Can we make a beer in space? For that matter, can we drink a beer in space?

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Or, “you can’t play beer pong in zero-G”

So we’ve established getting alcohol into space can be a costly endeavor. Now we need to look at the difficulties of making our alcohol up there and being of an antipodean nature I thought we would begin, as you always should, with beer.

The first issue that sprang to mind was carbonation – the fizz that makes it all worth while. Unfortunately, in a zero gravity environment, carbon dioxide bubbles do not rise to the surface and burst as there is no surface; there is no up or down. They remain randomly distributed throughout a solution – even after swallowing. This can have adverse effects on you insides, the least of which is the dreaded ‘wet burp’, where you will be belching as much liquid as you will gas since there is no buoyancy to the gas and therefore no separation of gas and liquid.

On the more serious side of health concerns you have the buildup of gasses in your stomach and intestine that can’t escape. I once vaguely remember having to settle an argument in a bar over whether or not you should feed horses beer, as their digestive systems mean they can not burp to release the built up gas and this can rupture their stomach linings and cause serious injury. I can’t remember how this argument started, or why one aggrieved party so badly wanted to get a horse drunk, before you ask. A quick google search later revealed this to be true, however, so we can only assume such a similar buildup in the human body over a long drinking session could cause similar gastrointestinal distress if you were unable to expel excess carbon dioxide in the traditional fashion (the loud belch followed by a high-five).

The victor of this particular argument then asked me what the best cheese to use to hide a horse. The answer was ‘marscapone’

So perhaps no lagers or pilsners in space. Well what about low carbonation or hand-pulled beers, ales and stouts and porters? An Australian brewer and a private astronautics firm have joined forces to create a low-carbonation stout called Vostok Space Beer that they say is perfect for drinking in space. They have tested it by drinking it on a microgravity flight in the upper atmosphere – a high-atmosphere aircraft that flies in parabolic arcs to achieve short periods of weightlessness due to fluctuating g-forces (a style of flight affectionately named the ‘vomit-comet’ by astronautic enthusiasts), replicating a zero gravity environment. In the below video you can see the test in action:

 

There has also been a collaboration between the Russian academy of sciences, Okoyama University and Japanese brewing behemoth Sapporo, creating a beer brewed with barley grown on the International Space Station, imaginatively called ISS Space Barley Beer. Unfortunately they only made 100 liters of it, and limited it to a single tasting event for thirty lucky couples in Japan.

So they have been making beer for space, and beer with ingredients from space, but can you make beer in space? The first thing to note is that yeast is incredibly easy to cultivate; all it requires is some form of sugar or starch, natural or synthetic, plus a little heat, to create ethanol – the good stuff. Since it reproduces via anaerobic respiration, it doesn’t even need oxygen to create alcohol, so in theory you could even create alcohol in an absolute vacuum.

Indeed NASA has done research on the humble yeast bacteria Candida albicans, albeit not for the purpose of beer. The yeast spores were included on a recent space flight in special incubators, in order to measure how spaceflight affects potentially infectious organisms. The results were somewhat surprising though – yeast appears to ferment more efficiently in a zero gravity environment then on earth – there was a lower live cell count in the samples that had been through the zero gravity spaceflight than those that had been brewed on earth as control samples.

While there has been given no official explanation for this, one theory is that in an environment without gravity, much in the same way that carbon dioxide is evenly distributed in a carbonated solution, yeast cells would be evenly distributed throughout a solution with the ‘wort’ (a brewers terms for the pre-fermentation mix), as opposed to on earth where settling would occur and all ingredients would end up on the bottom of a vat.

So not only could we make beer on space, we would witness a much more efficient fermentation process. And with low-carbonation stouts and porters, space travelers could receive much needed iron and calcium, minerals that are present in large amounts in certain stouts, as well as a higher caloric content. Anyone traveling in zero-g for long periods of time experience loss of bone density and body mass and need intense amounts of vitamin therapy to counteract this effect - and would you prefer a handful of pills or a couple of pints a day to keep you healthy and happy? (I'm aware some of you would have said both, but we will leave the effects of barbiturates in space until a later date)

So we could make beer in space – but is it economically viable to bring the ingredients for the job into space? I’ve taken a recipe for a fairly generic stout, as this requires no carbonation, and extrapolated out the measures for a 100 liter batch – call it a micro gravity micro brew.

Generic Stout -

Recipe for 100 liters:

• 9.2 pounds klages / 4.8 kg
• 0.7 pound chocolate malt / .31 kg
• 0.7 pound roast barley / .31 kg
• 1.1 pound 80L crystal  / .5 kg
• 3/4 stick brewers licorice  / .25 kg
• 2.2 ozs. fuggles / .05 kg
• 1.2 pound brown sugar /0.54 kg
• Wyeast London ale yeast (let’s call it 2 grams)

To calculate how much water is needed for the mash I found this awesome online calculator that takes into account all the variables when it comes to brewing – very handy for the home brewer here on earth, too.

Water needed for fermentation and brewing:

          32.77 Gallons/ 124 liters / 124 kg  

(assuming the water is of standard concentration and mineral content so the liter-to-kg ratio is 1:1)

So 100 liters of beer would weigh about 126 kgs in raw materials to take into space – if we take the cost to weight-by-kg ratio we established previously, we see that one kg of material costs some $103 USD. The weight of 100 liters of beer, in transporting raw materials alone, would be $12978 USD – or, if you break it down into per 568ml imperial (read: proper) pint, $737 USD per pint.

Of course if you’ve ever worked behind a bar pulling pints, you know there can be up to 20% loss from a single keg from wastage and spoiling (and the inevitable cheeky Martian bartender mumping a free pint after the bar is closed.) Taking this into account, you are looking at a purchase cost of $921 USD per pint.

To make an industry standard 30% purchase cost on tap beer (overheads on a space station can’t be cheap), you are looking at paying more than $3000 a pint to your deep space publican, maybe $2500 at happy hour prices.

And can you even drink beer in space? In the posted video above we can see that the Vostok beer test subject is having some difficulty in drinking in zero g – there is no up or down, so naturally the liquid in the glass is not affected by gravity. So how can we drink in space?

In association with a company called Bio Serve, the Coca-Cola company helped to develop a drink delivery system to pour a serve of a carbonated drink that can be consumed in zero gravity. According to the press release, “They (the Coca-Cola Company) have a lot of technology that they develop for future ways of providing their drinks anywhere and everywhere."

So I’m not the only one thinking ahead, apparently…

                            Image courtesy Bio Serve

In the picture above you can see the collapsible bladder inside the traditional PET coke bottle, creating a sealed and constant controlled pressure around the fluid and preventing the carbonation from separating from the cola. You can see the carbonation in the actual bag is more a foamy mess than a traditional coke as we know it – the carbon dioxide has nowhere to rise to, and therefore remains distributed throughout.

It is described merely as ‘palatable’, so perhaps not the most shining endorsement. It also does not tackle the issue of the ‘wet burp’, either. (In regards to other drinking methods for space, there will be a later blog post detailing the how and how-nots of the whole business)

Another interesting factoid I’ve come across is the fact that anyone who spends an extended amount of time in space loses some of their sense of taste – strong flavors are preferred by astronauts according to NASA, so big, spicy and bold flavors are the way to go. Another mark against lagers, and definitely something to think on as we continue looking into the science of drinking in space.

So in summary, beer in space is over priced, mostly stout and you won’t be able to taste it as your tongue has stopped working. Much like back in university, then.

Next up, Can you distill spirits in space?