
A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale - prostoalex
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-new-problem-is-brewing-in-the-beer-industry-one-million-kegs-are-going-stale-11587733224
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gumby
My son in college (well in his apt with his gf, taking classes online) could
easily take care of one before it expired. Hell, we could too.

In Germany we had the “beer man” who would drop off beer weekly and collect
the empties. This should be adopted in the USA.

~~~
welder
Germany is mostly pils, heff, and radler. The USA has more beer variety, maybe
it's more difficult logistically? Companies in the USA do have a beer man,
never heard of individual houses hiring one.

~~~
jbigelow76
_The USA has more beer variety, maybe it 's more difficult logistically?_

No, it's just that for as much that has changed in America since its founding,
being a bunch of Puritanical tight asses is still kind of encoded into our
societal DNA.

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yostrovs
The Puritans had beer upon arrival, so don't lay this on them.

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capn_cabbage
Yes, beer would be acceptable in moderation by the Puritans and their
Protestant descendants. Early Americans advocated temperance rather than
complete abstinence. Much of this was a result of seeking a better/perfect
society after the American Revolution. Evangelical Protestants spread religion
and reform through the USA in what is known as the "Second Great Awakening"
from 1790 to 1840. During this time, the temperance movement gained support.
This led to a gain in popularity of complete abstinence from alcohol and the
formation of various groups advocating for teetotalism. Through the late
1800's and early 1900's prohibitionist movements gained traction including the
Anti-Saloon League which was driven by evangelical Protestantism. It was this
organization that ultimately led to the Eighteenth Amendment of the United
States constitution being ratified and prohibiting sale and manufacture of
alcohol.

It has been a battle ever since. The area I live in only recently allowed the
sale of liquor in restaurants and bars and still does not sell liquor by the
bottle. There were many movements that had influence so perhaps it isn't fair
to lay the blame solely on the Puritans, but they did have great influence in
regards to alcohol in the USA and the parent isn't wrong, but has certainly
omitted details.

~~~
yostrovs
Puritans, mostly because of the modern misunderstanding of the term, are
blamed for all enforcement of any vice in the United States. I'm saying that
the larger society, made up of different religious beliefs, has its own course
and its social institutions are not constantly controlled by the "Puritans".

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userbinator
_They are also sending beer that is expired or can’t be distributed to a
nearby craft distiller to be turned into hand sanitizer._

That's an excellent solution, as the demand for the latter has definitely been
going up rapidly in the past little while.

~~~
URSpider94
There have been issues in that many ethanol producers are not licensed to
produce medical-grade ethanol, which is what’s required for hand sanitizer. So
it hasn’t been entirely straightforward to convert biofuel or drinking alcohol
production over.

~~~
jessaustin
I can see why sanitizer used in a hospital would have to be "medical-grade",
whatever that means. Why would any other sanitizer need this? If the fluid was
safe to drink (most alcoholic beverages are sold for this purpose), why
wouldn't it be safe to rub on hands?

~~~
buckminster
I don't know about medical-grade but it's usually illegal for a brewery to
produce alcohol strong enough to be useful as a sanitizer.

~~~
jessaustin
Thread parent referenced a distiller. Distillation is the process that turns
fermented products into sanitizer and other wonderful fluids.

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nimbius
simple solution: convert it to malt vinegar. this is a natural process caused
by introducing a vinegar culture into the beer. then, sell it to the food
industry or divert it to your food holdings (hot sauces or snacks.)

this can also be distilled into acetic acid which is used in everything from
solvents to cervical cancer screens and the production of precursors for
polyvinyl acetate.

~~~
pugworthy
I appreciate your second paragraph. That said I couldn’t help think, “A New
Problem Sours the Malt Vinegar Industry: One Million Kegs Are Sitting Idle“

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toyg
Vinegar can actually get better with age.

~~~
TeMPOraL
"It's not idle, it's _appreciating_."

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ClikeX
The beer supplier for my local pub actually came by to empty the kegs. They're
taking it all back to get get converted into hand sanitizer. Which is a great
solution.

As for the pub, they're offering takeout of their normal menu. As well as sell
craft beer packages.

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rawoke083600
We here in South Africa, we have actually banned the sale of alcohol and
cigarettes while in lock-down for almost a month now.

