tyramine, beer, and ascorbic acid

[Guest guest]

Maybe this is some wild speculation, but I'm thinking about this

ascorbic acid/tyramine thing. Alcohol is one thing often associated

with tyramine, which is supposed to cause blood pressure problems,

headaches, and rises in MAO's which cause depression and violence.

According to Buhner, a lot of the old recipes for beers

contained spruce, pine, juniper, or other antiscorbutic plants. If

the thing is true that ascorbic acid breaks down the tyramine, leaving

only the naturally occurring tyrosine (think energy and serotonin),

well the drinks would be much more pleasant than the inebrients we're

used to today, which are more associated with headaches, depression,

and violent behavior.

Makes me wonder about the wine - are the grapes they use deficient in

ascorbic acid, or do they do something that destroys it (heating,

copper tubing)? (copper destroys ascorbic acid on contact)

[Guest guest]

Renate,

> Makes me wonder about the wine - are the grapes they use deficient in

> ascorbic acid, or do they do something that destroys it (heating,

> copper tubing)? (copper destroys ascorbic acid on contact)

You're speculation is very interesting, but I don't think you'd be

proven wrong if the vitamin C in the grapes wasn't destroyed. It

could just be that the other plants you mention are much higher in

vitamin C.

Chris

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[Guest guest]

I know standard homebrewers sometimes use gypsum and other salts to change

the PH of the water they are using in order to refine the taste of the beer

or better mimic another part of the world's water supply. It doesn't seem

too far fetched to use ascorbic acid in the same way in order to test this

theory.

-Lana