How To Make Moonshine With A Beer Brew Kit?

Can you make whiskey with a beer kit?

Home Distiller Putting older posts here. Going to try to keep the novice forum pruned about 90 days work. The ‘good’ old stuff is going to be put into appropriate forums. Moderator: Novice Posts: Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:36 am Location: Queeniesland by » Mon May 26, 2008 11:01 pm Hi, i’ve considering trying to make whiskey for my first time, and after reading about the UJSM (uncle jesse simple sour mash) method it seems there is one big issue for me: I don’t want to make 2 initial batches before I actually start getting drinkable whiskey.

• So I have been thinking about making up a home brew beer, from a kit that you can buy in supermarkets (in australia anyway), and just distilling it to get a kind of sour mash.
• My main questions for anyone who has tried or thought of this before are: Will this be drinkable? If so, then will it even taste better that the first run (no backset) of a UJSM fermentation/distillation? Cheers! P.S.

I’ve been trying to find old threads about this, but since the stupid search function on this forum thinks “distilling” and “beer” are too common to bother with, even when they are both required, and even in a phrase, I can’t search for anything close to what I want.

Might be something for the site moderator to think about. The truest mark of greatness is insatiability Rumrunner Posts: Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:07 am Location: Lithuania by » Mon May 26, 2008 11:31 pm For a first try at whiskey, you can’t go wrong with UJSM. The first (sweet) run is not only completely drinkable, but very good, though, yes, it does get even better in subsequent generations.

If you want to jump ahead and do a soured mash from the get-go, try Pint O’Shine’s soured corn UJSM. I’ve done it, and it is really really nice. Definitely a different flavor profile from traditional UJSM. One caveat – my second generation of soured corn UJSM is taking a huge amount of time to ferment again.

• But the first run was fiiiiiiiiiiine.
• Here’s the link: As to using a beerkit – if you can make sure that there are no hops in the process, it should work just fine.
• If the hops are already in the mix, you’ll get some funky tasting Bierschnapps – definitely an acquired taste.
• Aidas Nisi te iuvat cibus, plus bibe vini! Novice Posts: Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:16 am Location: backwoods by » Tue May 27, 2008 8:44 am I’ve drank a few ujsm after only first run, and it’s very good.

I have also ran off a flopped batch of homebrew beer, and didn’t like it at all, ended up rerunning it through my reflux, and it still wasn’t as good as the single run UJSM. Angel’s Share Posts: Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:07 pm Location: up north by » Tue May 27, 2008 8:53 am You defiantly want to leave out the hops other than that I see no problem ( moast of the grain mash is just beer) Swill Maker Posts: Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:42 am by » Tue May 27, 2008 9:57 am A beer kit will give you something similiar to a raw scotch.

1. Until it’s aged, I don’t think it’s anything you’d want to drink.
2. UJSM is something I think you’ll like more.
3. Or go for a sugar wash and a neutral.
4. As the others have already said make sure your kit is un-hopped.
5. Never refuse to do a kindness unless the act would work great injury to yourself, and never refuse to take a drink- under any circumstances.

– Mark Twain’s Notebook Site Donor Posts: Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:55 pm Location: In the garage, either stilling or working on a dragster by » Wed May 28, 2008 6:31 pm Crap! I was going to ask the same thing. My dad got out of beer making (cancer, survived and doc said no alcohol) so I have 5 beer kits.

A couple I noticed said they had hops, not sure about the rest. Hopped malt is just bad eh? Nothing you can do? I could actually drink it as beer I suppose.but I want whisky! Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3″ reflux with deflag for vodka.

Coming up, a 4″ perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race! Angel’s Share Posts: Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:07 pm Location: up north by » Wed May 28, 2008 6:40 pm oaty don’t you mean Irish ? scotch should have “smokey flavor” and again NO hops Novice Posts: Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:36 am Location: Queeniesland by » Wed May 28, 2008 7:17 pm goinbroke2 wrote: Crap! I was going to ask the same thing.

1. My dad got out of beer making (cancer, survived and doc said no alcohol) so I have 5 beer kits.
2. A couple I noticed said they had hops, not sure about the rest.
3. Hopped malt is just bad eh? Nothing you can do? I could actually drink it as beer I suppose.but I want whisky! So I take it you can’t remove the hops from a beer kit? Is it mixed in with the yeast or something? I’ve only ever used one once and I can’t remember what they contain.

I’m only still curious because beer kits are cheap as chips, even cheaper than buying brown sugar (what i’ve been using for my rum) for about the same amount of alcohol! Coolskis, I think it’s time for my first UJSM attempt then, as long as I can get the right corn somewhere The truest mark of greatness is insatiability Angel’s Share Posts: Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:07 pm Location: up north by » Wed May 28, 2008 7:30 pm I Never bout one my self but what I herd was all you git is a can of malt or two and yeast and the hops is in the malt,some kits mite be different don’t know Mite say on package? You could just buy malt in the can Master of Distillation Posts: Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:36 pm Location: Northern NSW Oz Trail Ya by » Wed May 28, 2008 7:56 pm I’m only still curious because beer kits are cheap as chips, even cheaper than buying brown sugar (what i’ve been using for my rum) for about the same amount of alcohol! You still have to add sugar to the beer kit (if you’re talking about a can of beer concentrate) edit; added the quote for dunders benefit. Posts: Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:07 pm Location: up north by » Wed May 28, 2008 9:13 pm yes punkin we were talking about malt extract mite better buy just the extract instead of the kit for beer,then you can buy with out hops most kits have hops in the malt it would not be good for making a mash Swill Maker Posts: Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:42 am by » Thu May 29, 2008 1:15 am Actually, I was thinking about a stout kit.

Stout beer is similiar to scotch. I’ve brewed them many times when I first started brewing. I always bought the ones that were not hopped because the others were over-hopped for my taste. I like the strong smokey malt flavour, but find the ‘balance of hops’ to be too strong. Any un-hopped kit would give a nice whiskey flavour, bearing in mind that full malts require oaking.

I’ve tried it mashing my oun malt, but found that the raw whiskey is un-drinkable. I knew that From what I’ve read, it should be palatable in a few months under oak. We shall see. Never refuse to do a kindness unless the act would work great injury to yourself, and never refuse to take a drink- under any circumstances. Posts: Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:55 pm Location: In the garage, either stilling or working on a dragster by » Thu May 29, 2008 4:44 am Yeah it’s malted hops.which brings the question, if hops is added to the malt, and you can get malt without hops, shouldn’t it be hopped malt? Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Posts: Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:07 pm Location: up north by » Thu May 29, 2008 9:01 am I do not know about kits but im looking at a ctalog it has malt extract, hops flavored light,amber, dark -unflavored- same. the kits do not say only what type of beer it is they mite say on box? : Home Distiller

How much beer does a brew kit make?

FAQs Just got a DIY Beer Brew Kit Numerous commercial breweries, around the world, make excellent beer using open style fermenting vessels. So an airlock is not required for fermentation to take place. However, the DIY Beer Kit comes with a lid to prevent ingress of foreign organisms while allowing CO2 gas to escape.

• You can ferment your brew without the Krausen Kollar in place if you like.
• However, we recommend using the Krausen Kollar because it increases the total headspace, which helps to contain the foam.
• Also, it catches the deposit made by the foam – once the foam collapses the Krausen Kollar may be removed while the deposit is still soft and moist, then easily cleaned ready for the next brew.

These are designed to secure the Lid and Krausen Kollar together, effectively making them work as the one unit. This prevents the lid from being pushed off by the foam during a particularly aggressive fermentation, such as an Imperial Stout fermentation.

1. Wetting the plunger before putting the tap together and wetting the O rings before inserting the tap into the fermenting vessel should be all that is required as lubrication.
2. Don’t worry, this is known as “cold break” and it’s perfectly normal.
3. In fact, it is a good thing! Normally, Cold Break forms in the brewery when the wort is cooled.

However, our beer kits and malt extracts are not allowed to cool prior to being concentrated to about 80% solids. Once at this density, the cold break cannot precipitate out of solution. Cold Break can only precipitate out once the beer kit and or malt extract is reconstituted (diluted with water).

1. Basic instructions can be found on the reverse side of the brew can label.
2. Our how to videos are accessible via the Brewing Support page: Please contact us direct if you’d like basic brewing written instructions, emailed to you.
3. You are sure to find helpful tips and advice from avid DIY brewers & our friendly DIY Beer team when you visit our Community: Should you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact our friendly DIY Beer Team.

Email: [email protected] Brewing Helpline: 1300 654 455 (from within Australia Only) or +61 (08) 8440 1800 (for overseas callers). The approximate alcohol content can be calculated by firstly measuring with a hydrometer the density (known as Specific Gravity, SG) of the brew before it has started fermenting and once it has finished fermenting then plugging these two figures into a formula.

• It is important to stress that we, as DIY Brewers, can’t measure the alcohol content directly and this method is only an approximation of the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV).
• OG is the Original Gravity (SG of the brew as it has been mixed) FG is the Final Gravity (SG of the brew once fermentation has finished) (OG – FG) / 7.46 = Approx % Alcohol By Volume For example, a brew with OG = 1036, FG = 1012: (1036 – 1012) / 7.46 = 3.2% ABV.

