at 65
Budweiser has left the chat
@@micheals1992 as long as they don't put you under the table :-)
you dont need to be proof
Respect sir! You have been doing it right everytime. My oncern is whether I can do it wrong ending up more methyl alcohol
@@humairajamal85 pretty hard to do with beer from what I know
I have lost vision from excessive amounts of home brew, I put my glasses in an odd place! Lmao.
heh
Hehe, haha. I've done that too!!
I had one glass of commercial wine last night, and dropped my glasses in the back yard. Homebrewing is safer!
🤣
How did you write the message and you are blind!?
I had a chemistry teacher that would say at least once every semester/quarter, "Anything is toxic/dangerous in the incorrect amounts." Thank you both for addressing these issues and explaining, with wit, reason and facts. Thank you again for the great content.
Yup, they were right. It's the dose that makes the poison.
2 gallons of the cleanest purest natural safest water you can find without electrolytes IN A SHORT amount of time is probably going to kill you, it will at best put you in the ER. IF you are dehydrated, in a desert , sweating your goodies off you NEED a gallon of water per person a day WITH electrolyte to drink. IF you inject pure water by IV into your veins that will kill, that's why hospitals don't do it. Don't ask me, ask your doctor. Ask Les Stroud. Ask Cody Lundin
Thank you for an enlightening show!
As a biochemist, I just want to add a few notes on the methanol/propanol poison issue to clear things up, because it's two different things. Methanol (the stuff that makes you go blind and die horribly) is already in the fruit. It's a natural thing you just can't avoid. Surprisingly, methanol is not toxic to the body, BUT the breakdown product produced by the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme in your body IS toxic, so don't drink methanol... period. However, alcohol dehydrogenase will favor the most abundant alcohol in your bloodstream to convert. Thus, as long as the ethanol concentration is higher than methanol in your drink, there is no problem. Generally, any brew ( homemade as well as commercial) will contain 10+ % ethanol (that's the good stuff) and hundredfold less methanol. The alcohol dehydogenase in your liver spends its activity on degrading ethanol, while the methanol (and fusel oils) will leave your body intact, the way nature intended it - in shades of yellow. The breakdown product of propanol is LESS toxic than that of ethanol (and doesn't even give you a hangover), but propanol (read "rubbing alcohol) is much more intoxicating than ethanol (about 5 fold), so consuming one unit of propanol corresponds to 5 unit of pure ethanol, which means the risk of alcohol poisoning is quite high, so once again: don't spike your bevvy with rubbing alcohol. Just don't do it. None of these issues matter when yeast fermentation is carried out, because it's quite clean. Also, when your wine ages (again, it doesn't matter whether your wine is home made or commercial), the various alcohols combine with the fruity acids to produce very nice esther compounds, that produce a most satisfying flavor. Take-home message: brew away, keep it clean, and allow your wine to age for that greater taste. And for the love of bacchus, don't put s*** in there that does not belong. Happy brewing.😀
Hey man, I am new to home made wine making & I have started my process, I have let it ferment for 8 days (with skins & seeds) which from writing this message I have now separated the skins etc from the wine and continued fermenting wine only. My question is: Is it safe to drink a small shot during this process?
@solve5267 should be.
@@solve5267 Hii! can you please tell me how to make wine in the easiest way possible? Did you use yeast or just the peel?
It's also worth noting that if you consume enough homebrew wine to achieve a toxic dose of methanol, you've also consumed well over the amount of ethanol needed to prevent alcohol dehydrogenase from oxidizing the methanol to formaldehyde and formic acid, so you would still not experience methanol toxicity even if consuming enough methanol, if taken alone, to cause methanol toxicity. Alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme is what causes methanol to exhibit its toxicity via its metabolites, and it preferentially metabolizes ethanol over methanol. This is the reason that hospitals administer ethanol to methanol poisoning victims, so that the methanol can pass through the body unchanged due to displacement by ethanol.
I've read that twice, and now realize I have to consult a search engine to make sense of it.
@@richardwicks4190 He's basically saying that if these is enough ethanol in your system any methanol will pass straight through because your body prefers ethanol over methanol.
As a veterinarian, we use the same treatment for antifreeze toxicity. Keep the liver busy with ethanol until the ethyl and methyl compounds are cleared from the body. I.V. PGA will really make a dog drunk in a hurry. 😂
@@richardwicks4190 When you make alcohol you produce a lot of ethanol and a bit of methanol. You can only poison yourself with methanol if you drink it alone. For this to be possible you need to distil the alcohol and isolate the methanol from the rest and drink it. It basically impossible unless you intent to prepare poison.
