Barely grown in space is no different than barely grown on Earth.  And the beer, then isn’t different.  So beer produced in space is not different.  That’s good news for austronaunts knewing there can be good beer in space, if allowed.  

… the beer will not be commercially available, and it certainly will not be consumed in space, as the name may suggest. Firstly, it is a very limited edition “pure space-grown barley” beer, only to be tasted by 60 people chosen via an exclusive Japanese lottery. Secondly, if the fizzy liquid were to be drunk in zero-gravity, there will be some rather unappealing side-effects. Down here on Earth, bubbles inside a carbonated liquid fizz to the surface, counteracting gravity. As you drink, the liquid and gas separate, letting you release the gas as a burp. NASA experiments in the 1980’s on carbonated liquids in microgravity showed that the gas and the liquid do not separate; as you try to burp, you release the liquid as well. This is known as a “wet burp”, guaranteed not to win you any friends if you were drinking on the International Space Station! Besides I doubt mission control would be very happy about letting its astronauts drink and drive the Space Shuttle…

Now the closing comments, though…

All that is needed now is to use the water from the space station’s urine recycler in the beer brewing process and we’ll have an authentic, sustainable Space Beer that can be produced anywhere in the Solar System! I wonder if that Space Beer would taste any different…

Quotes from 365 Days of Astronomy, January 9: The Link Between Beer and Space Settlement.  Audio and transcript available.

 

Too bad alcohol impairs star gazing.

Night vision also is impaired by alcohol, nicotine, and low blood sugar, so don’t drink, smoke, or go hungry while deep-sky observing. 

 

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