Note: allow for an extra 0.3% to 0.5% ABV due to the addition of Carbonation Drops (or sugar) in the bottle. The first time you use your kit from new, you can just rinse it in hot water. Just remember, whenever you’re cleaning your equipment, only use a soft cloth that won’t scratch it.

1. For future brews, we recommend that you sanitise all your brewing equipment before each brew.
2. Note: santising is most effective on equipment that has already been cleaned (free from any any obvious soiling).
3. We recommend products which carry Oxygen Bleaching capacity (active ingredient – Sodium Percarbonate), such as Hypo-Allergenic or Sensitive Napisan type products.

In the absence of these products, normal unscented household bleach (active ingredient – Sodium Hypochlorite) may be used. To sanitise using Oxy Bleach Sanitiser: Dissolve 4 tablespoons of Sanitiser in the Fermenting Vessel (FV) with one litre of hot/warm water.

Place all equipment in the FV, fill to the brim with cold water and let soak overnight (or at least 2 hours). Drain the FV through the tap and rinse all equipment thoroughly to remove any remaining suds. To sanitise using Unscented Household Bleach: Add ¼ cup of unscented household bleach to the FV. Place all equipment in the FV, fill with cool water and let soak overnight (or at least 30mins).

Rinse out with hot water to remove all traces of chlorine smell. Signs of fermentation are:

• Foaming
• Cloudiness in the brew
• Obvious convection within the brew.
• A sample drawn from the tap is fizzy
• The density has dropped to less than the OG.

The hydrometer is a calibrated instrument used to determine the Specific Gravity (SG) of the brew. SG is the density of a liquid relative to the density of water. With the hydrometer floating, the SG is read at the point where the graduated scale cuts the surface of the liquid in the sample flask (meniscus).

To get an accurate reading you may need to ‘de-gas’ your sample. To do this, pass the sample from one glass to another and back again four to five times, then return the sample to the flask. Ensure that enough beer is in the flask to allow the hydrometer to float freely and the surface is relatively free of foam.

To dislodge bubbles clinging to the Coopers DIY Beer plastic hydrometer, tap the floating hydrometer downward so that it bumps on the base of the measuring tube. DO NOT attempt this with a glass hydrometer (read the below FAQ for more on glass hydrometers).

• Please note that FG may vary from brew to brew.
• So it’s important to ensure that the FG is stable over two days prior to bottling.
• For more information, click to watch our how-to-video on,
• Due to supply chain issues we have had to temporarily replace our durable Coopers DIY Beer plastic hydrometer with a glass version in our Brew Kits.

The glass hydrometer works the same way as our plastic one, however how it is read differs slightly from what is shown in the ‘Hydrometer Use’ video. If you would prefer a plastic hydrometer email [email protected] with your postal address and we’ll send you one of our durable plastic hydrometers when they are back in stock.

1. Remove the packing foam from the sample flask before using it. Ensure the bottom end cap is secure before placing your hydrometer in the tube.
2. There are several scales on this hydrometer but the one you’re interested in, the Specific Gravity (SG) scale, has 80 at the top and 50 at the bottom. Ignore the warning in the instructions that come with this hydrometer that beer should not be bottled until the SG is below 1.006.
3. Have a practice run with water. Tap water at 20C should read about 1.000, just below the red band near the top.
4. Your first brew, using the ingredients that came in the Brew Kit (1.7kg Lager + 1kg Brew Enhancer 1), made to 23 litres will have a Starting Gravity of about 1.038 (between 30 and 40 in the orange band of the SG scale). Note: This will not be in the ” ” range shown on this hydrometer.
5. Your first brew (as above) will have a Final Gravity (FG) of around 1.015 (This will now be within the ” ” range). As per instructions in the ‘Hydrometer use’ video, bottle your beer when SG stabilises over 24 – 48 hours. This is your FG.

For more information, click to watch our how-to-video on, Try to keep the brew at the lower end of the 21°C-27°C range. Some ways you can do this include storing the fermenter inside at ambient temperature, placing it in an insulated cabinet, wrapping it in a blanket, purchasing a heat belt or placing the fermenter in a tub/sink of cool water.

1. Brew Kit Hints & Tips If you don’t plan to make beer straight away, store the yeast in the fridge to keep it fresh.
2. Before inserting your tap into the fermenting vessel, it is recommended that you wet the two silicone O rings with tap water or a ‘no rinse’ sanitiser.
3. This will make inserting the tap easier and prolong the lifespan of the O rings.

To clean the tap after each brew, pull it apart, remove any yeast deposits/hop debris etc. with a soft cloth and warm soapy water, sanitise, rinse and allow to dry if not using immediately. We suggest leaving it apart until you need it again. When pitching your Yeast, getting your brew temperature right (approximately 21°C) is important, the first time you brew we recommend you do a ‘Wet Run’ without ingredients.

• Using cold water, fill the FV to the 15 litre mark and make a note of the temperature. Your Thermometer Strip may show colour in 2 or 3 panels, the middle of this range is the temperature of your brew.
• Continue filling to 23 litre mark, using either hot or cold water so that you achieve an 18°C – 21°C water temperature. If your tap water is over 21°C, chill 3 or 4 PET Bottles of water in the fridge for a few hours to use in your brew.

Even if the brew temperature is outside of the 21°C-27°C range, add the yeast anyway as it is important to allow the yeast to start working as soon as possible. Once the yeast is added, try to get the brew temperature to move toward the desired temperature range.

1. Make a point of doing a ‘Wet Run’ prior to your next brew to better understand the ratio of hot/cold water for achieving the desired temperature.
2. There is no point to bottling a brew that is spoiled in some way.
3. Once fermentation is complete, have a smell and a taste of the SG sample.
4. If it tastes like flat beer, free of any bad aromas/flavours, it’s okay to bottle.

As each bottle is filled the bottling valve becomes immersed in beer, producing a few drips when the bottle is removed. So use a bowl or bucket to catch these drips. Fill each bottle almost to the brim then remove from the bottling valve, add carbonation drops and screw the lid down tight.

Different beer styles require appropriate maturation in the bottle to suit your personal preference. Your beer will taste great after two weeks. However, the aroma, flavour and clarity should improve with age. Maturing the beer will also help to produce a finer bead (smaller bubbles), which helps to produce a more creamy and persistent head.

We recommend serving your beer from a glass. For ease of cleaning, rinse out PET bottles while the contents are still moist. Just got a DIY Beer Craft Brew Kit? The DIY Beer Craft Brew Kit is designed to make 8.5 litres of beer. Outer Dimensions: Fermenter Diameter: 28cm Lid Diameter (including handles): 31cm Fermenter Height: 33.5cm Fermenter Height with lid: 37.5cm Kit Package Dimensions 42cm H x 28cm L x 28cm W Capacity: The total volume of the Craft Brew Kit is 15 litres (Fermenting Vessel = 13.3 litres & Lid = 1.7 litres) specifically designed to accommodate 8.5 litre brews with 4.8 litres head space (the space required for foaming during fermentation).

Fitted with the Craft Krausen Kollar extends the head space by 2 litres. Higher alcohol brews, darker brews or brews using a vigorous fermenting yeast strain may require the krausen kollar. For more information, click to watch our how-to-video on, Coopers have produced a range of craft beer styles specifically for our US sister company; Mr Beer.

The Mr Beer American Craft Series is a premium range of 100% Malt beer brew cans specifically designed to produce a fuller bodied, full flavoured beer typical of these craft beer styles. Each variety uses only the best quality malts, bittering and aromatic hops and specially selected yeast.

All designed to make 8.5 litres of quality craft beer. The Coopers Online Store stocks the entire Mr Beer Craft Series. Alternatively, please email Online Store Support and they can provide you with specialist home brewing stores in your area which stock the craft series. Yes, click here to view all DIY Recipes Use the dropdown filter to select the volume as ‘7-10L’ and this will only show recipes made for the Craft Fermenting Vessel.

The Craft Brew Kit is specifically designed to make 8.5 litres of beer using a 1.3kg Craft Brew can. The Coopers 1.7kg brew cans are designed for 23 litre brews. As such, using the entire can in the Craft Brew Kit will potentially create an unbalanced beer by

• Increasing bitterness
• Increasing colour
• Increasing alcohol content
• Increasing the density and therefore could make the final beer unpalatable for your taste. There are more Craft Brew Recipes available should you wish to experiment further.

The lid clips may be used to secure the lid to the FV. When using the Krausen Kollar (sold separately in Australia) during a more vigorous or high foaming brew the lid clips are used to secure the lid to the Krausen Kollar. The approximate expected percentage alcohol by volume (ABV) will be 5.5% when using just a 1.3kg Craft Series Brew Can.

No, the 1.3kg cans of hopped malt extract in the Craft Series are tailored to give you a full strength (5.5% abv) beer when made to 8.5 litres with no other fermentable sugars. You may use additional malt extract and/or sugar/dextrose if you wish. Check out our Recipe Library for ideas on how to modify the brews to your taste and requirements.

Product Info

• The Coopers DIY Beer Brew Kit is available at BIG W, Dan Murphys and direct from diybeer.com
• The Coopers DIY Beer Craft Brew Kit is only available direct from diybeer.com
• The complete range of Coopers DIY Beer products with the freshest brewing extracts are available to purchase direct from diybeer.com

Our Original Series, International Series and additional Ingredients (brewing sugars) are available at Big W, Dan Murphy’s, Woolworths, Coles, IGA’s, Foodland, and Foodworks nationwide. Please note that product availability will vary from each store brand and within their individual store networks. Selected Thomas Coopers Series brewing extracts are available at Big W and Dan Murphy’s.