@@beachdvmwhy did I read that as "I am an vegetarian" lmao
When you deny people alcohol, they’ll just figure out a way to have/get/brew it anyways! Great vid, let’s do a mango 🥭 habanera mead! 😃🙃
I'm currently making a habanero pasilla mead that tastes very good. next time I'll try mango too :D
Oh you have just inspired me something fierce random internet person. I was on the fence about buying supplies but that settles it.
"You can make anything dangerous and you can make anything safe."
Well, I *HAVE* been considering taking up flaming knife juggling...
Do it I bet it'll be fun (I think u meant torches/clubs tho, not knives).
I do fire hoop and it's awesome.
PSA: Homebrews and flaming knife juggling do not mix well. ;-)
Well now i have to😂
The misconception that homebrewing can create poisonous amounts of methanol is very widespread.
Even in the land of beer (Germany) people ask me if I'm not afraid of going blind when I'm telling them I'm homebrewing
Exactly why we made this video. There's a lot of misinformation out there. People just have no idea!
Good vid. Very entertaining. As someone who has brewed his own beer for over ten years, I've had an infected batch or three, and you're right; you can't even drink that stuff. And those who would tell you homebrewing is dangerous should also be pointing out that you can set your house on fire just from cooking a pork chop in your kitchen, statistically speaking. Bottom line, as you pointed out, is that good ingredients make good beer, and safe practices make safe beer.
Hey you read my comment!!! so I still followed the stories and what happened in 2 of the cases reported on here in South africa people were adding surgical spirits to their "homebrew" hence the reason for their death but the headlines read "2 dead from homemade beer". I wouldnt call drinko pop(similar to your koolaide i believe) and rubbing alchohol homemade beer. And you were right in your original reply to me our goverment is trying to incite fear around homebrewing because we have alot of hospitalisation cases in SA because of intoxication and they want open hospital beds because of the virus. Their end goal might be noble but their means are deceptive we are still not allowed to buy alcohol :( Great vid btw
:) Thanks.
Hello from Kwa-Zulu Natal! I believe that the commercial beer companies just don't want us to brew our own beer as that will take away from the gold lining their pockets.
Shout out from KZN as well. Got over this when they banned us a second time... so I upgraded to 25L batches of cider. Home brew is safe. I don't understand people who try stupid things like meths and rubbing alcohol. NCP yeast and a 2L liquifruit will give you passable cider in 4 days if you desperate.
As soon as the guy read your comment I knew you were South African lol.
Homebrewing is extremely common in the United States. One thing that makes our homebrewing processes safer, we have access to proper equipment. Not to mention, it's been a part of our culture for a very long time. Fact is, many of our homebrewing methods have been passed down from our European heritage dating back many centuries. When using sterile equipment, juices, fermentables, and yeast, homebrewing is extremely safe. I've been doing it for over 30 years and the worst thing that's ever happened to me was after drinking 750ml of green (fresh) wine; there was too much yeast left in the bottle and I ended up with mild diarrhea the next day. At the end of the day, if standards are followed, sanitation is done, homebrewing has less potential of making you sick than some of the foods we eat daily.
Thank you for making this video; I'm going to direct people to it when they ask from now on. I've been homebrewing for over ten years now and I still occasionally get people who ask these kinds of questions. It's still hard not to get a little offended when they ask, but I find it's important to remember their question comes from a place of ignorance; not mistrust.
Glad it was helpful!
When I was in school I worked at a pet store- I had fish tanks for years- worked with the furry beasts- the reptiles- everything- learned A TON- went with my sister 2 weeks ago to set up a fish tank for her grandkids- and EVERYTHING the "fish expert" told us was wrong- I think maybe most brew stores suffer from this same problem...
what
I know my family had some concerns when I did my first home brew. But I spent a long time checking things out and it turned out amazing. The stories of things going wrong appear mostly to be people that didn’t research and did really stupid things.
Guys, I really want to let you know how MUCH I appreciate you doing this video. There is SO bloody much misinformation, rumor and "Every knows this" that is wrong floating around, it's nice to have some straight forward talk. Too often issues (see the South African couple you mentioned) that get get misreported, improperly reported (ie little to no research into the facts of the story) and just plain BS'd about that it really makes it hard sometimes for the average home brewer to get a solid read on the facts and there wherefor's & whatnot's. I personally do appreciate this and really all of your videos. You never put on airs and are super relatable and will admit if you were mistaken on things. For my $$ that puts you miles ahead of many others.
I think most people don't know how to sanitize properly. I did an elective microbiology course at university and the first thing they teach you is how to be a germaphobe. When I did my first home brew and used the idophor sanitizer, it definitely kicked in some muscle memory. My bf thought I'd gone crazy!
Also, we're back in a strict no-alcohol lockdown (fellow South African here). Gonna brew a batch of lager soon, my beer stock is running low :D Thanks for all the videos, it's awesome reference material!
