View Full Version : Please let this be real
slow mind
03-08-2013, 02:52
http://laughingsquid.com/a-nearly-waterless-beer-concentrate-that-comes-in-packets/
Train Wreck
03-08-2013, 02:57
http://laughingsquid.com/a-nearly-waterless-beer-concentrate-that-comes-in-packets/
20254
..............
rocketsocks
03-08-2013, 02:57
Could be a tasty mix in a chili recipe.....
http://laughingsquid.com/a-nearly-waterless-beer-concentrate-that-comes-in-packets/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM
Flachenmann
03-08-2013, 07:31
I've been checking their site on occasion for the past 6 months just to see what the progress was on when they were coming out with the beer. As a home-brewer myself, this is pretty exciting. It's nice to finally see an actual stated time for when the beer packets will be available. It seems like the soda side of the business is doing well though.
http://laughingsquid.com/a-nearly-waterless-beer-concentrate-that-comes-in-packets
/ (http://laughingsquid.com/a-nearly-waterless-beer-concentrate-that-comes-in-packets/)
Would definitely make my "fast" hike seem to go by faster.
It's real...good friemd of mine grew up with the inventor...although it's taking him longer than expected to get the beer product to market.
Nutbrown
03-08-2013, 09:35
I'd be willing to take the product on a test hike....
Wow! I will now be able to get my pack weight into the the UL realm!!! Almost feel like using a dancing banana here, but it looks too sober.
Train Wreck
03-08-2013, 10:30
Wow! I will now be able to get my pack weight into the the UL realm!!! Almost feel like using a dancing banana here, but it looks too sober.
Try a half dozen, then! :banana:banana:banana:banana:banana:banana
I'd be willing to take the product on a test hike....
Just ordered the kit, with soda mix, for my oldest sons 15th Birthday coming up. The canister weighs a half lb. and holds 1 liter. Can't wait for the brew packs.
RedBeerd
03-08-2013, 10:53
Let's see how it taste for those who enjoy good beer!
RedBeerd
03-08-2013, 10:53
Err..correction. for those who enjoy craft beer.
Try a half dozen, then! :banana:banana:banana:banana:banana:banana
Indeed much better! Now I'm feeling it.
Interesting. He says that he is not removing water to make the concentrate, but brewing and fermenting to yield the concentrate. He's also claiming all sorts of environmental benefits to being able to brew the concentrate instead of dealing with larger water volumes.
As a home brewer, I'm intrigued (and a bit skeptical). For any given grain bill, there is a limit as to how much fermentable sugar one can extract. That is done by soaking in water at a temperature in range of 148 to 158F (mashing), and often using additional water after draining to rinse the sugars from the mashed grains (lautering). The implication here is that this guy has figured out a way to efficiently mash with significantly less water.
The next step in the process is to boil the sugar water (wort), adding hops for bitterness, further concentrating the wort, and sanitizing it through the boil. Then one cools and adds yeast for fermentation, the process where the yeast converts the sugars to alcohol.
So his more highly concentrated wort will have to go through fermentation. Any yeast strain has a limit as to how high an alcohol content it can withstand, with beer yeasts topping out around 25% alcohol by volume (ABV). Achieving this 25% ABV requires some process complexities, and unfortunately once you get above 16% the product starts to take on more of a fortified wine quality and taste less like beer. Incidentally, if he were doing a "regular" fermentation then ice distilling he could probably get the concentrate up to 50% ABV, but that is not what he is describing.
Let's say this guy has figured out how to mash with little water to produce a highly concentrated wort, and how to ferment to relatively high ABV without encountering the "winy" problem. How much weight are we saving? These are estimates, so I won't get too precise (e.g., I am going to ignore that 1 fluid oz. water weighs 1.0425 oz., that the specific gravities of the concentrate and the finished beer are slightly greater than 1, etc.).
A "typical" micro brew would be around 5% ABV. For a 12 oz. beer, 2.4 oz. of 25% ABV concentrate would save 9.6 oz. of water. 3.75 oz. of 16% ABV concentrate would save 8.25 oz. of water. Let's split the difference and say 3 oz. of concentrate yields a 12 oz. beer, so 18 oz. yields a six pack.
Of course, one would also have to carry the means to carbonate the beer (and spend the time required to do it) . To get that 6-pack up to 2.5 volumes, a typical beer pressure, you would either need to carry food grade CO2 cartridges at around 4 oz. for the cartridge and injector, or you could use roughly 2 oz. of baking soda and 1.25 oz. citric acid. Let's call it 4 oz. even. Add to that the canister required (instead of a disposable bottle) for another 8 oz. For simplicity, let's say all of this adds 12 oz. weight.
So for my 6-pack, I would be carrying 30 oz (18 oz. concentrate, 12 oz. carbonating set-up and canister). By comparison, a 6-pack in cans would be around 75 oz. (72 oz. beer, 3 oz. cans). Net savings would be 45 oz., or almost 3 lbs.
If it really tasted like good craft beer, I would certainly consider it, but I remain skeptical on that point. I would be happy to be proven wrong and I wish the guy well.
Wise Old Owl
03-08-2013, 12:59
Did anyone see the comments below the carbonator video?