Brewer's Hypoxia
I brew beer at home, dark beer, like a porter or a stout. Once, years ago, I had a batch go bad -- bacteria got into the fermenting beer and turned the alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar). I had to throw that batch out and disinfect all of my equipment. While making the next batch, I was worried that it might get infected too, so I checked on it frequently. To check it I removed the top of the fermentation container, stuck my head in, and sniffed, hoping not to get any vinegary smell. One day, as I did this, the smell of hops and malt was so pleasant that I took in several lungs full of the delightfully scented air. As I did this, I felt a warm and pleasant tickling sensation moving up my arms. Soon my whole body felt pleasantly warm and comfy and I was floating in a cloud. While this was happening, I had a vision that I had arrived at the pearly gates and St. Peter asked me how I had died. In fact, I was starting to pass out, and my face dropped down into the fermenting beer, which startled me, causing me to pull my head back and out of the fermentation container. When I told St. Peter that I had drowned in a batch a beer, he pointed to the "down" elevator. In fact, pulling my head back out brought me back to consciousness.
After regaining normal consciousness, I realized what had happened. During fermentation, the yeast turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide (and some other stuff). The carbon dioxide is what makes the bubbles. Since it is heavier than regular air, it collects on top of the fermenting beer, shoving out the lighter, regular air. This layer of carbon dioxide contains no oxygen. If you breathe it in, the carbon dioxide quickly replaces the oxygen in your blood, and your brain starts to die (as does other bodily tissue). It is not at all unpleasant. In fact, it feels good. This is why early aviators were at such great risk of hypoxia when flying high where the air contains little oxygen.
Have you ever heard about persons stowing away on a freighter, to emigrate to a better place. Sometimes that freighter has been a banana boat. In the holds of a banana boat there are bananas, rodents, insects, and dry ice. The dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. It keeps the hold cold. As the dry ice evaporates, the carbon dioxide fills the hold, excluding oxygen. This kills the insects and the rodents, which is a good thing (unless you are an insect or a rodent). If there are human stowaways there, it kills them too. I hope their trip does take them to a better place, although not the place they likely intended.
Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch
This page most recently revised on 16-July-2023.