11-Year-Old Coloradan Will Brew Beer In Space, By Proxy 129
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."
Re:dehydrates (Score:4, Informative)
This is so last quarter... (Score:2, Informative)
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.
Re:Yeah sure (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.
better article from denver newspaper (Score:4, Informative)
That STEM school is about a mile from where I am typing this. But I dont know much about it.
Re:Yeah sure (Score:5, 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.
Re:Very safe indeed (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?
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