What would we do for CO2?

[Noleafclover]

Okay, I'm thinking ahead here. Let's say its 2050 and there is a big war, and all of the all-grain folks who also happen to be able to grow grain and hops, malt the grain, etc can brew to still have a product to sell/barter to stay alive.

What would we do if we couldn't force carbonate (because who is gonna recharge your CO2 tank?) and DME/Corn Sugar wasn't available. How would we carbonate those swing tops we still have laying around?

It's theoretical of course.. But I'm curious how I'd do it without the use of these common things for homebrewers.

 

[hexmonkey]

um...unfermented wort?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Krausening

 

[erock2112]

My guess is bottle slightly before it's done fermenting, so that primary fermentation creates the co2 to carbonate the bottles. It's a recipe for bottle bombs, but extreme circumstances...

 

[Noleafclover]

um...unfermented wort?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Krausening

show's what I know! Seems resonable to me.

 

[hexmonkey]

My guess is bottle slightly before it's done fermenting, so that primary fermentation creates the co2 to carbonate the bottles. It's a recipe for bottle bombs, but extreme circumstances...

This is almost like krausening, but less exact. With krausening, you should be able to calculate exactly how much wort you need to put in. You're working with a known quantity of sugar content in the wort, so you can let the beer ferment out completely.

 

[KYB]

um...unfermented wort?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Krausening

Yep. That's how they did it before. Tanks of CO2 is a pretty modern thing.

 

[martinworswick]

message deleted

 

[Edcculus]

I'd just do all my beer as a traditional cask ale. Rack to a cask before its done fermenting, and seal it up.I wouldn't have CO2 to push my beer, but it would probably be in such a great demand that I could serve it cask style with no problems.

 

[lowlife]

Honey would work as well.

 

[mmb]

You could use sugar processed from the sugar beets you plant alongside the barley.

It would be a cash crop for your to trade for bullets as sugar is always in high demand.

 

[Arkador]

couldn't you mash a small wort and add that? 1# of mashed grain has the potential as like 10 oz of DME or something. then add that to your fermented beer prior to bottling.

 

[mmb]

couldn't you mash a small wort and add that? 1# of mashed grain has the potential as like 10 oz of DME or something. then add that to your fermented beer prior to bottling.

um...unfermented wort?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Krausening

*chuckle*

 

[bronzdragon]

The unfermented wort is a traditional way of doing it, and I also think that in that situation, people would get used to drinking beers with very little carbonation fast. I'd rather drink beer with no carbonation, then no beer at all!

~r~

 

[Noleafclover]

In all of those movies that are in a mideval setting the always show ale poured from the spigot of giant oak barrels... I always wondered if those were supposed to be pressurized or something...

 

[mmb]

That would be akin to cask ale in today's nomenclature. Lightly carbonated by pressure building up in the barrel from the fermentation finishing and dispensed by gravity.

 

[KYB]

That would be akin to cask ale in today's nomenclature. Lightly carbonated by pressure building up in the barrel from the fermentation finishing and dispensed by gravity.

Some were very carbonated. I've read that on many barrels they had to use iron bungs because the pressure was so great, like up to 60psi.

 

[abracadabra]

I don't think you'll have to wait until 2050
The EPA has already classified CO2 as a harmful pollutant and is set to regulate CO2 if the feds don't pass Cap and TAX excuse me I mean Cap and Trade

I'd say the tax on CO2 will make it cost prohibitive in the not too distant future, also I see needing a license from the EPA to buy CO2 just like you need for R22 refridgerant now

Enjoy it while you can fellow's the party's almost over

 

[FireNightFly]

Reminds me of the show Jerico.

No one would make beer I believe most grains would be for eating. Hootch would be the drink of drinks imho.

For those who think they are going to bottle ... where and who would make caps? I would assume most caps would have been used as material for weapons. Barrels require metals, wood, & a specialist to make them. We all would be fooked as far as beer goes me thinks.

I hope everyone likes water soup & fuel hooch!

Which made me think of something else ... I would assume if ethenal is made it would prob be for fuel.