1. The sugar composition of Coopers Brewing Sugars are:
2. Light Dry Malt – 100% light dry malt
3. Dextrose – 100% dextrose
4. Brewing Sugar – Predominantly dextrose with maltodextrin
5. Brew Enhancer 1 – Predominantly dextrose with maltodextrin (a higher proportion of maltodextrin than Brewing Sugar)
6. Brew Enhancer 2 – Predominantly dextrose with maltodextrin and light dry malt
7. Brew Enhancer 3 – Predominantly light dry malt with dextrose and maltodextrin

They are intended to be used instead of white sugar or dextrose. Recipe ideas can be found here. For more consistent carbonation levels, Coopers Carbonation Drops or normal white sugar should be used for priming the bottles. Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 and 3 may, from time-to-time, present as a hard block. This is caused by the Light Dry Malt component (being extremely hygroscopic) drawing water from the Dextrose within the blend and then setting firm. There is no need to be concerned about this as it is not detrimental to the finished beer. Simply allow the lump or lumps of Brew Enhancer to float about, like icebergs, in the brew – they will dissolve within a few hours. Coopers Carbonation Drops look like boiled lollies and contain the equivalent of 3g of sugar. Use them instead of measuring out white sugar to speed up the bottling process. The drops will dissolve within an hour or so and plume through the brew. There is no need to invert the bottles. Yeast sachets are packaged in readiness for a brew can packaging run. The code on the yeast sachet is a Julian Date Code, representing the date that the yeast was packaged rather than a “Use By” or “Best Before” date.e.g. a sachet with 25019 was packaged on the 7th of September, which is the 250th day of 2019. While the beer kit, containing this yeast sachet, may have been produced on Thursday the 13th of September 2019, carrying a Best Before date of 13/09/21. Coopers DIY Beer brew cans contain hopped liquid malt extract. Even though liquid malt extract is quite stable, it darkens over time and develops toffee/molasses like aromas and flavours. This process is accelerated when temperature is increased. This is not such a bad thing with intentionally dark brews but may be undesirable with lighter styles. If you wish to persist with making up a brew past its Best Before date (out of curiosity or otherwise) it’s worth getting fresh yeast from the Online Store or a Brewing Specialist store to ensure that the brew ferments thoroughly. Yes you can but the balance of the kit must be covered with cling film and stored in the refrigerator for no longer than two weeks. We brew beer, malt extract and beer kit wort in the same way. All worts are boiled and produce hot break, which is then removed in the whirlpool. Rather than being cooled down for fermentation, the malt extract and beer kit worts are centrifuged and transferred to evaporators where all but around 20% of the water is removed. At this stage the malt extract or beer kit wort is packaged then it cools down but does not throw cold break material because the extract is too dense for it to precipitate. Once you add water, the wort becomes thin enough for the break material to precipitate. This break material is completely harmless to the brew and will settle out during fermentation. If boiled the break material may clump together giving the impression, incorrectly, that it is hot break. Boiling a beer kit (hopped malt extract) will only darken the brew and drive off hop aroma. However, if you are following a specific recipe and using additional hops, you may like to boil some of the malt extract to achieve the expected hop utilisation for correct aroma, flavour and bitterness in the finished beer. The figures we quote for bitterness (IBU – International Bitterness Units) are specified for the product inside the can at the time of packaging. Of course, the product is concentrated, hence the seemingly high figures! Use the following formula to estimate a more realistic bitterness figure of the reconstituted and fermented brew. To calculate the bitterness of the brew: Multiply the quoted product bitterness by the weight of the product (1.7kg) and divide by the total brew volume (normally 23 litres). We use the weight because our quoted colour/bitterness figures are based on a 10% weight/volume dilution. Product bitterness x 1.7 / Brew volume = Brew Bitterness before fermentation As an example, if a brew is made with Mexican Cerveza up to a volume of 23 litres: 270 x 1.7 / 23 = 20 IBU (International Bitterness Units) This figure represents the brew bitterness prior to fermentation. Generally, fermentation reduces bitterness by between 10% to 30%. So final bitterness of the fermented brew may be anything from 14 to 18 IBU. The figures we quote for colour (EBC – European Brewery Convention) are specified for the product inside the can at the time of packaging. Of course, the product is concentrated, hence the seemingly high figures! Use the following formula to estimate a more realistic colour figure of the reconstituted and fermented brew. To calculate the colour of the brew: Multiply the quoted product colour by the weight of the product (1.7kg) and divide by the total brew volume (normally 23 litres). We use the weight because our quoted colour/bitterness figures are based on a 10% weight/volume dilution. Product colour x 1.7 / Brew volume = Brew colour As an example, if a brew is made with Mexican Cerveza up to a volume of 23 litres: 53 x 1.7 / 23 = 3.9 EBC Ensure to add the colour contribution of all ingredients together. Colour figures are quoted for liquid extract at the time of packaging as these products will darken with time. The darkening process is accelerated by exposure to elevated temperature. The non-alcoholic version of Coopers Ginger Beer only undergoes a single ferment. This ferment occurs in the bottle while the fermenting tub is used only for mixing the brew. The ferment in the bottle serves to carbonate the brew. Of course, with any fermentation, some alcohol is produced (approx 0.7% ABV) but not enough to be considered as an alcoholic beverage (< 1.15% ABV). Being a primary fermentation, there will be a small deposit around the fill line of the bottle as well as the normal sediment at the bottom. Please note Coopers Ginger Beer has currently been discontinued. We hope to produce this again but no futures date available as yet. The unique code to enter the DIY Beer Brew Kit competition is located under the lid of the brewing extract. If you have any issues entering the competition please email [email protected] Time to Bottle Many brewers don't use a hydrometer and have never had exploding bottles. One day their luck will run out! Brewers Yeast is a living organism and, as such, may perform differently from brew to brew. We recommend the use of a hydrometer for checking that fermentation is complete before bottling. The hydrometer is a simple device which, when floated in a sample, gives an indication of the density of the brew. Two separate samples over 24hrs with the same reading indicates that fermentation is complete (Final Gravity - FG). Once FG is achieved, have a taste and a smell of the brew (an infection is usually a sour taste). If it tastes and smells like beer you can bottle confidently in the knowledge that the correct amount of priming will produce the right amount of fizz with no explosions! For more information, click to watch our how-to-video on, A brew is most at risk of spoilage when the yeast is not active. This may be at the start of the ferment (prior to or just after the yeast is pitched) or at the end of the ferment (when the yeast has sedimented to the bottom of the brew). A brew, fermented with the lid on or clingwrap, should have a protective layer of CO2 gas and may be perfectly fine for several days after fermentation is complete. However, the majority of brewers cannot produce a completely sterile environment for their brew so the longer the brew is left to sit the greater the risk of spoilage. Sample the brew prior to bottling - if it smells like beer and tastes like beer it is probably okay to bottle. Since 2000, Coopers DIY Beer has provided PET bottles as an alternative to glass, because most commercial beer is packaged in single use glass bottles, which are too thin to stand up to the rigours of continual washing and capping. The main advantage to using PET instead of glass is that if the brewer unwittingly bottles infected beer or beer that hasn't finished fermenting, they won't have exploding glass bottles to contend with. PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, which is the same plastic used to make soft drink (soda pop) bottles. PET bottles are BPA free and recyclable when they eventually need replacing. Our PET bottles have re-usable caps with a tamper evident collar that breaks off after the first use; this does not affect the airtight seal. When the caps eventually wear out, replacement caps can be purchased separately. Note: PET is temperature-sensitive and should not be cleaned using hot water. PET bottles should be triple rinsed with cold water immediately after use and allowed to drain dry. Do not put the cap back on a bottle until it is completely dry. Before refilling, they can be sanitised using a mild bleach solution and rinsed several times - until no chlorine odour is detectable. There are several "no rinse" sanitising products based on phosphoric acid available through specialist stores that are very effective and "water friendly". There are a couple of options open to you when it comes to kegging. If you are in a hurry for the beer (a party on the weekend) and it will be consumed within a couple of months, then artificial carbonation is the best option. Natural conditioning will give you a better beer in our opinion but the conditioning period is much longer (several weeks as opposed to several days). Well made, naturally conditioned beer will last as long in the keg as it does in bottles (at least two years or so). Artificially carbonated beer will deteriorate after a few months. Natural Conditioning Clean and sanitise the keg thoroughly. Prime with sugar at the rate of 4g per litre. Rack via a piece of sanitised, flexible tubing so that the beer runs to the bottom of the keg. Leave 5 – 10 cm of headspace at the top. Seal the keg then invert and give it a shake to mix the sugar and check that the seal is good. Store at 18°C or above for a week, then allow the beer to condition for at least two weeks. Refrigerate for a day or two, momentarily release the keg pressure, then connect the gas at required pouring pressure 35 – 100 kPa, depending on your system. (Fifty litre kegs through a temprite or miracle box may require up to 300 kPa). Artificial Conditioning (Force Carbonating) Clean, sanitise, purge (purge by connecting the CO2 bottle to force the air out of the keg) and rack as per the natural conditioning procedure, without the priming sugar. If you are in a hurry for the beer, seal the keg, pressurise to 300 kPa and shake it about 100 times (for an 18 – 20 litre keg) with the gas connected. If there is no rush or you're not feeling energetic, leave the gas connected with the regulator set at 300 kPa for 2 – 3 days. CO2 will be absorbed more quickly if the beer is refrigerated. Place in the fridge for several days then adjust to pouring pressure. The beer will be drinkable as soon as it is cold, but will improve for several weeks in the fridge. For crystal clear beer, rack into a sanitised, airtight, food grade container (flush with CO2 first) and refrigerate for a week. Once the beer is clear, keg and carbonate artificially. Troubleshooting Degassing the keg over a day or two will usually rectify over-carbonation. Agitate the keg and release the CO2 several times a day until the beer has reached the desired level of carbonation. If the beer is pouring badly but appears to have little or no carbonation, check to ensure that there are no kinks or holes in the beer and gas lines. Contrary to logic, heady beer can be a result of low gas pressure and increasing the pressure via the regulator will often fix the problem. A short beer line may also be the cause of heady beer. Look to use about 3m of 5mmID line, 2m of 4mmID line or an in-line restrictor. A well made DIY Beer, being naturally conditioned in the bottled, can be stored for longer than most commercial beer. Generally speaking, a beer style with higher bitterness, alcohol content and colour lasts longer in the bottle and even benefits with bottle age! A beer such as Mexican Cerveza may be consumed within 6 mths while an Imperial Stout may be successfully stored for several years. We suggest tasting a bottle of each brew periodically to gauge how it's progressing to determine optimum drinking age for your own preferences. Other factors to consider for longevity are the quality of the beer in the first instance, integrity of the pressure vessel and storage temperature (stable and cool). I still use an airlock Many brewers wrongly assume that the yeast is not working because there is no bubbling through the airlock. The airlock is fitted to allow gas to escape and prevent micro-organisms and wild yeasts from entering the fermenter. Do not rely on the airlock as an indicator of fermentation activity. Rather than becoming 'mesmerised' with the airlock, look for condensation inside the lid, a scum ring at the top of the beer, sediment on the bottom, a sample drawn from the tap appears cloudy / turbid / foamy and the specific gravity dropping (use a hydrometer) from day to day. Plenty of foam, although messy, is not a bad thing as it indicates healthy yeast and a strong fermentation. Excess foaming is more likely to occur when using ale yeast with darker brews and higher fermentation temperatures. Also seasonal variations may affect the barley (main ingredient in beer apart from water) causing more foam. To avoid foaming over allow for extra headspace by using a bigger fermenting tub or fill to a lower level (around 18-20 litre mark) then top up with cool boiled water after initial foaming has subsided (normally after a day or two). Don't trust the airlock! A brew may release CO2 gas even though fermentation activity has effectively ceased. The brew is okay to bottle once the specific gravity (measured with a hydrometer) is stable over 2 days. Better Beer Comment – From time to time a Brewer may experience an infected brew. Fact – All non-commercial beer carries some level of infection. Fortunately, infection is only apparent once the off flavours and aromas reach a certain threshold (perceivable level). Some of us are more sensitive to this than others.

