topic Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites in Community Spirit

Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

icyfroth — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 23:33:50 GMT

The Prime Minister has warned against a ban on Vegemite in remote communities after reports the spread was being used to make home-brewed alcohol, saying the last thing he wanted was a "Vegemite watch".

A spokeswoman for Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the minister heard reports the popular spread was being used to concoct home brew in some dry Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

"Addiction of any type is a concern but communities, especially where alcohol is banned, must work to ensure home brewing of this type does not occur," Mr Scullion said in a statement.

The minister stopped short of placing restrictions or bans on the sale of the spread or other yeast-based products in such communities.

Tony Abbott quashed the idea of a ban.

"This is a deregulatory Government and the last thing I want to do is to have a Vegemite watch ... because Vegemite, quite properly, is for most people a reasonably nutritious spread on your morning toast or on your sandwiches," he said.

"What's important is that we ensure that remote communities, all communities, are being properly policed."

Entire Article Here

OMG! I can't imagine what it tastes like. Apparently you mix Vegemite with orange juice. The yeast in Vegemite gets the fermentation process going.

Apparently it does the job lol.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

lloydslights — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:02:50 GMT

What an opportune time to get the "cooks" and sponsors of cooking or science education together for a positive outcome.

Because in my mind, someone who thinks up these "recipes" is very clever..... and to make it actually work too, shows that they are capable enough to research or practice using those undeveloped skills.

DEB

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

lloydslights — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:04:15 GMT

By the way Icy, have you got new glasses? That print is awfully small.

DEB

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

icyfroth — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:06:59 GMT

lol no I don't have new glasses and yes the print looked very small to me as I was typing but I didn't have my glasses on at the time.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

this-one-time-at-bandcamp — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:46:02 GMT

During WWII, torpedomen used to drain the alcohol out of the torpedo gyros, mix it with prune juice, and party hearty.........

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

imastawka — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 01:08:19 GMT

They're a bit late to the party.

Vegemite was used extensively in jails for home brews well into the 80's

Also potatoes - which is how vodka is made.

If they want alcohol, they will find a way

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

monman12 — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:09:46 GMT

"During WWII, torpedomen used to drain the alcohol out of the torpedo gyros, mix it with prune juice, and party hearty...."

Sorry, but as ex military I can not let that pass !

Gyroscopes do not run in liquid as they have a very high speed rotor.

Alcohol was taken in the US Navy from US torpedoes which used it as part of the steam propulsion system, it was then mixed with fruit juice, normally pineapple. The USN caught-on and coloured the alcohol with a foul tasting pink dye (hence pink lady cocktails) and eventually used a replacement lethal liquid.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

monman12 — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:24:34 GMT

You have to "love" the media when parliament is on Hols, it is a weekend, and in many cases they have no clue! The story gives the impression that Vegemite itself is being turned into beer, it was even on BBC TV news !

The Vegemite as mentioned above is just a source of yeast. Why not buy a small packet of baking yeast?, or do as i did many years ago, tip the dregs of a few bottles of my favourite beer (contains yeast) into a container and add sugar and water. In fact after one "brew" you have a permanent supply of yeast from the resulting residue (sludge) and do not have to source any more.

The story behind Vodka is that potatoes are easy to grow in northern Europe unlike sugar beet and cane, So the starch in the potatoes is naturally converted into a form of sugar which the hungry yeast can munch, grow, and produce CO2 and alcohol.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

imastawka — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:29:55 GMT

Methinks you did not read the article, John.

Remote indigenous communities are not going to have packets of yeast

hanging around. Also being 'dry' communites, they will not have dregs

of their beer to use. The sugar component comes from the orange juice.

Like I said, if they want alcohol they will find a way to use what's at hand

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

lionrose.7 — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 04:10:08 GMT

I saw on Tv one night that in Jail you can do it with bread and orange juice, some one will always find a way to make plonk.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

monman12 — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 04:57:50 GMT

"Methinks you did not read the article, John." "Also being 'dry' communites, they will not have dregs of their beer to use '

I did read the article (most of them being copies) and will repeat from my earlier post that after one brew you will have a never ending supply of yeast in the form of the sludge (lees) in the bottom of the fermentation container. (bath mentioned in one article) The sludge/lees can be allowed to dry and then be used when required.

"they will not have dregs of their beer to use" Of course they will if they are producing alcohol no one drinks the sludge left..

As for the sugar content using orange juice, very inefficient (sugar/weight content) but would work. Not being familiar with availability of supplies in NT/Qld I would possibly suggest plain sugar (approx $1/Kg here)

From the BBC article: "Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said it was being bought in bulk to make moonshine."

That is plain silly, you do not need much yeast to start fermentation, and moonshine is DISTILLED beer.

Parliament in recess, weekend, not much happening, Australian icon, indigenous communities, and a minister who probably knows as much about beer as the types available in the "Members Bar"

Cheap beer: granulated sugar, water, yeast starter, keep warm and patience.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

myoclon1cjerk — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 11:10:11 GMT

Coopers? 😉

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

moonflyte — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 11:59:36 GMT

Alcoholism is a tragedy for Aborigines, many become alcoholics and then the total breakdown of family, violence and sexual abuse and community disharmony ensues.

