Beers in the bathroom

Hanging in the upstairs men’s toilet is a poster that lays out a ‘Periodic Table of Beers’. This delicious combination of scientific iconography, postgraduate irreverence and well-researched information really suits the style of the ACFR. In the place of atomic number is the beer’s original gravity and final gravity: figures that help calculate the final alcoholic content of the beer. The colours indicate the type of yeast used in that beer. Each beer style also has an SRM rating, the Standard Reference Method, a measure of the intensity of a beer’s colour. Next time I go to the pub I’ll have to remember to bring my spectrophotometer.

Update: [Story in the Sydney Morning Herald] Research student at ACFR Jason Held is working on a beer for space tourists. In zero gravity your tongue swells, you become less sensitive to taste, and the bubbles can behave unpredictably. Without gravity to separate the gas from liquid, there is a risk of ‘wet burps’. A beer to solve these problems is being produced in a partnership between Saber Aeronautics and 4 Pines Stout.

Another update 3/3/2011: Another article on space stout, by News.com.au.