Another shout out from South Africa, guys!
Yeah, I have been brewing beverages ever since our government outlawed alcohol sales and distribution (prohibition 100 years later, halfway across the damn globe this time! It will fail again!!). Much of the skill I now use to brew beers and ciders, I have attained from your videos, so thank you very much for that. If I wasn't on furlough, I would subscribe to your Patreon!
Love your work! Keep it up.
I would like to send you my new recipe for a tasty South African IPA, as soon as I have perfected it! I call it the HPPA (hendrik potgieter pale ale), or HoPPA. It'll be dangerous ONLY if you drink too much of it at a time. LOL!
I had no idea there is a modern prohibition!! That sucks!!
@@deyken2008 Ja Hendrik, ek dink meeste van ons gaan nou ons eie wyn en goed maak :)
And another! KZN
yup, same 'ere.
Firstly. I want to thank you guys for your SUPER informative vids. During South Africa's first alcohol ban I found your channel more helpful than any other out there for home brewing. I actually no longer purchase commercial alcohol, except for Whiskey. We are now in our second alcohol ban and this time it hasn't really had an effect as I always have a bunch of experiments going.
Secondly. From what I read, That couple (and a BUNCH more) that passed, mixed methylated spirits in some sort of juice or soda. Fear mongering news outlets use "home brew" VERY loosely.
Lastly. Brewing yeast has become quite scarce here. Could you guys please do a video on washing and reusing yeast. There is obviously bread yeast, but I cant get any that are available here to ferment above 6%.
Thanks!
We've tried some of those techniques, and never found them consistent enough to really 'teach' a method, but I can work on it. I know you guys are working through some tough times.
The most dangerous thing by far is explosion during fermentation if ferment under pressure, more dangerous than being poisoned from home brew...so make sure the fermenting vessel has pressure relieve valve; and for bottle conditioning, make sure fermentation is completed and add the correct amount of priming sugar, and store the bottles in a safe place (such as inside an insulating cooler).
In other words, if you survive the brewing activity, the brew you made will most likely won't poison you.
Hey man, I made some blackberry wine, practiced all the sanitation and fresh fruit guidelines you taught me and got sicker than hell 😋. It might have something to do with the 2 gallons I drank. Just kidding, thanks for your channel and keep up the good work.
Second ban on the sale of alcohol going on in South Africa currently. Luckily I stocked up pretty well when it was initially lifted, but despite not having to resort to homebrew, I'm still continuing with it since it's such a fun hobby, mostly thanks to you guys! :) I think the people who died over here, added surgical alcohol, or something similar.
I was talking at the checkout with a young guy at Wal-Mart (rural-ish location and it was common for young people to work there) and he said he drank isopropyl alcohol at a part and "felt lousy" afterward. I swear, kids are nearly indestructable. Don't do this.
I know this is an old comment but you may still be interested. when distilling alcohol the methanol comes out first, then the ethanol and finally the fusil alcohol's. expensive spirits will just keep the ethanol, it can be safe if you mix them all back together (they're in the same relative concentration to undistilled brews) but some people will sell the first jar out of the still and that can be 100% methanol.
I tried brewing some Tepache as my first fermenting adventure. I bottled to early and had a bottle bomb in my kitchen. Everything was covered in broken glass and sticky pineapple juice, it was a great learning experience.
I think fusils are in tactics ogre
This was the first thing I looked up when started fermenting cabbage. And recently when I started home brewing!
These stories reminded me of my wife’s grandpa during Prohibition. He said they would take foam off the sugar Cain vats, put it in. Wood buckets. Place a rag over the top and let it sit in the corner of the barn for a week or two. They would then go out to the barn and get hammered.
I've been homebrewing for more than 6 months now and this channel inspired me to get started. My first batch of mead I experimented with backsweetening with boche honey (which I made) but I didn't have a scale so I WAAAY oversweetened for secondary and it was just.... awful. I had to dilute it with black tea to make something enjoyable which took the whole first gallon to find the right balance for.
My second batch though, I used raw honey 7 - 8 pounds in a 3 gallon carboy. Perfect, I love a dry mead my guys, and turns out so do most of my friends and coworkers. I don't drink much myself so it's been a nice way for me to give back to my community of friends. This series of videos and a good old friend of mine inspired me to make some mijiu which I intened to share with him when we can get together again.
I joined the FB group, I'm not very active (if at all) but I was pleased to find some of the people I know from my hometown were on there too. Haven't hit them up yet to see if they have any projects going but I've been meaning to shoot the shit with them for a bit.
FB group? We closed that years ago. We do have a VIP group though... www.city-steading.com/vip-club There is also a fan club group that we do not run.
