beer

Things that go “POP!” in the deep: crushed cups, whole cans, and seafloor spam.

Posted on by Andrew Thaler

This week, two questions echoed through the hallowed halls of Deep-sea Science. It began, as things these days tend to begin, with a tweet. Dr. Diva Amon challenged deep-sea researchers to show off their shrunken cups from the bottom of the abyss. And we obliged, oh but did we oblige.

Concurrently, though unrelated, Angelo Villagomez announced out symposium on Human Impacts in the Deep Sea and shared several image of the garbage that finds its way to the ocean floor. Cans of cheap beer and pristine Spam littered the deepest reaches of the Mariana Trench, where they will lie forever as they are slowly buried in sediment.

And thus we found ourselves awash in to variations on the same theme: Why did that ocean thing get crushed? and Why didn’t that ocean thing get crushed? Read More

Cocktail Week Reboot: How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

Posted on by Andrew Thaler

It’s Cocktail Week over at Deep Sea News. In honor of this most auspicious event we’ve dredged up the post that put Southern Fried Science on the chart, nearly five years ago. Enjoy this blast from our southern fried past.

The Flip - One research vessel you may a drink on

The Flip – one research vessel that mandates a drink

Introduction

Beer brewing is the delicate and dedicated blending of art and science.  Finding the perfect balance of grains, hops, malt, adding just the right flavoring agents, boiling for exactly enough time to release the tannins, starches, humic acids from you wort, activating enzymes to break down those starches, forging the perfect mash from the ether of sobriety to give birth to that most glorious pint, these are skills that take a lifetime to master. Perfect beer is meticulously planned and carefully crafted.

Screw that.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This is not, as a rule, a terribly good beer (though, with a good brewmaster on board, it can be). This is a beer to pass the time and ease the pain of life at sea. I can guarantee that if you are careful, it will be at least as good as the cheapest commercial alternative.

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Brewmaster Sightings

Posted on by Andrew Thaler

Behold the Amber Brachiopod!

It had to happened one day. My colleague and Antarctic explorer David Honig sends this photograph of the infamous post “How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel” proudly displayed aboard the oceanographic research vessel RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer. In recognition of his discovery, Honig has been awarded the Amber Brachiopod – in recognition of explorers who find that post on board oceanographic research vessels of modest size.

The focal point of the Palmer beer shrine, click for full sized image

~Southern Fried Scientist

How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

Posted on by Andrew Thaler

The Flip - One research vessel you may a drink on

The Flip - one research vessel that mandates a drink

Originally published on April 26, 2009 How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel has been one of our most popular posts. Over the past year, through experimentation and advice from fellow scientists and brewers, I’ve modified the recipe. The biggest criticism was that in order to make good beer, you needed to smuggle hops aboard. “Well, if you can bring hops aboard” they ask, “what’s to stop you from bringing any other brew supplies aboard?” The answer is nothing. So we went back to the brew pot, experimented with new reagents, and bring you now the definitive guide to brewing beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

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