• An infected brew may produce the following symptoms –
• Appearance; a scum ring inside the bottle and haziness (not due to yeast)
• Aroma; vinegar, medicinal or solvent smell.
• Taste; sour, sharp or harsh flavour.
• Remedy – clean and sanitise all equipment that will come in contact with the brew to minimise the symptoms of infection.

To clean – Soak equipment in water until caked on residue is softened. Remove residue with a soft cloth and rinse thoroughly. Pay attention to ‘hard to get at’ areas. Remove and clean the tap, particularly the threads. NOTE: Do not use any cleaning aid that may scratch the plastic.

To sanitise using Unscented Household Bleach – Add ¼ cup of unscented household bleach to the fermenting tub. Place all equipment in the fermenting tub, fill with cool water and let soak for at least 30mins. Rinse out with hot water to remove all traces of chlorine smell. Bottles – Clean bottles may be filled with sanitising solution drained from the fermenting tub, left to soak for a further 30mins then rinsed to remove any trace of chlorine smell and drained.

DO NOT expose Coopers PET bottles and soft drink bottles to hot water. We recommend cracking your malt/grain on brew day or as required. Our simple, no-mess method requires only a zip-lock plastic bag and a rolling pin. Place the malt/grains in the zip-lock bag and seal, lay the bag flat on a bench top (spreading evenly within the bag) and run a rolling pin over the bag.

• For best results, do not over fill the bag.
• As such, it may take a few fills of the bag to crack all the malt/grain.
• Most brewers find it easier to keep warm (with insulation) rather than cooling their brew because the brew generates heat as it ferments.
• Non-electrical temperature control Wrap the fermenting tub in a 0ºC-5ºC rated sleeping bag, blankets or an old jacket.

Place the fermenter in a large esky, insulated box, non-working fridge or freezer. Sit the fermenting tub in a laundry tub with frozen PET bottles. Place the fermenter in a cellar or on a cool bare concrete floor. Partially roll a towel and place in the lid of the fermenter, fill the well of the lid with cold water and drape the towel over the side of the fermenter allowing the water to wick down the towel.

1. Electrical temperature control Heat pad or heat belt.
2. Tea chest, box, cupboard, old fridge etc.
3. With a 25W-40W incandescent lamp controlled by a thermostat, dimmer switch or timer switch.
4. Place in an air-conditioned room.
5. Place in a working fridge or freezer with modified thermostat.
6. Place near an inside storage hot water system.

Wet towel method with an electric fan blowing over it. Head retention is adversely affected by the following:

• Glassware has residual detergent or grease.
• Young beer can produce a large foamy head that quickly dies away.
• Too much simple sugar (sucrose or dextrose) in the brew.
• Low carbonation level in the beer.
• A racing ferment due to high temperature.

To check your glassware, get some clear (crystal type) plastic glasses from the supermarket. Pull one straight out of the plastic wrap and place it beside your favourite glass. Fill both with the same brew and compare head retention. Head retention can usually be improved by replacing some of the sugar/dextrose with malt extract.

• This will give the added bonus of extra malt flavour.
• Coopers, encourage DIY brewers to use the yeast from naturally conditioned Coopers ales.
• The same ale strain is used across the range – Mild Ale, Pacific Pale Ale, Original Pale Ale, XPA, Dark Ale, Sparkling Ale, Best Extra Stout and Vintage Ale.
• There are numerous documented techniques, with varying levels of complexity, for re-activating the yeast in naturally conditioned beer.

The method described below may leave some readers, experienced in growing yeast cultures, aghast. “What! No stir plate, no alcohol swabs, no nutrient, no way! However, for Coopers yeast, it works. Method

1. Buy a six pack of Coopers Original Pale Ale or Coopers Mild Ale and place upright in the fridge for about a week for the yeast to settle.
2. Mix about 600ml of boiling water and 4 tablespoons of Light Dry Malt (60g) in a pyrex jug, cover with cling-wrap and leave to cool in the fridge for about 30mins. If you don’t have Light Dry Malt you can use 4 tablespoons of Sugar (60g), but Light Dry Malt gives the best result.
3. Open 4 bottles and decant the beer into a jug, leaving behind the yeast sediment – about a couple of centimetres.
4. Pour the sugared water equally into each bottle, cover with cling-wrap and secure with a rubber band.
5. Shake the bottles then place them in a dark spot at a temperature in the mid 20’s.
6. Give the bottles a shake in the morning and at night to keep the yeast in suspension.
7. After around 2 to 3 days the yeast should become active and begin forming a head.
8. Pitch the active yeast into a brew immediately or store in the fridge for about a week. Just remember to pull it out of the fridge to warm for couple of hours prior to pitching.

Some additional points to keep in mind;

• start with more yeast by using all 6 bottles,
• buy beer with the freshest yeast (latest “Best After” date),
• lower alcohol content is better (mild ale or pale ale),
• it’s okay to hold the culture at slightly higher temps to promote a quicker reactivation,
• one sanitised vessel (approx 1 litre) may be used rather than separate bottles,
• make sure the culture smells okay before pitching,
• buy another 6 pack for each culture,
• don’t forget to drink the decanted beer,
• use malt extract rather than sugar when re-activating yeast from your own bottles or other commercial brands.

For more information, click to watch our how-to-video on All Coopers DIY Beer recipes can be found in our, For future reference ‘Recipes’ is accessible at the very top of our website on desktop view, or via the main pop-out menu on mobile. Use the dropdown filter to filter recipes by beer style, flavours, volume, ABV, EBC or IBU.

• Easy: Basic brewing, but beautiful beers! Brewing Extract + Fermentable; requires only a can opener, scissors, spoon and water. Or for a little more, an extra ingredient commonly found in the pantry.
• Intermediate: Simple additions to enhance your brews! Introducing hops, herbs and flavourings which are added during or at end of ferment.
• Advanced: For adventurous brewers adding grains and hops will elevate your brews! Grain and hop ingredients typically involve proper handling techniques and extra equipment, prior to mixing.
• Expert: Brew the ultimate DIY Beer! Make up a yeast culture, source your grains or roast your malt – good things take time so you’ll need to be prepared before brew day.