@@CitySteadingBrews Ah, that makes sense, I didn't even check to see who was managing the group I just saw the name and assumed it was you guys. Thanks for the reply though! I'll be happy to check out the VIP Club then :)
Im very lucky my local wine making store the gentleman and his wife actually do home brews also and are big fans of mead and have helped me with every step and answer my concerns and questions whenever i have them.
I brew beer at home and it turns out really well. I do not do it all the time but when I do it is great. Great video. Cooking a hamburger improperly or storing the meat incorrectly can cause serious illness or death. With just a little effort and care, you can make home brewing very safe indeed. I think people are at more risk driving to the store to get the ingredients than they are from making homebrew.
Just wanted to toss you guys a thank you when I saw your video in my feed. I got started about a year ago after watching several of your videos, you answered a couple questions for me and provided the basis of several of my favorite recipes. I just opened up a half-gallon jar of "cheap concord with bread yeast" that's been chillin' in the cupboard for the last nine months because I wasn't a fan of it young, so I kind of forgot I had it, and the girlfriend and I both agreed it was fantastic with a little age. I guess it's time to get some more started.
HAHAHAH, you reminded me of my oxidized wine that has less than 5% alcohol, turned brown, smell completely changed and the taste as well. Guess what? so many people liked it and they thought it's a new brand. I shared the 5 gallon with friends and nobody had complained about anything and that's why I like the homebrew mades.
Just want to confirm that getting licensed, insured, starting a winery for business sucks. I’m stubborn enough to have done this the first year of Covid. All my renewals are popping up. As a small tiny micro winery, not sure if we will break even or not yet. But!! As an extra to our shop selling honey for us and multiple beeks, and tourist trap gift shop, it’s a great draw. We also make and sell wine and mead vinegar. Also a science project to meet federal guidelines but a desired product. Thanks for your videos!!
The human body is really an amazing thing. If you start throwing up because you drank to much, stop!. That's your body trying to get rid of the poison and saying "we need to back it down here bud..." I just started my first 5 gallon mead with pineapple like 13 days ago. Hope it goes well, still bubbling. Great videos and very informative! My best to you and your wife!
Yes! One of several lessons I learned from my first batch was that drinking too much homebrew wine makes me just as sick as drinking too much store-bought wine 😂
@hithere4719 it's still alcohol.
In the U. S. there are more people that are going to die from eating McDonald’s and fast food than from drinking copious amounts of any home brew...say nothing about blindness....brew on people. Besides, you can stay home, and not wear a mask if you choose and not get COVID by home brewing... :). Peace, out.
I absolutely love that I found your channel. I've been wanting to start dabbling in mead making myself. And by far y'all have given me the most honest, truthful, accurate, and genuine information I've ever seen on anyones videos I've ever watched. Thank you soo much
In Australia the home brew outlets are considered an essential industry. The main issue we have is the home brew outlets have run out of stock of many items.
I think it was a combination of people scared the bottle shops would be closed and boredom. If you're resourceful though, a food-safe plastic container from the hardware store (Bunnings), some sugar and some bakers yeast, and you'll have some kind of trash wine. :)
@@youtubkeeper Eh in going to australia, Most bars brew their own beer. Part of it is distribution. Part is not having the kind of beer mass producing like EU or US
Great information as always, guys... and I agree; when talking about mead, most brew stores are wrong, wrong, wrongety wrong... lol
Well said!
Idk how or why TH-cam decided to recommend your channel to me (I've never watched any videos on brewing but I do brew). I am very glad to have found your channel. Great information in every video I have seen. This is by far my favorite video so far. I would really like to see some videos on your different diluting and flavoring methods. I am sure there are some I haven't seen yet. Great content, thanks.
A lot of the places we call "homebrew shops" here in my town are really just liquor stores that happen to sell homebrew supplies. They aren't experts by any stretch of the imagination. I've made my own beer for years, and I'm just about to get into mead making. Even with beer, the advice from my local brew shop was dubious at best.
If you get your brew supplies from a liquor store, take the clerks advice with a big, BIG grain of salt.
Perfect way to start off the day! Thanks for this! I always look forward to the content here, keep it up you all!
Glad you enjoy it!
Thank you very much. As a homebrewer i have a lot of whiny knowitalls that are constantly trying to tell me that i'm poisoning myself and friends by my meads. I've done the research much like Brian . These ( people) don't want facts , it's always their believed misconceptions that are facts to them. No i don't try to prove them wrong as they aren't going to listen. What's ironic, they're the ones trying to get to the mead first at our little get togethers.
Ethanol (alcohol) is poison..... so they aren't particularly wrong
I know you're not going to do it, but boy oh boy would I travel to you guys all the way from Ohio just to try your brews lol.
