Yeah, stabby pokey!

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....But, for those who might have been curious, I found that blood can not be fermented in it's natural state. It has a pH of 7.35 to 7.45. But if you could greatly increase the CO2 levels in blood, you could drop the pH factor. Don't worry, this is going somewhere, not just gross and creepy stuff...

Now you've done it, someone on the boards is going to take this as a challenge and figure out how to do it. ;D


.... I noticed on the acid stuff at my HBS that it says you shouldn't adjust more than .3 or .4 which doesn't seem like much to me. So I was just wondering...

Since pH is a logarithmic number, these are large changes in value. Take a browse here:

http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/184ph.html

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Who says you can't ferment blood? The yeast work fine at a pH of 7.4.

In fact, if you do a quick google search, you'll find every DUI attorney in the country advertising this. If they do not use the proper preservatives in a blood sample, microorganisms can cause fermentation with potentially erroneous alcohol levels when tested. They are using this as a defense for drunk drivers.

Long ago, they used to ferment blood and take readings to determine the sugar content of blood. This article from 1925 is an example. However, blood happens to have a very low sugar content (like 1 g/L or less).

Nevertheless, I have no interest in encouraging hematomels.
 
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Phlebotomists love me, O+ and veins you could stick while using the needle like a bar room dart from across the hall. The red cross intake people practically drool when I say that I am willing to do a double red donation.
Zwolf, Once your are all certified, you'll have to come up and work one of the Red Cross Drives up my way, I'm about 3 hours north of you, We can partake in some mead, preferably after I get drained. Better buzz that way too!

SpamDog
 
@Dan, it's been to long since high school chemistry, I had though the pH scale went to 10.

@Fedsen, I thought yeast was looking for a range around 3.5ish. Gosh, have I forgotten that much already... I was hoping to push out useless info, not important stuff...

@Spam, I do plan to volunteer with the Red Cross, though I dunno about a three hour drive... I guess if it was for a good cause, like... well aged mead or something that would work. ;D

@Wil, this thread has only wondered as much as a good conversation should. I mean, what would we have missed in life if we did not wander once in a while.

Though I am still wondering if CO2 could adjust the pH the must. Not for any reason specific like, more just a curiosity thing. It would have a handful of uses if it works like that. Could add an extra sharpness to a particularly sweet mead by carbonating it with the CO2. Adjust the pH in a must that's to high or low and you don't want to add chemicals while making a show mead with the adjustment of O2 or CO2... or would that then stop it from being a show mead...?
 
Though I am still wondering if CO2 could adjust the pH the must. Not for any reason specific like, more just a curiosity thing. It would have a handful of uses if it works like that. Could add an extra sharpness to a particularly sweet mead by carbonating it with the CO2. Adjust the pH in a must that's to high or low and you don't want to add chemicals while making a show mead with the adjustment of O2 or CO2... or would that then stop it from being a show mead...?

I dunno about the show mead part, but CO2 making things more acidic is why my distilled water has a pH around 5 or 6. And I'm pretty sure I've heard AToE mention that carbonation does add some sharpness to a sweet mead... although you can probably see that for yourself - get a can of ginger ale, pour half into a glass and de-fizz it, compare with the still- carb'd stuff in the can... I bet you'll find the flat stuff way too sweet by comparison.
 
Dissolved CO2 will lower the pH slightly as it forms carbonic acid when in solution. The effect is not dramatic, and when you take a mead saturated with CO2 and de-gas it, you may see the pH move up slightly (pehaps moving from 3.5 to 3.6 as an example). Dissolved CO2 will add some acidic bite to the flavor, and a sparkling mead will have a bit more bite than a still version just like a carbonated soda tastes different from one that has gone flat. Even in still wine, the amount of dissolved CO2 can make a difference in mouthfeel, with wines that retain a little CO2 having more. Some wineries actually control this by using CO2 in the mix of gases that they use to protect the wine. However, CO2 alone won't be the answer for adding a lot of acidity to a mead.

And you were correct that the ideal fermentation range for pH is around 3.6, but that is, in part, because a pH this low helps keep spoilage organisms away. The yeast themselves can actually function well over a huge range of pH.
 
Ha, oh don't remind me! NOT looking forward to it... I am looking forward to actually being quit though, very much so.

Soon you'll smell good again...not just how you smell to others, but your own sense of smell will come back to normal!
Yippee.
I'm cheering for you, Alan!
 
Had my mid term today. Got the highest grade, an 87%, so doing good. I got the actual blood draw stuff and safety things, I just can't seem to remember who to report things too and what bodies do what on the regulations end. So I figure as long as I do what I am supposed to do and not get in trouble, I don't need to know who can yell at me. So I got a couple day reprieve here and gonna try and get a mead going since some friends bought me a nice little honey gift pack.
 
Good for you! I think this last surgery (last week) was the first time I've gone under the knife without bloodwork being done beforehand. I guess they figure it's just a case of here we go again with the neck thing and they already know everything about me that they need to know. :)
 
Passed my final yesterday with a 91% finishing at the top of my class. I'm a bit upset the class is over though, I had good classmates and teachers. I also have nothing to do now until Dec 1st when my clinical's start. Yes, I know I can make more mead, but I still can't seem to find anyone to sell me any local honey. The bee people around here are mean. Anyways, if anyone is bored and wants to do some blood letting, I now know how to do it safely. And FYI, people used to pay real good money back in the early 1900's to have such a procedure done to keep their youth and health. So... you know... if you got extra honey, I'm sure we could work out a trade that way too. :D

Gosh it's much to early for me to be up...
 
Congrats! You know, if you were in my area I'd take you up on it... I always feel ... healthy? vital? some flavour of awesome, anyway... after giving blood. Although I really should just go donate and be done with it...
 
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Ha, my body works hard to make that blood, so unless someone else needs it I think I'll hang onto it thank you very much!

I do have to remember to start donating as often as I can before I go in for my next tattoo and I'm back on the list of undesirables. :(