Brewing and Health No, you can’t make non-alcoholic beer with Coopers brewing extracts. However a low alcohol beer, approximately 2.5% ABV, can be made using a 1.7kg extract mixed to 23 litres with no additional sugars. Carbonation Drops (or priming sugar) are still used for secondary fermentation in the bottles.

• We recommend consulting with your GP on this topic.
• Carbohydrates in beer are in the form of alcohol and residual sugars.
• To reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the brew the amount of fermentable materials in the recipe should be reduced.
• An enzyme (available at Brewing Specialist stores) can be added to the brew to help the yeast metabolise the sugars more thoroughly.

All Coopers Beer Kits contain malt extract – derived from malted barley – and, as such, are not suitable for gluten intolerant people. : FAQs

What happens if I distill beer?

Distilling beer into whiskey won’t fix egregious falts and produce a great whiskey, but it is perfect for good beer that’s a bit past its prime, plus you need the keg, bottles or space in the fridge/kegerator. Distilling beer will give you some more space for beer and as a bonus a bottle or two of whiskey.

Can you make wine with a beer kit?

Follow @BeerSmith High End and Low End Kits This week I take a look at what’s needed for the average beer brewers to make wine from a kit. Making wine is actually an order of magnitude easier than brewing beer, though it requires more time to age. The good news is that the average beer brewer already has the equipment needed to make wine from a kit.

Are beer brewing kits worth it?

The Cost of Homebrewing Kits – The cost of homebrewing entirely depends on how you wish to craft your beer. If you wish to craft cheaper beer than what you find in the local store that is entirely possible, but it will limit you substantially. The truth is that homebrewing won’t save you a fortune unless you don’t mind drinking very low-quality beer.

You can save money in the long run, but that requires you to make a commitment and not quit after a few batches. When talking actual numbers in terms of cost of homebrewing your own beer, the prices vary a lot. If you are just starting there are kits online priced at between 5-10 USD. The price then increases as the kits get more advanced all the way up to several thousand USD.

Advanced quality equipment is more expensive, but not necessary for hobby brewers Here is an example of a low-cost brewing kit from Amazon, This kit crafts up to 1 gallon at a time. If you feel you are ready to craft larger and more advanced batches then the next step could be a kit like this one,

1. In this kit, you have more tools to work with and can make up to 5 gallons at a time.
2. If you want to check out some nice home brew kits for beginners check out My Blog Post About The Best Home Brewing Kit For Beginners.
3. The reason for this big price jump is the increase in quality of the equipment, and the potential acquirement of add-ons for the kits to make a more advanced beer-making process that gives you a better and more personal beer in the end.

Some of the starter kits are very straight forward, with all the equipment and ingredients provided and a clear instruction manual for the entire process. But if you want to make a more personal beer, you have to acquire a kit that allows you to mix whatever grains and herbs you want.

How long does a beer kit take to ferment?

The short answer is that, on average, it takes about four hours to brew beer, one to two weeks to ferment and condition, two hours to package in bottles, and one to two weeks to naturally carbonate in bottles. So, trom start to finish, on average, it takes anywhere from two to four weeks to make beer.

Can you brew 1 gallon of beer?

Select from a full array of small batch, 1 gallon beer recipe kits. Small batch brewing is perfect for new brewers or those with limited space to store equipment. A Small Batch Starter kit also makes the perfect craft beer gift for brew-curious friends! All one gallon beer recipes will work with the Small Batch Starter Kit.

When you cook beer is it still alcoholic?

Does Alcohol Evaporate from Cooking Wine? There’s nothing like hanging out with friends and family at a summer picnic and grabbing a hot, right off the grill. The alcohol-saturated meat is tender and moist, and yes, thanks, you’ll have seconds. Cooking food in alcohol or adding it to food is, of course, nothing new.

1. Wine, spirits and beer are commonly used to add a burst of flavor and aroma.
2. Think,, or before cooking.
3. Then there are specializes wines often thought of more for cooking than drinking — marsalas and the like.
4. And just about everyone, including many professional chefs and backyard grillers, believes that all the alcohol added to a meal during the cooking process evaporates (or dissipates), leaving behind only a faint aroma and subtle taste.

Are they right? Is your Bud-soaked brat “innocent” when it comes off the grill, or will you get a buzz from eating five of them? (Actually, after that many brats, a buzz might be the least of your worries.) Myth buster Sorry to spoil the party, but here’s the real deal: Simply heating alcohol, or any other cooking liquid, does not make it evaporate as quickly as a child’s allowance in a candy store.

The longer you cook, the more alcohol cooks out, but you have to cook food for about 3 hours to fully erase all traces of alcohol. A study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data lab confirmed this and added that food baked or simmered in alcohol for 15 minutes still retains 40 percent of the alcohol.

After an hour of cooking, 25 percent of the alcohol remains, and even after two and a half hours there’s still 5 percent of it. In fact, some cooking methods are less effective at removing alcohol than simply letting food stand out overnight uncovered.

• Consider a Brandy Alexander pie made with 3 tablespoons of brandy and 1/4 cup of creme de cacao.
• According to data from the Washington Post, the pie retains 85 percent of the alcohol in these ingredients.
• Main dishes follow the same scenario.
• In scalloped oysters, for example, with 1/4 cup dry sherry poured over the works and then baked for 25 minutes, 45 percent of the alcohol remains.

How about a chicken dish prepared and simmered with 1/2 cup of Burgundy for 15 minutes? Forty percent of the alcohol in the wine remains. A pot roast made with a cup of Burgundy and roasted for more than 2 hours, however, retains only 5 percent. Influencing factors The extent to which alcohol evaporates during cooking depends on two main things: heat and surface area.

Hotter temps will burn off more alcohol, and a bigger pan with more surface area will produce the same result. As a reference, here’s a helpful rule of thumb: After 30 minutes of cooking, alcohol content decreases by 10 percent with each successive half-hour of cooking, up to 2 hours. That means it takes 30 minutes to boil alcohol down to 35 percent and you can lower that to 25 percent with an hour of cooking.

Two hours gets you down to 10 percent. Another tip: It’s always a very good habit to cook with the same kind of high-quality wine that you’d choose to pour into a glass. A wine’s flavor intensifies during the cooking process, so if you’re making a sauce spiked with an old bottle of Thunderbird, the result will reflect it.

Incorporate a quality wine instead and enjoy its flavor all the way through the meal. Ready to decant? Interested in cooking with wine? This uses 2 1/2 cups of wine, simmering the chicken in a wine-stock sauce for 40 minutes before cooking it down to thicken for an additional 10 minutes. These garlicky steam in a broth made with a cup of something nice and dry.

The Super Simple Beginner Corn Mash Recipe

is no misnomer: the meaty chuck-laced sauce calls for an entire bottle of robust red, simmered for 90 minutes, then cooked down for another hour. Remember, too, that any remaining alcohol in a dish can be a big deal — or even dangerous — for anyone who doesn’t drink.

Can you boil beer to make it non alcoholic?

Save the Flavor – A better tasting and safer approach is to take an existing beer recipe and use it to produce a non-alcoholic brew. Since the process of converting a beer to a non-alcoholic brew takes place after the initial fermentation is complete, you can convert part of your next batch just to see how it works.

Certain types of beer recipes tend to make better non-alcoholic beers than others. In selecting a recipe consider the amount of unfermentable sugars (dextrins) in the beer. The simpler sugars found in beer wort, such as lucose and maltose, are readily fermented by common beer yeast. More complex sugars, such as dextrins, are not fermented by beer yeast.

These dextrins will not contribute as much to the sweetness as they will increase the fullness of the beer. If you’re going to take out the alcohol, you might as well give it a little more body. The more dextrins there are the better. The dextrin content can be controlled during the mash by holding the grains at the high end of the mashing temperature range (158° F) for a longer period.

• This causes the starch conversions to stay in the dextrin range, producing a more full-bodied beer with less alcohol.
• Extract brewers will not be able to control the dextrin content of the mash.
• That’s all right.
• Just pick a recipe that doesn’t use any corn sugar, since this is used to boost the alcohol content without adding any flavor or body to the beer.

Once the recipe is selected, brew the batch as you normally would. (The mashing changes mentioned above are optional.) Allow the beer to ferment completely. You may want to let the fermented beer settle an extra day or two before proceeding to the next step.

At this point you should decide how much of the batch will be converted to a non-alcoholic brew. Whatever quantity you choose should be siphoned off and separated from the quantity that will be primed and bottled normally. In the conversion process you want to evaporate the alcohol from the fermented beer.

The best way to do this is to heat the beer to the boiling point of ethyl alcohol (173.3° F) and hold it at that temperature until all the alcohol is gone (about 30 minutes). If you can, do this in your oven rather than on the stove top. Using the oven gives you more control over the temperature and allows you to heat the beer more evenly.

1. This results in fewer changes to the beer’s overall flavor.
2. If your intent is only to reduce the alcohol content of the beer, you can shorten the heating time.
3. When the alcohol evaporates, you will lose four to six ounces of liquid per gallon, depending on how strong you make the beer and how long you heated it in the oven.

To maintain the same overall body and flavor of the brew, you can add water to make up for the volume of the alcohol that is lost. A good technique is to add the water to the beer before it is heated. This way there are fewer problems with sanitation. If you prefer, you can add the water during the priming instead.

