How do you die from homebrew beer?

www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-south-africa-couple-die-after-drinking-homemade-beer/news-story/cc39b42f2f74a1dedb23b9b900a5cdf1

I don't understand it. I thought it was pretty safe other than getting a horrible tasting batch, how do you get something that is deadly?

Did they do something different? The yeast will only really go to 4 or 5%, so what have they done?

^^^^
Drowned in the vat ?
I still got it
Seriously ,
something has gone wrong with the ingredients . It couldn't be a non cleaned bottles infection thing happening so fast . Possibly a freaky bacterial thing .
Were they brewing a Corona beer ?
Stop me

They might have brewed VB.

Home brew could easily go higher than 4-5%, if you didn't know what you're doing, or care about taste. I'd have to think hygiene and sanitation of the equipment might be the issue and they've effectively brewed a Petri dish of horror?

Maybe they brewed up some datura or some other nasty weed, it's hard to believe, if it was that crook you just couldn't swallow it, but yeh it makes a VB hang over look tame !

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Chris6791 said..
Home brew could easily go higher than 4-5%, if you didn't know what you're doing, or care about taste. I'd have to think hygiene and sanitation of the equipment might be the issue and they've effectively brewed a Petri dish of horror?

actually that's a good point. If you are trying to brew beer without preparing properly, and in this case because you can't buy any alcohol, maybe you get careless with the cleaning or don't even know how to clean things.

I was using bleach at one point and then moved onto a acid clean, but I can image you could brew all sorts of bad stuff if you let them get into the wort.

Here I was thinking the worst thing you could do was to taste the equivalent of vegemite, but apparently you can...

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Chris6791 said..
Home brew could easily go higher than 4-5%, if you didn't know what you're doing, or care about taste. I'd have to think hygiene and sanitation of the equipment might be the issue and they've effectively brewed a Petri dish of horror?

Even if you load it up with sugar, doesn't it still top out at 7 or maybe 10?

I agree though, it will probably taste awful and sweet at the same time.

Beer would taste so **** it would be intolerable - even then worst would happen is the ****s. - more likely they home distilled alcohol and got it all wrong.

could have had any kind of booster. local recipe here is white wine ,methodical and urine to counteract the chemical they put in the metro to make you vomit. . its a real thing , they drink it

could have had any kind of booster. local recipe here is white wine ,methodical and urine to counteract the chemical they put in the metro to make you vomit. . its a real thing , they drink it

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landyacht said..
could have had any kind of booster. local recipe here is white wine ,methodical and urine to counteract the chemical they put in the metro to make you vomit. . its a real thing , they drink it

you are taking the piss, surely?

The other option is the media got it wrong and they were distilling alcohol rather than brewing it. That's easy to fk up and kill yourself with.

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FormulaNova said..

Even if you load it up with sugar, doesn't it still top out at 7 or maybe 10?

I agree though, it will probably taste awful and sweet at the same time.

Yep, once it gets above about 8%, the yeast starts to die in it's own waste. After that you have to distill it.

This sounds like more than alcohol poisoning though. He was writhing in pain and called an ambulance. Not things that happen when you have drunk enough to kill yourself from alcohol. Sounds like something else happened.

They were probably using something as well as the home brew and the effects of the combination was fatal.
Isn't there a cocktail called a snakebite?

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FormulaNova said..

landyacht said..
could have had any kind of booster. local recipe here is white wine ,methodical and urine to counteract the chemical they put in the metro to make you vomit. . its a real thing , they drink it

you are taking the piss, surely?

I saw what you did there

Usually alcohol poisoning manifests as choking or passing out. Either way, the symptoms are fairly immediate, as opposed to cramps etc, which would indicate food/ liquid poisoning.

Could been worse, they could of drunk this piss poor excuse for beer,

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Mr Milk said..
They were probably using something as well as the home brew and the effects of the combination was fatal.
Isn't there a cocktail called a snakebite?

Yeah but thats just beer + Cider + red cordial.

Gets you absolutely wAStEd

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Chris_M said..

Mr Milk said..
They were probably using something as well as the home brew and the effects of the combination was fatal.
Isn't there a cocktail called a snakebite?

Yeah but thats just beer + Cider + red cordial.

Gets you absolutely wAStEd

AND, you can't go to bed due to the red cordial.