South African couple die after drinking one bottle of home brewed beer each

[MickDundee]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8302507/Couple-die-agony-home-brewing-lockdown-beer.html
Obviously there’s much much more to the story, but it’s things like this that give us our reputation for making “rocket fuel” etc

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It's a Daily Mail story therefore don't believe a word of it.

 

[strange-steve]

That popped up on my news feed a few days ago from a South African news site, but it didn't say it was beer on that site and implied that they had been distilling.

 

[cushyno]

Taking a look at the article, the only hint that it's not a standard grain based beer is the mention of pineapples. I'm intrigued as to how South Africans are making pineapple beer. Is there anything dodgy about them that could turn poisonous?

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8302507/Couple-die-agony-home-brewing-lockdown-beer.html
Obviously there’s much much more to the story, but it’s things like this that give us our reputation for making “rocket fuel” etc

WOW how is that even possible?? I can’t think of an ale yeast that would survive converting alcohol to a level that would kill you. They must have added something.

 

[GerritT]

Might be botulism, might not even be beer at all, but wild distilling. Methanol poisoning doesn't cause much pain.

"He said: 'A 42-year-old woman was found dead in a flat and 54-year-old man was found in extreme pain and subsequently died in hospital and an inquest docket has been opened for both.

'Two empty bottles of homemade brew have been seized for forensic tests' he said."

 

[darkbright]

If it was the drink that killed them, they have added something to boost ABV - probably de-natured alcohol or other nasty. I believe you would need something around 300-400ml of pure ethanol to be fatal for most people.

If it was just distilled pineapples, even without the foreshots/heads being removed, I don't think you could create enough Methanol to be fatal. Methanol is fatal at somewhere between 50 and 100ml.

 

[MickDundee]

That popped up on my news feed a few days ago from a South African news site, but it didn't say it was beer on that site and implied that they had been distilling.

That’s what I said to my wife when she sent me the link. There’s nothing other than the Daily Fail’s say so that it was actually beer.

 

[gb0wers]

Here is how it was reported locally. Less sensational than the Wail.

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...cause-of-northern-cape-couples-death-20200505

 

[phildo79]

Probably a John bull lager kit.

 

[gb0wers]

Taking a look at the article, the only hint that it's not a standard grain based beer is the mention of pineapples. I'm intrigued as to how South Africans are making pineapple beer. Is there anything dodgy about them that could turn poisonous?

It's very easy to find many resources on the internet by a simple google search. Here is but one:

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/lif...emade-pineapple-beer-using-three-ingredients/

 

[cushyno]

Well fancy that! Who'd of guessed the internet could be search with a thing called Google?

Looking at the method for pineapple beer there's no mention of washing, sanitising, boiling. Anything could have happened by following these guidelines, such as inadvertently throwing in the odd scorpion.

 

[gb0wers]

Well fancy that! Who'd of guessed the internet could be search with a thing called Google?
<Snip>

Figure of speech. I actually use "Startpage" ;-) It's a bit less nosey!

 

[MmmBeer]

It's a Daily Mail story therefore don't believe a word of it.

This story has been reported on the webpage of every redtop.

There are several youtube guides to making 'pineapple beer', the one I watched used the pineapple trimmings (skin), sugar, spices, water and yeast, in a large jug, covered with a tea towel and left for 3+ days. It's easy to speculate about the cause of death, but it is usually better to wait for it to be confirmed scientifically.

 

[Deadhead]

If supplies are difficult to get, they very well may have done something like add isopropyl alcohol to juice thinking it would work fine. But yeah, would be better to see what the results of autopsy are.

 

[Richie_asg1]

Could easily be pesticide poisoning. If the crop was heavily sprayed it would be all over the outside.

Or maybe this story is propaganda to put people off the idea of home brewing.
You don't see front page news of the 137,000 people who die from food poisoning in Africa every year.

 

[geigercntr]

Tepache is just fermented pineapple rinds plus some sugar and whatever spices you fancy. Really popular in Mexico apparently. Made some myself and had a bottle in the garden today. Nice enough, but a bit sweet for me.

 

[darkbright]

Another couple dead

Seems like they added something nasty to a simple ginger beer.

 

[MyQul]

Clint was correct. Both couples added 97% strength ethanol to the 'homebrew'

 

[user 18729]

Clint was correct. Both couples added 97% strength ethanol to the 'homebrew'

Natural selection at its finest...