Is wine harder to make than beer?

Making wine or cider takes fewer steps than making beer, and it’s what I recommend if you’re doing all of this for the first time. You add yeast to fruit juice and wait. How you get your juice—whether you press it yourself or buy it from a store—is the most important choice you can make.

Is beer to wine OK?

The bottom line – File this one under “medical myths debunked.” It probably matters little whether you drink wine then beer or the reverse. Regardless of your drinks of choice or the order in which you drink them, what matters most is drinking responsibly, never driving under the influence, and knowing when to quit.

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

: Beer before wine? Wine before beer? – Harvard Health

Can you make methanol when making wine?

Table 1 – Traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages prone to methanol contamination

Beverage	Feedstock	Fermenting organism	Countries	Alcohol content	References
Palm wine	silver date palm ( Phoenix sylvestris ), the palmyra, jaggery palm ( Caryota urens ), oil palm ( Elaeis guineense ) Raffia palms, kithul palms, or nipa palms. coconut palms Borassus	Yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces ludwigii, Candida parapsilosis, Candida fermentati, Pichia fermentans, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Schizosaccharomyces bailli, Kluvyeromyces africanus, Hansenula auvarum, Kloeckera apiculata, Torulaspora delbrueckii ) & Lactic Acid Bacteria ( Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Lactococcus, and Streptococcus ), acetic acid bacteria ( Acetobacter, Aerobacter )	Most African and Asian countries		Ogbulie et al. ( 2007 ), Rokosu and Nwisienyi ( 1980 ) and Karamoko et al. ( 2012 )
Local gin (ogogoro, kaikai, apetesi)	Palm wine	( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) & bacteria ( Lactobacillus )	Most African and Asian countries	40–60 % Ethanol	Ohimain et al. ( 2012 )
Pito (local beer)	Sorghum or maize	Bacteria ( Pediococcus halophilus, Lactobacillus ) & yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida tropicalis, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluvyeromyces africanus, Hansenula anomala, Kloeckera apiculata, Torulaspora delbrueckii )	West Africa	2–3 % Ethanol	Orji et al. ( 2003 ), Sefa-Dedeh et al. ( 1999 ) and Iwuoha and Eke ( 1996 )
Burukutu	Sorghum	Sacharomyces cerevisiae, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Aspegillus, Fusarium, Penicillium	Nigeria, Ghana	1.63 % ethanol	Eze et al. ( 2011 ) and Iwuoha and Eke ( 1996 )
Tchapalo (sorghum beer)	Sorghum	Lactic acid bacteria	Cote d’Ivoire		Aka et al. ( 2008 )
Tchapalo (sorghum beer)	Sorghum	Lactic acid bacteria (several species)	Cote d’Ivoire		Koffi-Marcellin et al. ( 2009 )
Bushera	Sorghum	Lactic acid bacteria (several species)	Uganda	0.20–0.75 % ethanol	Muyanja et al. ( 2003 )
Ogi	Maize, sorghum or millet	Sacharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus plantarum, Streptococcus lactis	Nigeria	?	Iwuoha and Eke ( 1996 )
Urwagwa (banana beer)	Banana		Rwanda	8.7–18 (ethanol), trace (methanol)	Shale et al. ( 2013 )
Cachaca (banana pulp wine)	Banana	Sacharomyces cerevisiae	Brazil	Ethanol (5.34–7.84 %), methanol (0.65–0.189 %)	Mendonca et al. ( 2011 )
Cachaca	Sugarcane	Sacharomyces cerevisiae and wild yeasts ( Pichia sp & Dekkera bruxelensis )	Brazil	Methanol (0–0.5 %)	Dato et al. ( 2005 )
Noni	Morinda trifolia	Lactobacillus plantarum & L. casei	Thailand	853 mg/l methanol	Chaiyasut et al. ( 2013 )
Kwunu-zaki	Millet	Sacharomyces cerevisiae	Nigeria	?	Iwuoha and Eke ( 1996 )
Cocoa sap wine	Cocoa sap	Sacharomyces cerevisiae	Nigeria	?	Iwuoha and Eke ( 1996 )
Cholai	rice, sugar-cane, juice of date tree, molasses, and fruit juice (pineapple and jackfruits)	Sacharomyces cerevisiae	India	14.5 % alcohol	Islam et al. ( 2014 )
Dengue	Millet	Lactic acid bacteria (several species)	Burkina Faso		Quattara et al. ( 2015 )
Yoghurt	Milk	Lactic acid bacteria (several species)	Iran		Azadnia and Khan ( 2009 )
Gariss	Milk	Lactic acid bacteria (several species)	Sudan		Ashmaig et al. ( 2009 )
Kwete	Maize & millet	Lactic acid bacteria	Uganda		Namuguraya and Muyanja ( 2009 )
Agave	Agave		Mexico	3.9–339 g/l (ethanol), ND-1826 mg/l (methanol)	Leon-Rodriguez et al. ( 2008 )
Plum wine	Plum		Romania	53–76 % (ethanol), 554–4170 mg/l (ethanol)	Jung et al. ( 2010 )
Plum brandy	Plum		Macedonia	47–51 % (ethanol), 564–999 mg/l (methanol)	Kostik et al. ( 2014 )
Plum wine	Japanese Plum ( Prunus salicina Linn)	Yeast	India	175 mg/l Methanol	Joshi et al. ( 2009 )

Another possible source of methanol in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverage is the fermenting microbes. The ethanol fermenting yeast S. cerevisiae dominated traditional fermentation followed by Lactobacillus (Table 1 ). Jespersen ( 2003 ) also observed this trend in African indigenous fermented beverages and foods.

1. Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been used as catalysts for the production of ethanol for thousands of years.
2. But recent studies have shown that there are different strains of S.
3. Cerevisiae involved in traditional ethanol fermentation (Hayford and Jespersen 1999 ; Jespersen 2003 ; Kuhle et al.2001 ; Pataro et al.2000 ; Guerra et al.2001 ; Ezeronye and Legras 2009 ).

The big question is ‘have the traditional ethanol producing yeast evolved into the production of methanol in addition’? Professor Benito Santiago, University of Spain (Personal communication, July 2015) opined that some years ago, methanol at low concentration was desirable in beer and wines.

• However, we were unable to find literature confirming this claim.
• Pectins are a group of heterogeneous polysaccharides found in the intercellular regions and cell walls of most fruits and vegetables (Siragusa et al.1988 ), with its greatest abundance in citrus particularly orange, grape, limes and lemons (Siragusa et al.1988 ).

Citrus contains 7–10 % pectin (Siragusa et al.1988 ). Chaiyasut et al. ( 2013 ) compared pectin levels in fermented beverage containing Morinda citrifolia (9.89 %) with that of other fruits including guava (4.36 %), tomato (0.3 %), apple (0.5 %), carrot (0.8 %) and cherries (0.4 %).

1. During ripening, pectin in fruits is broken down by PME resulting in the formation of methanol (Chaiyasut et al.2013 ; Micheli 2001 ).
2. However, pectin has not been reported in palm wine.
3. Plant cell wall degrading enzymes including pectinases are ubiquitous among pathogenic and saprophytic bacteria and fungi (Prade et al.1999 ).

Pectin enzymes are widely distributed in nature and are produced by yeast, bacteria, fungi and plants (Sieiro et al.2012 ). Methanol is a major end product of pectin metabolism by microorganisms (Schink and Zeikus 1980 ). Human colonic bacteria, Erwinia carotovora is able to degrade pectin releasing methanol (Siragusa et al.1988 ).

Anaerobic bacteria, particularly Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium multifermentans, and Clostridium felsineum produce methanol from pectin (Ollivier and Garcia 1990 ). Schink and Zeikus ( 1980 ) reported various pectinolytic strains of Clostridium, Erwinia and Pseudomonas,

Dorokhov et al. ( 2015 ) listed at least 20 species of human colonic microbes capable of producing methanol endogenously. The authors in a comprehensive review presented at least five different pathways of methanol synthesis in humans and four pathways of methanol clearance from the body and they also demonstrated the presence of gene regulation in methanol synthesis.

Readers are advised to consult this literature for details on metabolic methanol in human systems. Pectinolytic enzymes are classified into esterases and depolymerase (lyases and hydrolases). Hydrolysis of pectin by lyases produces oligo- or mono-galacturonate, while hydrolysis of pectin by esterases produces pectic acid and methanol (Sieiro et al.2012 ).

Some authors have identified strains of Saccharomyces that produces the three types of pectinolytic enzymes namely pectin methyl esterase (PME, EC: 3.1.1.11), pectin lyase (PL), and polygalacturonase (PG) (Gainvors et al.1994a, b ; Naumov et al.2001 ).

1. Fernandez-Gonzalez et al.
2. 2005 ) genetically modified S.
3. Cerevisiae strain having pectinolytic activity.
4. Analysis of S.
5. Cerevisiae among many traditional fermented beverages in Africa shows that they vary according to the location and types of substrates (Jespersen 2003 ).
6. Strains of S.
7. Cerevisiae having PME activity could produce methanol during fermentation.

Methanol is produced during fermentation by the hydrolysis of naturally occurring pectin in the wort (Nakagawa et al.2000 ; Mendonca et al.2011 ). PME de-esterify pectin to low—methoxyl pectins resulting in the production of methanol (Chaiyasut et al.2013 ; Micheli 2001 ).

