alt Hacker NewsThis is complete and utter nonsense. The water used in beer often had bacteria (and other stuff) but to brew beer you must mash, at 65C for an hour or more, which pasteurizes the beer. Hops protect the beer against bacteria, and the yeast also makes it hard for other organisms to multiply in the fermented beer. Alcohol is one of those ways, but only one.
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circlefavshape • 04/24/2025
I think you misread the comment you're replying to.
> The alcohol wasnt what made beer safe. Beer was safer than water because to make bear one must use sterile water. So beer at least started out sterile/boiled before it went into the barrel.
AFAICS you're agreeing with this, so "complete and utter nonsense" seems a bit harsh
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That is modern beer, the stuff made by people who know about bacteria. Prior to modern knowledge, beer recipies were based on trial and error. Boiling the water first avoided many spoilation problems that, today, we know how to prevent through other means.