Re-use of glass

[ptg]

Claim ullage? you're havin' a bubble mate.. We can barely claim a genuine amount for wastage nowadays

[runningdog]

Have to say, I reckon if you're drinking alcohol you've taken all the 'elf and safety measures you need. Listening, sorry, reading, to what many of you have to say it makes me wonder how the hell the human race got this far. After all, in times past, one of the reasons folk drank beer, wine, spirits etc was to kill the nasties in the water supply.
I really don't care, fresh glass or me used one, although generally I prefer the latter, if I got a good pint first time round then I've just taken another variable out of the equation.
It's always got me through so far.........

[arwkrite]

RD has a point . These days we clean with antiseptics and antibacterials killing off both good and bad bugs. The world has become abit too clean with nothing to oppose new strains of bad bugs.
When I was a kid really hard types of 10 year olds would prove themselves by eating garden worms or snails, uncooked of course. Sadly I never made the grade but I don't remember there ever being any fatalities. It would probably put the little darlings in hospital these days.
Any doubts stick to bottles or spirits. After all you don't want to end up in hospital where you could catch something really nasty or perhaps starve to death. Flu jab anybody ?

[Brewguru]

Have to say, I reckon if you're drinking alcohol you've taken all the 'elf and safety measures you need. Listening, sorry, reading, to what many of you have to say it makes me wonder how the hell the human race got this far. After all, in times past, one of the reasons folk drank beer, wine, spirits etc was to kill the nasties in the water supply.
I really don't care, fresh glass or me used one, although generally I prefer the latter, if I got a good pint first time round then I've just taken another variable out of the equation.
It's always got me through so far.........

Indeed, beer is boiled to death before fermentation and so there should be no microorganisms present. Yeast is then added which quickly start fermentation and become the dominant microbe. Hence beer was always safer than water to drink in the old days before chlorination (and probably still is in some parts of the world).

It ends up being at a pH of around 3.9 -4.1 which is quite acidic and does rot your teeth, it also means that most pathenogenic bugs such as E Coli and Salmonella won't survive in beer. You do get beer spoilage organisms such as acetic acid bacteria (vinegar), diacetyl (butterscotch) infections, lactic acid bacteria (sour) and wild yeast (TCP) to name a few, none of which will harm you, just makes your pint unpleasant. Years ago beer would have been vinuous which means it had actually been infected with other bugs (e.g (Bretanomyces Yeast) some Belgian beers and Old ales actually are the closest we get to this nowadays.

So very little beer related stuff would make you very ill unless something goes horribly wrong. However as has been said there is always a chance of infection from one dirty glass to a swan neck to the next pint drawn so on that basis it'd have to be a clean glass for everyone evertime. Bugs could definitely survive long enough to infect you this way. As for the drip trays any beer in those would be rank, flat and oxidised so only useful for cooking. God forbid anyone ever pours it back into a barrel (and I have seen funnels on top of cask shives in cellars - why else would they be there, fining ? I think not)

[runningdog]

[QUOTE=Brewguru;26422]However as has been said there is always a chance of infection from one dirty glass to a swan neck to the next pint drawn so on that basis it'd have to be a clean glass for everyone evertime. Bugs could definitely survive long enough to infect you this way QUOTE]

The thing that troubles is me is the modern twisting of the words, chance, might, may and could into the definitive 'will'. It's long odds they won't, and the more you prep your system the longer those odds become.
Come on, lads and lasses, you're human beings and human beings are tough and resiliant. Most 'threats' to your health are prompted by either the profit motive or the modern, despicable litigious state of mind.

[oldboots]

It's long odds they won't, and the more you prep your system the longer those odds become.
Come on, lads and lasses, you're human beings and human beings are tough and resiliant.

Being almost as old as RD and Arky I have always been in the "eat a bit of muck to make you immune" camp and the old saying is "we all eat a peck* of dirt before we die" BUT I have to say when I lived in the south and drank out of dirty reused glasses I used to get sore throats the next day which I don't get oop north. I'm not saying it was from transfered bacteria it could equally be bad washing of glasses, or unwashed barstaff contaminating the glass, after all the dirtiest thing in a pub is usually the cash as someone pointed out somewhere; if only the dirtiest thing in the pub was the barmaid

* a peck is TWO GALLONS

[trainman]

It shouldn't, in this case, be a question of what each punter wants, as it is that punter's spittle (or whatever) that may end up in the next customer's glass.
I used to keep my glass long ago, but now believe that it should be the law to use a clean glass for all drinkers, every time. And I think it now is.

[NickDavies]

It ends up being at a pH of around 3.9 -4.1 which is quite acidic and does rot your teeth, it also means that most pathenogenic bugs such as E Coli and Salmonella won't survive in beer.

E-coli, which is the usual suspect when poor personal hygeine is involved is perfectly happy with gastric acid, which is around pH 1-2, ie 1000-10,000 times as acidic as beer. A quick scout round the web suggests beer is a fair culture medium and that alcohol concentrations up to 5% will only inhibit growth, rather than prevent it or kill the bugs outright. Indeed it would do quite well in sweet, weak, warm dark mild; perhaps not so well in something strong, freezing cold and devoid of any nutrients, like Wifebeater.

I'll have a clean glass please.

[Brewguru]

[QUOTE=NickDavies;26449]E-coli, which is the usual suspect when poor personal hygeine is involved is perfectly happy with gastric acid, which is around pH 1-2, ie 1000-10,000 times as acidic as beer. A quick scout round the web suggests beer is a fair culture medium and that alcohol concentrations up to 5% will only inhibit growth, rather than prevent it or kill the bugs outright. Indeed it would do quite well in sweet, weak, warm dark mild; perhaps not so well in something strong, freezing cold and devoid of any nutrients, like Wifebeater.

Hmmm, fair point. My angle was the beer in the cask / keg / bottle is more or less guaranteed bug free, and if not they wouldn't prosper anyway. If barstaff don't wash their hands properly theres not alot any of us can do about it.
Might have to stick to drinking brewdog's double IPA, enough alcohol and hops in that to nuke everything!

Tandleman's blog has something similar to the direction of this thread http://tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.co...ring-back.html