It puts enormous strain on the women and children.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

debra9275 — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 23:55:10 GMT

if anyone watched "media watch' last night- they showed this story about vegemite being used to manufacture alcohol to be untrue

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-11/senator-scullions-claims-of-vegemite-monshine-highly-implausible/6689808

the original story came from Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion. (CLP)

A fermentation expert doubts claims from Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion that Vegemite is being used to make home brew alcohol in Aboriginal communities, saying the yeast in the spread would almost certainly be dead by the time it arrived on shop shelves

Dr John Boffa, who is a medical officer at the Central Australian Aboriginal Health Congress, said he has never seen Vegemite used to create alcohol.

Dr Boffa, who is also a spokesman for the People's Alcohol Action Coalition, said claims the spread was being used to make alcohol were "a sideshow" that were not once mentioned in a recent parliamentary report into the harmful use of alcohol in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

"We have never had a case of it here. It is certainly not a substantive or widespread problem," Dr Boffa said

though I agree that acohol is a problem in some communities, it seems that vegemite is not as it is made from yeast extract, not yeast

I might add that this story about making alcohol from vegemite went world wide too

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

debra9275 — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:14:24 GMT

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4295127.htm

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

icyfroth — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:14:28 GMT

@debra9275 wrote:
if anyone watched "media watch' last night- they showed this story about vegemite being used to manufacture alcohol to be untrue

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-11/senator-scullions-claims-of-vegemite-monshine-highly-implausible/6689808

the original story came from Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion. (CLP)

A fermentation expert doubts claims from Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion that Vegemite is being used to make home brew alcohol in Aboriginal communities, saying the yeast in the spread would almost certainly be dead by the time it arrived on shop shelves

Dr John Boffa, who is a medical officer at the Central Australian Aboriginal Health Congress, said he has never seen Vegemite used to create alcohol.
Dr Boffa, who is also a spokesman for the People's Alcohol Action Coalition, said claims the spread was being used to make alcohol were "a sideshow" that were not once mentioned in a recent parliamentary report into the harmful use of alcohol in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
"We have never had a case of it here. It is certainly not a substantive or widespread problem," Dr Boffa said

though I agree that acohol is a problem in some communities, it seems that vegemite is not as it is made from yeast extract, not yeast

I might add that this story about making alcohol from vegemite went world wide too

"Highly implausible is not the same as "untrue".

In Queensland, where there are 15 dry Indigenous communities, far north region crime coordinator Geoff Marsh said police were aware that homebrewers using the yeast in Vegemite to produce alcohol had “done it for years”.

“But there are a lot of products that contain yeast and it’s all a bit of a beat up. We’re not overly concerned about it at all in our position,” he told Guardian Australia.

One former school principal with decades of experience teaching in north Queensland Indigenous communities told Guardian Australia he first became aware of Vegemite used in brewing alcohol in the 1990s but this had since been eclipsed by an even unlikelier method – orange juice filtered through nappies.

Entire Article Here

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

debra9275 — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:18:37 GMT

from your article

“But there are a lot of products that contain yeast and it’s all a bit of a beat up. We’re not overly concerned about it at all in our position,” he told Guardian Australia.

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

icyfroth — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:31:20 GMT

@debra9275 wrote:
from your article

“But there are a lot of products that contain yeast and it’s all a bit of a beat up. We’re not overly concerned about it at all in our position,” he told Guardian Australia.

So? "it's a bit of a beat up" is not the same as "untrue".

The news industry thrives on "beat-ups".

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

myoclon1cjerk — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:39:42 GMT

A spokeswoman for Kraft said it was nigh on impossible to brew alcohol from Vegemite because the yeast extract was dead.As John pointed out earlier,why not just buy a packet of brewers yeast?

Re: Vegemite Used To Brew Alcohol In Remote Communites

tezza2844 — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:48:01 GMT

@icyfroth wrote:
@debra9275 wrote:
from your article

“But there are a lot of products that contain yeast and it’s all a bit of a beat up. We’re not overly concerned about it at all in our position,” he told Guardian Australia.
So? "it's a bit of a beat up" is not the same as "untrue".

The news industry thrives on "beat-ups".

Vegemite is made from yeast, but the yeast cells are autolysed (broken) and killed with heat during the process. It could not start a fermentation.

— Dr Janet Paterson, UNSW Food Science Department, 14th August, 2015

from media watch report

Dr Vickers, from the University of Queensland, said the heat needed to make Vegemite would probably kill off all the yeast, and the high salt content of the product would further reduce chances that any yeast was alive.

"There is nothing alive in the Vegemite that you can use to make beer with," she said.

She said there was a slim chance that Vegemite could be added to home brew to provide nutrients to assist alcohol production, but there were other cheaper options around that would do the same job.

ABC news

Seems like the claim falls into the not true category as well a beat up