If you had to drink 10 bottles of wine in an hour, alcohol wouldn't be the issue. It's the 2 gallons of water that would be the biggest issue. Hyponatremia will happen in about 5 bottles of wine in 2 hours.
Excellent Video.. Also hailing from South Africa, I started making my own wines based on a lot of your information. I like doing 10L ( +/- 3Gal) batches, and always end up giving it to friends and family. I enjoy the process more than the product, having sort off stopped drinking about a year ago. Your Video is now my "go-to" link when friends and family question the safety of safely brewed homebrews. :-) thank you!
Thanks for the video I will be starting my first batch in August and from what I've already researched I knew that mead was safe but you video definitely hit all the points I've heard mentioned before.
Glad it was helpful!
Welcome! You have a long, enjoyable hobby ahead of you. Never give up!
Thanks for your talk about this news about ppl poisoning themselves.. It was really time that somebody talked about this ..
I’m really digging the small ad snips from y’all in these vids. There great plugs, and pretty smart thinking on Y’all’s part.
When my Test Subjects ask if HomeBrewing is safe, I just tell them it gives Super Powers to those that are Worthy.
This was a great topic to cover, I’ll be linking this to those that are “Concerned”
Awesome!! Thank you.
CS Mead and more making South Africa drunk again. Thanks for all your videos have been of great help the past few months during prohibition.
LOL!!! Drinking a cup of TEA can cause blindness if you leave the spoon in the cup!!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
I'm making my 3rd batch of mead and I'm the biggest consumer of said mead. Never had an issue, my friends never had an issue, and I plan on continuing to make mead. CS Brewing videos are what I use for reference.
Im just doing my first homebrew ever right now of mead,
i popped 0.75lb of honey into a 1.5 litre of water and added mangrove mead yeast.
i left it in the original 1.5l water bottle and added the yeast with plans to change the container after 2 weeks (rack), hopefully my friends or myself dont die with the reassurance i have received here.
also love the videos CS
love from Scotland
Such a fascinating and informative video. Obviously I knew not to add rubbing alcohol into my brew but your other information was very interesting. I have a random question about clarity. My Mead which I made using your traditional mead video recipe has been in conditioning for two months and still has not cleared, should I rack it for a second time into another vessel or leave it in the current carboy I racked it in and just be patient? Probably a silly question but I don't want to be ruining it by bottling too early or doing too many racks.
im from Canada, I've stumbled across your channel in the incredible algorithmic bottomless pit that is TH-cam, and a few others have popped up, thanks for the info and safety info. one thing i see keep coming up is home brews are more savory or dry than commercial products, which i kind of hope for. me and the GF find a lot of stuff sold at the store. wine and ciders to be far too sweet. i'm in the process of looking for some decent yeast before we try. thanks for all the info from canada!
You said so many times that adding rubbing alcohol to your brew is very stupid and dangerous that my brain went: "Can you add grain alcohol?!?". I'm never going to add alcohol to anything in that manner but maybe you should answer that question too. Great channel!
Grain alcohol is the kind you drink. You can add that.
It's just going to be 150+ proof
I’ve just started my journey into learning how to make mead and I plan on attempting it in the near future. Thanks for teaching so much information!
You're welcome!
The best thing about homebrew stuff is that I don't have hangovers after the effects of alcohol subsides. I don't suffer from headache later.
Slowly we start feeling high and at the same rate the intoxication goes down.
1.) You get the same amount of methanol in a homebrew as in store bought stuff.
2.) The amount won't harm you in "normal" drinking volumes.
3.) You know what is an antidote for methanol poisoning? Ethanol. The good alcohol you have in there.
4.) If you run it thru a still: take some time and read on it. Methanol boiling point is 64.7 °C. Ethanol boiling point is at 78.37 °C. So the methanol will come out of the still first, along with Acetaldehyde and some other things. It's commonly known as "heads". What do you do with it? Throw it away!
5.) Only idiots that ferment in dirty oil barrels, moldy buckets and drink the heads get hurt. Call it a natural selection. Have fun, read up on stuff you want to do and enjoy your products responsibly. Cheers!
Yup, pretty much what we said in the video.
Another shout-out from the Southern Land of Prohibition (South Africa)! I found you guys before the whole lockdown drama started, but now I am glad I did. The twist in all the politics is that finding the equipment (and yeast) is extremely difficult. So bread yeast it is ;-) But it's fun experimenting in the meantime. But guess what?! When this is over, I'll probably keep brewing, anyway!
Question, though: by lack of glass carboy, I am using 5 liter (just over a gallon, for you guys!) PET food jars. Reckon they are food safe, so they should be brew safe, too?
@@ethanbooysen7092 Of course! And methinks we must club together to keep Brian supplied with enough Rooibos Tea for the next 50 years! Can't wait for the book!