Jespersen ( 2003 ) reported the roles of S. cerevisiae in the traditional fermentation to include fermentation of carbohydrate to ethanol, production of aromatic and flavor compounds, stimulation of lactic acid bacteria and probiotic activities among others. Saccharomyces cerevisiae also inhibit the mycotoxin producing fungi and cause the degradation of poisonous cyanogenic glycosides and produces tissues degrading enzymes such as cellulose and pectinase.

The volume of ethanol produced during fermentation is dependent on the strains of yeast used. For instance, the total alcohol (ethanol and methanol) produced from orange juice fermentation was 3.19 % w/v with S. cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus and 6.80 % w/v with S.

• Carlsbergensis (Okunowo and Osuntoki 2007 ).
• During the production of sugarcane beverage called cachaca in Brazil, S.
• Cerevisiae produced no methanol while contaminating yeasts ( Pichia silvicola and P.
• Anomala ) produced 0.5 % methanol (Dato et al.2005 ).
• Stringini et al.
• 2009 ) studied yeast diversity during tapping and fermentation of oil palm wine from Cameroon and found S.

cerevisiae, Saccharomyces ludwigii, Schizosaccharomyces bailli, Candida parapsilosis, Pichia fermentans, Hanseniaspora uvarum and Candida fermentati in addition to lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria. Literature abounds on the microbiology of traditionally fermented beverages.

1. Aramoko et al.
2. 2012 ) isolated yeasts, mould and bacteria including Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Micrococcus and Escherichia coli,
3. Rokusu and Nwisienyi ( 1980 ) isolated lactic acid bacteria ( Lactobacillus, Streptococcus and Leuconostoc ) and Acetic acid bacteria ( Acetobacter and Aerobacter ).
4. Stringini et al.

( 2009 ) using molecular techniques reported the diversity of yeasts involved in palm wine fermentation including S. cerevisiae and other yeast such as Candida parapsilosis, C. fermentati and Pi c hia fermentans, Similarly, the microbiology of other traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages and foods have been well documented (Ogbadu et al.1997 ; Muyanja et al.2003 ; Namuguraya and Muyanja 2009 ; Quattara et al.2015 ; Koffi-Marcellin et al.2009 ; Ashmaig et al.2009 ; Eze et al.2011 ).

Since traditional fermentation occur via spontaneous inoculation from the substrate and processing equipment (Ohimain et al.2012 ; Jespersen 2003 ), hence mixed cultures usually carry out the fermentation. Therefore, contaminating microbes including other yeasts, fungi and bacteria could result in the production of several other products including methanol.

And because methanol has a lower boiling point (65 °C) than ethanol (78 °C), it could be further concentrated in the beverage during distillation. Though, there are some disadvantages of mixed culture fermentation, the use of mixed culture in ethanol production will offer the advantage of production at low cost since a large range of substrates may be metabolized into ethanol.

1. Moreover, the high cost associated with operations of process plants with pure cultures could be drastically minimized when mixed cultures are used.
2. As previously stated, mixed fermentation could result in the production of diverse products.
3. Even pure culture fermentation can result in the production of diverse products depending on the operating conditions.

Hence, beverages produced via spontaneous fermentation by mixed culture could produce greater variety of products. Table 2 listed some volatile congeners produced in selected alcoholic beverages beside methanol. Some of these compounds are also very poisonous e.g.

What is the difference between beer mash and whiskey mash?

Hops and Barley: Whiskey and beer go hand in hand I was sitting in a bar recently, staring at my glass of bourbon shoulder-to-shoulder with my beer. A beer and a shot, the classic combination. But then I got to thinkin’: Why don’t distilleries and breweries collaborate more often? The two go so beautifully together, you’d think there would be dozens of collaborations in the works. Whiskey starts off the same way as beer. A ‘mash’ is made by steeping grains in hot water to extract fermentable sugars. If you were making beer, you’d add hops and then run the liquid, or ‘wort,’ off the grains and then add yeast. For whiskey production, you skip the hops and leave the grains in the sugar-rich liquid and pitch the yeast right in. This stage is called the wash. Here the processes diverge. For beer, the fermented wort is sent off for conditioning (a.k.a. cold storage aging). For whiskey, the wash is destined for distillation. Some whiskeys are distilled with the grains still in the wash while some are run off the grains before distillation. The process of distillation is a little too complex to fully cover here, but the basic principle is to heat up the fermented wash to the point where the alcohol starts to evaporate. This alcohol is trapped and condensed back into liquid form with some water and other particulates. This stage is roughly 21 percent alcohol and is called the “low wines.” The low wines are then redistilled removing more water and other particulates into what is called the “high wines.” For most types of whiskey, this is the end of distillation and the high wines are destined for aging in oak barrels. Some whiskeys, such as Irish whiskey, will be redistill a third time before sending the spirit to rest in barrels. The more times one distills a spirit, the less flavor is carried over from the original grains. This third distillation is why Irish whiskey is more smooth, albeit less flavorful, than Scotch or Bourbon. So if whiskey and beer share so many steps in common, I wonder why brewers and distillers aren’t teaming up to make a collaboration. Some craft brewers have been contracted to produce the wash for whiskey makers to their desired specifications. When Flying Dog Brewery was located in Colorado, it produced the wash for Stranahan’s Straight Colorado Whiskey. Conversely, some breweries have sent their already fermented beer to distilleries to be distilled into clear spirits Schneider Aventinus (Germany) and Hitachino White Ale (Japan) have both been distilled. I heard a rumor that a Burlington brewpub had its flagship ale distilled, but I’m not sure if it was available for purchase. There are even craft breweries that have started their own craft distilling projects. Anchor (California) makes a whiskey from 100 percent rye malt called Old Potrero as well as a gin and a hop-infused vodka. Rogue (Oregon) and Dogfish Head (Delaware) also have distilling wings. And even with all this, I haven’t really seen any collaborations in the classic sense. I think it would be really interesting if a distillery and a brewery teamed up to produce a single recipe that they then fermented as beer and distilled into whiskey. It would be a unique opportunity to taste the same base product handled in two different ways and would provide insight into how different processes affects the flavors of a beverage. If there are any brewers or distillers reading, let me know if you have plans to produce a collaboration. I’d happily lend a hand in the production and the tasting! Jeff Baker is the bar manager at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill in Burlington. His column, Hops & Barley, appears every other week. : Hops and Barley: Whiskey and beer go hand in hand

How many cans of beer equal a shot of whiskey?

How many beers are there in a shot of whiskey? – A 12 oz beer contains as much alcohol as a 1.5 oz shot of whiskey or a five oz glass of red or white wine.

Is whiskey made from distilling beer?

David Kyrejko of Brooklyn, New York’s new Arcane Distilling pulls the stopper out of a bottle of Lone Wolf Whiskey, a spirit he distilled from an all Galaxy-hopped East Coast double IPA beer made by a local homebrewer. The fragrance of hops is so intense it begins to take over the room.

• Though novel-sounding in concept, Kyrejko’s small-batch “beer whiskey” isn’t an entirely new drink.
• And, in fact, Kyrejko is part of a growing group of producers reducing craft beer into booze.
• Believe it or not, the Germans have been distilling beer into the hard stuff for generations, typically in the form of slightly sweet products with names like bierschnaps or bierbrand — takes on schnapps or brandy, respectively, made from beer.

Not long ago, G. Schneider & Sohn, producers of the classic and renowned German beer Aventinus, added a distilled version to their portfolio called Edelster Aventinus, Meanwhile, Japan’s famed Kiuchi Brewery has been distilling beer for over a decade, even making a boozed up model of their well-known Hitachino Nest White Ale named Hitachino Kiuchi No Shizuku,

1. If you start out with something delicious, you’re going to concentrate delicious,
2. Even in the United States, brands like California’s Essential Spirits, who bill their Classick—a bierschnaps distilled from their own California Pale Ale—as “The Original American Bierschnaps,” have been distilling beer since 1999.

But over the past few years, as the number of craft breweries opening in the U.S. has reached a record pace, and the total number of breweries in the country hit a literal historic high in 2015 (breaking the previous high of 4,131 set in 1873, according to the Brewers Association ), interest in distilled beer has begun to gain more momentum.

The godfather of American craft beer distilling is Marko Karakasevic, Master Distiller at California’s Charbay Artisan Distillery & Winery, After experimenting with turning pilsner into whiskey in 1999, six years later he took one of the most highly-regarded IPAs on the market at the time, Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA, and processed it into what might have been the first—and is certainly the most famous—whiskey distilled from an American IPA, the Charbay Whiskey R5,

At the time, his thought process was simple: “When you distill something, it’s ten to one reduction, so if you start out with something delicious, you’re going to concentrate delicious,” Karakasevic quips. “You get the complexities of a delicious beer that you want to drink.” Arcane Distilling’s Lone Wolf Whiskey. In a basic sense, all whiskey begins life as beer. Whiskey distillers start by fermenting grains (just like beer brewers do) to release sugars that yeast will eventually convert into alcohol. But, the primary difference with whiskey is that this fermented product is never intended to be drank.

• So, producers never refine the mixture with additional ingredients, like hops.
• What sets all beer spirits apart is that, before distillation, the beer has been finished in a way that makes it drinkable — identical to the kind of brew you’d find in a six-pack on store shelves.
• And there’s a reason most beer rarely becomes a spirit.

