if this is as awesome as it sounds, i don't acre about weight.

[Pedaling Fool]

Dont you trust Ariana?

Didn't she sell it?

[jeffmeh]

Instead of judging the message based upon the messenger, how about the novel idea of judging the message based upon its content?



Now, as a brewer (hobbyist), there are some real challenges to making this work. The concentrate needs to have a high enough alcohol content that when you add water it ends up with somewhere around 5% to make beer. So for 1 ounce concentrate to 11 ounces water, the concentrate would need to be at 60% alcohol.



Without getting overly technical, to reach that you would either need to freeze distill repeatedly at absurdly low temperatures, or truly distill. Then they would likely add a bit of malt syrup so when it is reconstituted it would be end up at a specific gravity of between 1.00 and 1.02, common for most beer. Perhaps they will prove me wrong, but I am skeptical that it will taste like good beer.



If you want to try an experiment, take 1 ounce of 80 proof scotch (40% alcohol) add 0.8 ounce of malt syrup, and mix well. I suspect that this is pretty close to what their concentrate would be. Then add 14 ounces of water, mix well and carbonate. That gets you just shy of 16 ounces of "beer," at a specific gravity around 1.015.

P.S. They probably add some type of hop concentrate also. A few drops should be added to my experiment, above.

[joshuasdad]

Instead of judging the message based upon the messenger, how about the novel idea of judging the message based upon its content?



Now, as a brewer (hobbyist), there are some real challenges to making this work. The concentrate needs to have a high enough alcohol content that when you add water it ends up with somewhere around 5% to make beer. So for 1 ounce concentrate to 11 ounces water, the concentrate would need to be at 60% alcohol.



Without getting overly technical, to reach that you would either need to freeze distill repeatedly at absurdly low temperatures, or truly distill. Then they would likely add a bit of malt syrup so when it is reconstituted it would be end up at a specific gravity of between 1.00 and 1.02, common for most beer. Perhaps they will prove me wrong, but I am skeptical that it will taste like good beer.



If you want to try an experiment, take 1 ounce of 80 proof scotch (40% alcohol) add 0.8 ounce of malt syrup, and mix well. I suspect that this is pretty close to what their concentrate would be. Then add 14 ounces of water, mix well and carbonate. That gets you just shy of 16 ounces of "beer," at a specific gravity around 1.015.

P.S. They probably add some type of hop concentrate also. A few drops should be added to my experiment, above.

I looked at the underlying patent application for the brewing, and it looks like they extract alcohol and aromatics while the fermentation is ongoing. This is presumably necessary because yeast can only handle a certain level of alcohol content. My understanding is that the final product has pretty much all of the components of beer, minus the carbonation and most of the water.

Here is claim 1 of the patent application (see U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010-0047386):

1. A method for making an alcohol concentrate, comprising the steps of: (a) fermenting wort in a fermentation tank; (b) removing and collecting alcohol and aromatics from the fermented wort by vacuum distillation; (c) reestablishing the fermentation process in the fermented wort by adding suitable amounts of fermentation ingredients and yeast; (d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) as needed to obtain a desired level of concentration of the fermented wort; (e) removing water from the fermented wort of (d) to form a more concentrated wort; and (f) combining the distilled alcohol and aromatics from step (b) with the concentrated wort of step (e).

The final product has about 50% alcohol content, which does present a challenge re: distribution. In short, you would likely need to go to a liquor store, as opposed to a convenience store or the like, to pick up your "beer."

[jeffmeh]

I looked at the underlying patent application for the brewing, and it looks like they extract alcohol and aromatics while the fermentation is ongoing. This is presumably necessary because yeast can only handle a certain level of alcohol content. My understanding is that the final product has pretty much all of the components of beer, minus the carbonation and most of the water.

Here is claim 1 of the patent application (see U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010-0047386):

1. A method for making an alcohol concentrate, comprising the steps of: (a) fermenting wort in a fermentation tank; (b) removing and collecting alcohol and aromatics from the fermented wort by vacuum distillation; (c) reestablishing the fermentation process in the fermented wort by adding suitable amounts of fermentation ingredients and yeast; (d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) as needed to obtain a desired level of concentration of the fermented wort; (e) removing water from the fermented wort of (d) to form a more concentrated wort; and (f) combining the distilled alcohol and aromatics from step (b) with the concentrated wort of step (e).

The final product has about 50% alcohol content, which does present a challenge re: distribution. In short, you would likely need to go to a liquor store, as opposed to a convenience store or the like, to pick up your "beer."

Interesting. They are basically using the technique (vacuum distillation) that is commonly used in commercial non-alcoholic beer, but adding the alcohol back in. I'm not sure about the effect or desirability of "the aromatics" in b). I would expect this to be a very expensive process relative to just making beer, and I would be interested in trying one at some point to see if they can produce a decent product. That said, I would not bother with it for hiking trips, given the options of lugging some real beer or taking something lighter.

[JustaTouron]

If you watch the video the "beer" is as clear as water.

Makes Coors light look like a german beer.

[rickycodie]

i ususally head out with a flask of rum, but i plan on trying this before i go out. and don't worry i'll report back. for science.