I can get behind that!
Ethan Booysen true 😭🤣
@@ethanbooysen7092 O ja!
@@gterplaasboer Good idea!
Important note, he snuck a “that’s what she said” joke in here.
I am also from South Africa. Into winemaking since 1989, improvising at a time with no internet or suppliers. I am still alive. Had one or two really bad wines.... mostly it turns sour or flavourless. But I'm not dead. I am also a chemist by profession, so the fears about poisonous substances being formed purely by fermentation are not to be entertained unless you started with a poisonous plant (or green potato). The couple in Port Nolloth, with respect, may have upped the amps on their homebrew by adding methylated spirits or sanitisers containing Isopropyl alcohol. The fear mongering is real and mostly for one reason; public safety. Because we have a history of homebrewing of grain sorghum beers which are adulterated with anything from batteries, antifreeze to cow dung for whatever reasons to give it kick. So people really do weird sh!t. But follow safe guidelines and brew away. For those distillers out there also, the amount of methanol normally formed is very low, mostly from pectins in the fruits, chuck the first 50 to 200ml distillate and remember to stay legal.
Staying legal is very difficult since only two countries allow distilling lol. Wine and beer is ok but i love single malt whisky too
In South Africa, you can register a still and apply for a permit for home use only. It does not cost much. The burocracy is a bit tedious. If you know who to call via the existing distilling clubs then the process can get easier. Most expensive part is getting a serial number for your still as it has to be approved by an accredited person.
I saw a recipe for sorghum beer which included fermented raw milk and fresh cows blood. The doctors are probably facepalming right out their offices.
@@kleinwolf35 well cheers. I pass. I make my own blueberry wine if you dont mind lol
Yummy?🤢
Wow im so clear now ! Thank you!! The way im doing i sanitize everything and brew 5 liters at a time ! And now i have answers for everyone who has these questions... even though they ask me these questions they drink my home brew anyways :)
Glad it helped!
I have to say I enjoyed the answers as much as the questions. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Ive made homemade wine for a year.....& guess what?? It absolutely slayed my family @ Christmas last year...they can't wait for this years batch....2019 French Merlot 14.7% ABV....
Yes, just like in cooking, if you use moldy and/or rotten ingredients and/or dirty implements to prepare the food/drink then you might get sick from ingesting the food/drink.
I'm a more experienced cheese maker than mead maker and we get these sorts of questions with cheese all the time. People worry that the mold will make them sick or that the cheese will have Clostridium botulinum from adding herbs, etc. It's SUPER hard to poison people with food PERIOD (said a lady with a microbiology degree). Cheese, like wine/beer, has natural deterants to the bad stuff.... which is why ancient people made cheese and alcohol out of food as a way to preserve food.
Exactly!
I am aware this video is already two years old, and it is also possible this has been adressed elsewhere.
Methanol aka "bad alcohol", as you guys said, is present in tiny small quantities in home brews and consuming those products is perfectly safe, because the amount of "bad alcohol" is well balanced by much higher quantity of ethanol aka "good alcohol", consumption of which actually counter the effects of the "bad guy".
As a matter of fact, in case of methanol poisoning, the FIRST AID anyone should go for is ethanol. In other words: Where I come from, if by any chance you end up in the hospital with symptoms of methanol poisoning, they will pump you up full vodka. If you arrive in time, before you get blind or with your liver completely gone, all you end up with is terrible hangover. Simple as that.
Guys, thanks for great vids, I love your channel, we do home brews for years at home, but I have never tried mead. Thanks again.
Thank you for making this video. It’s probably one of your best. Lots of people should see this. 🤘👍❤️
loved the middle part after a commercial when the face spun in and out. This is very blissful to learn from.
And now I have a video to show my father when he comes over to my place and sees me making mead. "Just don't end up poisoning yourself" is his catchphrase when he sees my carboy. I've tried explaining it to him repeatedly, and he just doesn't believe me.
my understanding on rubbing alcohol is that they also include additives specifically to prevent people from drinking it (e.g. something to trigger vomiting)
They are not the same. Drinking alcohol is ethyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol, which only 8 ounces can kill you.
@@jeremi96221 ah it looks like i was thinking of denatured alcohol "After producers make highly concentrated alcohol, they add a variety of substances to it to prevent humans from drinking it..."
So have you been told you give off an Alton Brown vibe. Just found this channel as I want to start mead making and this channel is a great place for info. Thank you.
Yup! I get that a lot. And Adam Savage.
Maybe the hair i guess can match Adam. My first impression was "Most people would tell you *throws over shoulder said important thing* im not most people" Instant relation to AB
lol
During prohibition in the United States bathtub gin producers would put all kinds of nasty things including formaldehyde in for flavoring. I can’t tell you how glad I am prohibition didn’t last long.