~~~
wolco
That seems like a bad idea. Many people will die without any alcohol. Forcing
people inside and then stopping the sales of cigarettes seems like it would
create more agression in the short term.

~~~
aprdm
Out of curiosity how exactly would people die without any alcohol?

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code_duck
People can be severely addicted to alcohol to the point of physical
dependence.

[https://www.medscape.com/answers/819502-79121/what-is-the-
mo...](https://www.medscape.com/answers/819502-79121/what-is-the-mortality-
and-morbidity-of-alcohol-withdrawal-syndrome)

"The mortality rate from severe alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens (DT)
historically has been as high as 20% if untreated. Early recognition and
improved treatment has reduced the mortality rate from DT to approximately
1-5%"

So this means people either die or go to emergency care with severe symptoms
that require hospitalization, which obviously is to be avoided at a time like
this.

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loeg
The local breweries in the Seattle area have been collaborating with the
restaurants doing delivery for weeks to offload their keg stock. We've been
getting growlers basically at-cost. (WA relaxed liquor laws during the SAH
order so regular food deliveries can also bring you alcohol.)

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wiredone
Time for the US to get into the vegemite business

~~~
civilian
lol, can you elaborate?

~~~
dbcooper
It's based on brewers yeast extract.

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XiS
Archival version [https://archive.fo/poekb](https://archive.fo/poekb)

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seibelj
People in my office (well, formerly) have been buying kegs straight from the
breweries. They were intended for commercial and now are sold to consumer and
delivered by the same trucks.

~~~
boomboomsubban
Unless it's a local beer, they were buying straight from the local
distributor. The major breweries do not ship their product to bars.

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bryanbuckley
"I volunteer!" I gasp. “I volunteer as tribute!”

(AL located currently)

~~~
yellowapple
Yeah, if any breweries or restaurants or what have you here in Reno are facing
this issue, I'd be happy to help "store" some of it. Know quite a few buddies
here in town who'd likely feel the same.

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themark
“Executives say draft beer typically stays fresh for between two and six
months.”

Need to work on this.

~~~
synaesthesisx
Most craft beers, especially those high in terpenes (dry-hopped IPAs come to
mind) have flavor drop-off relatively rapidly and are best consumed fresh.
Monkish, Fieldwork, Other Half, Tree House etc are some of my favorites but
they’re usually bursting with flavor the first two weeks or so. “Drink Fresh”

~~~
robochat
I thought that the whole point of Indian Pale Ale was that it would last
longer, as in it would survive a sea voyage from England to India in the 1800s
(6 months)

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cthalupa
It would go unspoiled, which is a bit different of a thing than tasting it's
best.

Grain has quite a bit of lactic acid producing bacteria in it, on top of it's
just being readily available in nature in general, so breweries naturally have
a ton of it around. Most common lacto and pedio bacteria, the primary two type
of LAB, is not very tolerant to hops. If you make a really hoppy beer, this
naturally helps prevent the beer from souring.

Of course, a lot of beer is intentionally soured by these, and basically all
beer originally would sour, and it's perfectly safe to drink. Just not
desirable in every style of beer.

~~~
phillc73
Maybe IPAs were meant to taste as they did after a long voyage to India. Maybe
at the end of the voyage was when they tasted their best. Maybe the hops were
just a preservative and nobody really liked drinking beer with overly strong
hop flavours and aromas.

~~~
meddlepal
My theory is that people who like these extremely hoppy IPAs have (1) lost
their ability to taste more subtle flavors, (2) are performing some kind of
signalling to their fellow beer connisseur peers about how much of a beer geek
they are.

~~~
Johnjonjoan
They're just nice. People have different taste. I don't understand why you
have to make theories. If I had to I'd theorise people who make theories about
people who like hoppy IPAs (1) have sensitive taste buds, (2) are performing
some kind of signaling.

~~~
jessaustin
So meta!

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mirimir
Free beer? Maybe structured to generate tax credit.

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jacknews
Beer baths? Good for the skin.

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mister_hn
Why don't they give the for free to charities?

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erikig
I will instantly register as a beer accepting charity if this happens :)

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anguswithgusto
Hey, I'll drink it?

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wyxuan
My liver is indestructible!

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vaxman
Covid-19 is linked to AKF (search). As an older hacker (not a Boomer), I can
tell you that the kids who setup microbreweries back in the day first tried to
escape into project management and then wound up...not-in-tech.

~~~
z3t4
Searching an acronym is like reversing a weak hash... they should be spelled
out. When searching AKF I got mostly results about church organisations.

~~~
phillc73
I think it's Acute Kidney Failure, but I can't completely decipher the rest of
the comment.

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skilesare
Together we can solve this problem.

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Janinda
I can’t read the article due to the paywall, but I hope it went into the
science around heat and oxidation as well as the regulations preventing
breweries and distributors from buying back the kegs. Maybe it even offered a
glimpse of hope from post-processing via distillation