Working with a finished beer product is what makes beer spirits so unique, but it’s also what makes them more costly, both to produce and, ultimately, to buy. “You get a 6,000 gallon tanker of delicious gold medal-winning IPA. That’s a huge expense,” Karakasevic explains.

“And then you have to sit on it for like two, three, four, six, 10, 12 years and watch it evaporate away. You’re losing three to four gallons a year, and after 10 years, fuck, there’s 40 gallons gone out of one barrel. So your yield goes down and your cost goes up, and it’s harder to sell a $75 bottle of whiskey because everyone likes to spend $35.” All whiskey begins life as beer.

Despite the cost factor, Charbay still has three products on the market today: a pilsner whiskey ( $425 ), a Big Bear Stout whiskey ( $136 ), and their R5 ( $79 ). That final whiskey has become iconic because it has so much overlap with the American craft beer movement: It’s made from a big name American IPA, has a hop-forward profile, and, as a whiskey, is a spirit in which most beer drinkers dabble.

Though distilling beer into whiskey is the most obvious choice (since both tend to be made from the same grain), some recent distillates have been even more high-concept. This past year, Rhode Island-based spirits producer Sons of Liberty introduced their True Born Gin, The Belgian Wheat Act, a liquor made from a Belgian-style wheat beer.

The distillery had originally started making beer whiskey back in 2011, and still sells two varieties. But they began pondering the possibilities of gin because, like whiskey, it’s also a spirit that begins its life with fermented grains. However, making beer-gin came with a different set of challenges.

• A lot of gins are distilled like vodka,” meaning they don’t retain any flavor, explains Bryan Ricard, a Sons of Liberty rep.
• So the whole beer thing doesn’t really work.” Instead, they choose to make a genever-style gin that is distilled to 90 proof.
• That’s how we’re able to retain more of the original flavors,” says Ricard.

The ingredients which flavor the spirit are actually used twice — when brewing the beer and before distilling the final product. “All the botanicals that are in the gin basket when we distill the product are also in the mash with the beer,” he continues, “so it’s not really changing it at all.” Charbay’s pilsner-distilled whiskey and Sons of Liberty’s The Belgian Wheat Act gin. What sets all beer spirits apart is that, before distillation, the beer has been finished in a way that makes it drinkable. Since True Born is a gin, Sons of Liberty also adds juniper berries during the distillation process, so the final product more closely resembles a gin with subtle beer notes than a beer itself.

Innovations like these certainly have the sales hook of being made from beer, and can create interesting products, but their potential crossover appeal to beer drinkers galvanized to try new products thanks to the craft beer boom can be more limited. In fact, Ricard admits that some people who drop into the distillery are finding they like the beer more than the gin.

Hence, the future of distilled beer would seem to be in line with Karakasevic’s original inspiration for making an IPA whiskey: concentrating the complexities of beer’s delicious flavors. And Kyrejko is on the same page. “My process is not like the other processes,” he explains in earnest.

“I loved all the delicate components of beer that would be destroyed in a traditional distilling atmosphere.” To better capture all those essential beer aromas and flavors into whiskey, Kyrejko built his own vacuum distillation setup that allows him to work at lower temperatures than traditional pot distilling.

“The key is heat,” he says. “I’m boiling my components at like 30° Celsius, and by doing that I’m able to minimize or eliminate the degradation of all these flavors, especially things like fermentation flavors like you find in saisons. All those floral, barnyard-y, really delicate flavors that are only made by the yeast.” Indeed, products like Arcane’s Lone Wolf beer whiskeys would seem to be at the forefront of distilled beer’s growth potential, not because they appeal to spirit drinkers, but because they taste so much like beer.

• I love beer.
• I love the flavor of beer.
• I love the variety in beer.
• I love the creativity in beer,” confesses Kyrejko.
• I want my whiskey to taste like you just opened six beers and smashed them into one and drank that,
• I want my whiskey to taste like beer.” The logic makes sense.
• Though the craft distilling movement has had its own boom as of late, when it comes specifically to beer-distilled spirits, craft beer drinkers seem to be the ones driving the growing interest.

Oddly enough, the future of beer spirits might just be spirits that taste more like beer than ever before. Editor: Kat Odell

Is one can of beer equal to one shot of whiskey?

Alcohol: How it all adds up – National Consumers League – National Consumers League Wine. Beer. Wine cooler. Cocktail. Mixed drink. Different kinds of drinks, different amounts of alcohol, right? Wrong! It’s a mistake many people make. In truth, standard serving sizes of all alcohol beverages — beer, wine, and liquor — are equal in alcohol strength and effect on the body.

Says who? The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, define a drink of alcohol as “12 oz. of regular beer, 5 oz. of wine, and 1.5 oz. of 80-proof distilled spirits.” In a survey commissioned by the National Consumers League, respondents said they want more information about alcoholic beverages.

Ninety-three percent said they want information on alcohol content, and 87 percent want information on the amount of alcohol per serving. So, here it is. This fact sheet will help you understand how much alcohol you’re getting, no matter what drink you choose.

Knowing the alcohol equivalency of standard serving sizes of different types of drinks is essential to consumers who want to drink responsibly. And experts agree. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Alcohol is alcohol. Beer has the same effect as straight scotch. One 12-oz.

beer has as much alcohol as a 1.5-oz. shot of whiskey or a 5-oz. glass of wine.” How could that be? One ounce of beer contains less alcohol than one ounce of spirits, but the standard serving of beer is a 12-oz. can or bottle. Here’s how it adds up:

Beer contains between 4 and 7 percent alcohol by volume, with the average being 5 percent alcohol by volume.12 oz. x 5 percent alcohol by volume = 0.6 oz. of alcohol/serving. The same is true of wine. The standard serving of wine is 5 oz., which generally contains between 11 and 13 percent alcohol by volume.5 oz. x 12 percent alcohol by volume = 0.6 oz. of alcohol/serving. Liquor (distilled spirits) is most often consumed in mixed drinks with 1.5-oz. spirits. Sometimes spirits (vodka, gin, scotch, bourbon, etc.) are mixed with water, club soda, or juice or served “straight” or “on the rocks.” No matter how spirits are consumed, a standard serving (1.5 oz.) of 80 proof (40 percent alcohol by volume) of distilled spirits has the same amount of alcohol as standard servings of beer and wine. So 1.5 oz. x 40 percent alcohol by volume = 0.6 oz. of alcohol/serving.

This means that a typical or standard serving of beer, wine, or spirits each contain 0.6 fluid ounces of alcohol. Alcohol and medications don’t mix Drinking beer, wine, or liquor while taking painkillers, allergy medicines, cough and cold remedies, and a number of other commonly used over-the-counter or prescription drugs can be extremely dangerous.

Always READ THE LABEL to determine if the medication carries a specific warning about consuming alcohol. Ask your health provider or pharmacist about dangers involved in taking medication if you plan on drinking alcohol – and don’t forget to ask about dangers involved in mixing alcohol with dietary supplements or herbals.

Or make it easy on yourself—avoid alcohol altogether while taking any drug. Underage drinking: alcohol is alcohol An alarming number of parents (88 percent) mistakenly conclude that beer is safer than liquor, according to a survey by Widmeyer Research and Polling for the Center for Government Reform.

Parents should not allow teens to drink any alcohol, beer or otherwise. Teens’ brains are still developing, and alcohol can affect a teen’s ability to learn and remember, impairing academic performance. Teen alcohol has also been linked to future health problems, delinquency, suicide, and auto accidents.

Besides, it’s illegal to supply a minor with alcohol! Set a good example for your kids. And a word about binge drinking. We often hear from the media about young people, especially college students, drinking so much alcohol that they pass out, end up in the hospital, or worse, die from alcohol poisoning.

• According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking happens when someone’s blood alcohol concentration reaches,08% or higher.
• In order to reach,08%, men typically have to drink 5 standard drinks and women have to drink 4 standard drinks.
• Combined with poor nutrition and lack of exercise, excessive alcohol use can eventually lead to brain and liver damage or various cancers.

The Harvard School of Public Health reports that nearly one-quarter of college students engage in binge drinking. And binge drinking is also linked to accidents such as motor-vehicle crashes, falls, and drowning. Parents can help their college age students to recognize and resist peer pressure which often leads to drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and binge drinking.

Emphasize that young people don’t need to drink to have fun. Do the Math To enjoy responsibly, remember the facts: standard sizes of different drinks all contain equal amounts of alcohol. Don’t kid yourself into thinking beer or wine is “safer” or less “potent” than the “hard stuff.” In your body, all alcohol is the same.

With this important fact in mind, the following are some basic do’s and don’ts that are an essential part of safe drinking:

Do drink responsibly and in moderation. Do have a designated driver. Don’t drink alcohol if you’re on medication — prescription and non-prescription. Do be aware that a typical or standard serving of beer, wine, or spirits contains the same amount of alcohol. Parents should not allow underage children to drink alcohol. Don’t drink alcohol if you are pregnant or nursing. Don’t serve to or buy alcohol for people under 21.

When it comes to drinking alcohol, the old adage is true: It doesn’t matter what you drink, it’s really how much that counts. : Alcohol: How it all adds up – National Consumers League – National Consumers League