Hi guys, im a UK expat now living in Norway. and ive been brewing beer/cider/wine for my own consumption for about 6 months or so. (many thanks, btw Ive learned a great deal from your videos in the time ive been brewing)..
Re. someones question of home brew bottles exploding. I personally avoid the issue by using plastic drinks bottles. 1.5 litre coke bottles to be precise. ( thats what? 3 pints, or a week night in old money).
bottles. I like them
bottles
As always, really enjoying the channel guys, a great mix of fun and facts.
. Cheers.
The only thing you have to worry about is what chemicals might be leeching into your brew from the plastic, soda bottles were never expected to have alcohol in them. Also you can blow up a plastic bottle but it just splits open and makes a mess, no glass flying around.
Depends on the plastic, but any temperature not within ideal range can be carcinogenic.
This had me cracking up ! I Really enjoyed the humor and educational content ! Much love !
I think a lot of misconception of this also comes from hearsay left over from the prohibition era, where a lot of people used industrial methanol to fortify their drinks.
If you Google "Time The History of Poisoned Alcohol" there is an interesting article from TIME magazine that talks about it.
Oh absolutely.
"Wrong, wrong, wrongety wrong wrong... wrong." XD
Good video. After all, long before people even knew what yeast was they made mead and beer and managed to live. :)
As a long time homebrewer, both beer and mead, I'm not sure why I watched all 20+ minutes of this. Though there are specific real world events used as examples here that I wouldn't have had any knowledge of, but general knowledge of the dangers of homebrew, nothing I didn't already know.
If I were ever told, by a homebrew store, that mead is dangerous because it might turn into a bottle-bomb, someone is getting a lecture! Like, who put something actively fermenting in a sealed bottle to make this happen and get this rumor started???
Using food-safe ingredients, equipment and processes protects people in general from poisoning-- whether cooking, canning or brewing.
Love the brew talks, and this one is a fun one :)
On a side note you guys have something coming to a PO box near you ^_^
Aww thanks!
Once, a small batch of beer got contaminated, but even on this it was drinkable... just became a Sour Ale instead of Cream Ale...
Yup, most of the time, it's not dangerous, but might be unexpected, could be good or taste vile, but still not dangerous.
It seems to me, New beer and wine makers should learn all the different smells of the process, as well as which are good and which are bad..If you can get those down through experience, you should be well on your way to learning the craft of your choosing safely.
Good to clarify this stuff! I’ve been wondering about homebrewing Sugarwash (or its close cousin the Finnish drink called “Kilju” [pronounced “Kill you” lol]). I was thinking it might easier to just brew the alcohol portion and then kill the fermentation and add flavors etc. after the fact for a simpler process. Have you ever done something like that?
We are doing it soon actually, lol.
That's basically what hard seltzer is!
I love the news articles that quote experts... Quite often, if a news outlet interviewed Brian, they would quote him as an expert. He has several years experience in the area.
Expert is a pretty loose term. I'm no expert, but I have done this for a while, and research constantly.
@@CitySteadingBrews once your book comes out, you will be referred to as an expert by everyone. Just embrace it.
lol, might take some getting used to.
Brian are you actually writing a book?
@@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582 yes, mentioned it a few times.
thanks for another great video and info, very informative. thanks Brian and Derica be safe and well. Micah
I think one thing that could have been added to this is what I believe to be the root of the myth about homebrew methyl poisoning. Most people group homebrewing and distillation together and assume the dangers are the same. Drinking the head of a run of liquor does have a serious risk of methyl poisoning, people hear their keywords and apply it to all.
Fair enough.
Absolutely. When i told my boss i was making homemade cider, he asked, are you selling shots? and i had to explain, i'm making 7% alcoholic "beer" made from juice. You could take shots, but kind of not the point. Making "shine" isn't even in the same category as home brew.
Now maybe I misinformed but I would wager that most people who think that homebrew can kill you are either like me very new to the hobby or don't brew at all because my first gallon of Mead turned out horrible just because I didn't know how to seal my bucket until a friend of mine showed me that there's a little plastic ring you have to tear off silly I know but I got ahead of myself ruined that first batch I was still able to drink it though so it's really good you guys decided to put this video out to dispel that
Yup. That describes most people!
It is believed both couples died after adding almost pure 97% alcohol in the form of ethanol into their home brew to make it stronger, but in so doing poisoned themselves.
Well, there you go, but... in one bottle, even drinking 97% alcohol would just make you really drunk and sick before killing you. There's more to that story.
Thanks for the video. Safety is always a concern and a serious topic, glad you talk about it in details.