 

[FireNightFly]

I don't think you'll have to wait until 2050
The EPA has already classified CO2 as a harmful pollutant and is set to regulate CO2 if the feds don't pass Cap and TAX excuse me I mean Cap and Trade

I'd say the tax on CO2 will make it cost prohibitive in the not to distant future, also I see needing a license from the EPA to buy CO2 just like you need for R22 refridgerant now

Enjoy it will you can fellow the party's almost over

Reminds me of something a friend said ...
"If all you tree huggers & environmentalist would die, we could save the earth from CO2 emissions."

A few years ago while sitting in a parking lot with my window down smoking a ciggie, I had a fella start coughing (obviously on purpose). Every time he coughed he would look over my way. So I got out of my car and walked over to him & asked if my cigarette was bothing him. He told me it bothered him a little bit. I politely told him that I have a solution to our problem.

I said "If you would kindly hold your breath long enough, it would fix both our problems."

 

[Noleafclover]

Reminds me of the show Jerico.

No one would make beer I believe most grains would be for eating.

Here's the deal on that one... My wife said virtually the same thing (sometimes we get bored and have "what if the world ended as we knew it" conversations....). My rebuttal is making bread from the spent grains. My neighbor does this actually, and the bread is pretty dang good. So you'd brew, produce liquid gold, and then take the leftover grain and make bread. The bread does require some flour though I think so you'd have to farm enough to give you that flour.

 

[Noleafclover]

Oh and this... Beer is one of the first things people made that actually got them settled down to farming. That's what brought humans out of the paleolithic age into the neolithic age... We discovered beer, and that to make beer you needed to settle down in one place and make grain. (this is of course an oversimplification, but did play a big part into this transition.)

 

[Catt22]

Apocalypse or not, in 2050 beer will probably be one of the last of things we will be concerned with. I won't be there in any case and if the Mayans were right, nobody else will be either. OTOH, the place might be crawling with prawns or other space aliens and they might be able to synthesize something to help us out.

 

[FireNightFly]

Things that will happen in 2012:
1. Leap Year
2. USA Election
3. Solar Eclipse
4. Lunar Eclipse
5. Solar Maximum (sun's magnetic poles will reverse)

 

[CrossCreekBrewing]

I don't think you'll have to wait until 2050
The EPA has already classified CO2 as a harmful pollutant and is set to regulate CO2 if the feds don't pass Cap and TAX excuse me I mean Cap and Trade

I'd say the tax on CO2 will make it cost prohibitive in the not too distant future, also I see needing a license from the EPA to buy CO2 just like you need for R22 refridgerant now

Enjoy it while you can fellow's the party's almost over

it's co2 not anthrax. the epa will be focusing on vehicle and factory emissions, they arent going to stress about 20lb co2 tanks. there is supposed to be co2 in the air. i dont think we'll ever have to worry about them taking our co2 tanks away.

 

[abracadabra]

it's co2 not anthrax. the epa will be focusing on vehicle and factory emissions, they arent going to stress about 20lb co2 tanks. there is supposed to be co2 in the air. i dont think we'll ever have to worry about them taking our co2 tanks away.

While I certainly agree that CO2 is not a poison. IMHO it's not only harmless but is essential to life on earth.

Currently the EPA is trying to regulate CO2 at a higher level than what their rules require for other pollutants. But just wait until some environment org. files suit and the 2nd court of appeals orders the EPA to regulate CO2 at the same level as all other pollutants.

The pending taxation and or regulation that I believe may be coming might not be levied directly on the end user. But you can safely bet your last $ that any and all taxation and regulation cost at the Manufactor and or Distribution level will be passed directly on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. And that might include the production of beer and wine at a certain level, who knows where this foolishness will end. And when or even if people will wake up to what is going on with this bureaucrats dream come true.

If you readed my post I said that CO2 will become cost prohibitive via taxation and or EPA regulation requirements, such a license (licenses usually require fees IE, another form of taxation). There in nothing in my post about anybody "taking our co2 tanks away".

I could easily be wrong it's just an educated guess of the direction in which things may be headed and nobody can with 100% accuracy predict the future. A CO2 concentrator/ compressor may hit the market for all I know and you might even get a carbon credit for the CO2 you capture and you might be able to sell what you've captured on the market along with a hefty tax on it for the govt.

Additionally there is nothing wrong with a healthy debate on the merits of my supposition, but you are attempting to set up a Strawman argument by stating a point that I simply did not make and stating a position that I do not hold.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The heck with CO2...where would we get "the juice?!"