What if you’re at sea for months at a time on a research vessel, and you really want some beer, but there isn’t a port in your future?
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 could really come in handy in other situations too, like, say, you’re trapped in a hotel by zombie hordes.
(via Boing Boing (via Southern Fried Science))
A friend of mine gave me a great article from the 