From what was said in the video, one could conclude that the tale-tells of a dangerous batch would be rancid smells, gag reflexes and colored moss of all kind floating about in the liquid. How exhaustive are these signs? I don't exactly WANT to believe that there must be invisible/undetectable threats to our health, but it's not unheard of that something that was looking and smelling safe would end up being dangerous. For sure, it is a solid reasoning to first and foremost assess the obvious threats by just smelling and looking at the batch to identify blatant risks, but are there ways to identify more discreet threats? Are there such discreet threats at all?
I do know about some "invisible" threats ("overlooked" threats could be a more accurate way to say it), the big one being ethanol, and you named some expected byproducts of the fermentation process, but I'm curious about any unwanted other ones. Thanks!
99.999% of the invisible threats are soooooo rare and sadly undetectable. Botulism for instance is nearly impossible to identify, but, there've been less than 100 cases in the US in the past couple decades.
Ethanol is the alcohol we drink on purpose by the way.
Fermentation is natural. If you didn't add things to it that aren't edible or drinkable, you should be fine so long as you didn't leave your fruits in a sock for three weeks.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the quick answer, as always :) You guys rock!
I do know Ethanol is the "food alcohol" and that its presence is hardly a surprise (hell, I even wear a "ethanol" tshirt right now, with its simple molecule printed on it), but so few people actually acknowledge how dangerous alcohol can be (is what I meant to say).
I do have a slight problem with just saying "it's natural" as if it could be enough to reassure that it's not dangerous or risky. Many natural processes are dangerous, many natural things are deadly. But I believe you pretty much answered my question in your other post, botulism being unfortunately very hard to detect. I guess it really emphasis the absolute need for careful and thorough sanitisation. Thanks!
@@O2CP death is a natural process too if that puts it in perspective :) --(that sounded like a threat! OMG, no it's not, just a play on the concept)
@@CitySteadingBrews :D :D
I love this video, I knew you would pass out drunk before it actually hurt you.. however I had no idea it would take that much wine before it actually hurt you... I cant drink 11 bottles in a week if I tried let alone in an hour hahaha
5:15 my best guess is that they want to scare you into buying their stuff instead of making your own because they don't make money if you do it yourself.
Book? When? I want a signed copy!
Still working on it.
Great video! Clear and concise information. Thanks for doing what you do!
Glad it was helpful!
Basic rule of home brewing: be clean. That means using good ingredients, good hygiene in your brewing, enough yeast and good hygiene when bottling. Simple.
A few years back I brought bottles of mead as a New Year’s present for our office’s New Years do. It was a small startup company, we were a team of 5. Two people expressed their concern. It’s a good thing I’d done my research beforehand as their concern was methanol. It put their fears to rest and they loved my mead.
The next year I brought flavoured gin. The year after that, they got duck confit. They still reminisced about the mead.
Yes while I was in the military I witnessed not 1 but 2 sailors( one of which died) suffer from drinking isopropyl alcohol.
Omg...
Hi, I have just started watching your videos as I am considering trying wine home brewing, haven't started yet however I did make beer homebrew many years ago. I'm an Aussie and a lot of people do not understand Aussie slang like "blind drunk, is very similar to "pissed as a parrot" and many other sayings. So using Australian slang home brew can make you blind (drunk) if you drink enough of it. Thanks for the videos.
My colleague often says "It's dangerous to live, you could die!".
People today worry too much! :-)
But with that said, it's of course good to be a bit careful in life!
Been brewing mead, beer, and cider for more than 20 years, and my vision has improved! No, you cannot go blind from brewing. Distilling, is a bit different. Make Cyser. It's liquid gold!
Thanks for the video regarding a post I made in one of the groups on Facebook.
So I just started making mead and homebrewing a few weeks ago. Had my first taste test after fermentation and it was lovely.
After doing all this, I realized that making wine and mead is INCREDIBLY easy. It's SO EASY that during prohibition, companies sold Grape Bricks for people to make wine at home. Actually, one of the main reasons why Prohibition was a HUGE failure is because of dangerous alcohol consumption skyrocketed BECAUSE of at home distillation.
If you're fermenting at home, I believe you would only be poisoned because of negligence. Either you didn't see/smell/taste anything off and decided to drink it anyway and you didn't sanitize properly.
Pretty much :)
I have a feeling the commercial brewers saying that it's dangerous to homebrew just say that to reduce the competition.
When you let them convince you, they win the competition.
Well, it's the government really, but yeah, some of that is happening too I'm sure.
I'm really so glad I came across your channel! You guys are amazing and it's good to be following you with the times
I have been making. Vinegar, cider wine mead, wild fermentation way. I don't use yeast because I don't know the process. But so far I have been doing great. I love making them. In the early process I leave a bottle or two as cider and the rest goes to the carboy for longer time. I love it.