Some commercials make a beer on the beach look so refreshing and attractive. Palm trees swaying in the soft breeze, as bare manicured toes dig into soft sand, and a tanned hand squeezes a fresh lime into a beer bottle under the tropical sun. Sounds divine. But hold up on that last part.

So, can you add lime to any beer? Yes you can, just don’t do it in direct sunlight. The fact is you could get “lime disease” from cutting and squeezing limes into your beer when exposed to the UV rays of the sun. This can cause serious skin irritation and blisters, among other things.

If you love the way a beer tastes when you put lime into it, don’t worry, there might be a way for you to keep adding lime to your beer. Let’s take a look at the ins and outs of adding a lime to your favorite brew.  Let’s take a minute to look further into this now.

Why Do People Like Adding Limes to Their Beer?

So why exactly do people feel the need to put a lime in their beer in the first place? There are actually a couple of logical reasons as well as a couple related to the taste.

• Some people believe that the lime will clean the top of the bottle by eliminating any lingering germs due to the acidic content of the lime.
• Limes can also mask the taste of a skunky beer, but who’s buying skunky beer in the first place?
• A lot of people think that it looks pretty cool to have that lime wedge in the top of a Corona or other beer.

The thing most neglect to think about is the fact that most bartenders touch the limes with their bare hands as they put it in your beer. This is a huge health code violation because no one is supposed to have bare hand contact with ready to eat food. Just because the lime is going in the beer bottle doesn’t mean it isn’t still food.

Can You Add Lime to Any Beer?

You can do it, but you’ve got to take the proper precautions, which are mainly making sure you’re not exposed to a lot of direct sunlight. If you are exposed to a lot of sunlight you could get “lime disease,” also known as Phytophotodermatitis (It is important not to confuse this disease with “Lyme disease,” which is totally different).

Phytophotodermatitis can occur when you squeeze or cut a lime in direct sunlight. Limes can undergo a chemical reaction due to the UV rays of the sun. This can lead to your skin becoming irritated and even burned.

This disease can be mild, moderate, and even severe. Symptoms may include the following:

•     Small to large blisters
•    Skin irritations
•    Conditions that are like second-degree burns
•     Redness
•     Brown marks that can last for months before fading

Also, you most likely will be in some pain until your disease clears up. Now, let’s take a closer look at why limes can cause Phytophotodermatitis.

Why Do Limes Cause Phytophotodermatitis?

There is a chemical found in limes called furocoumarin that can cause a toxic reaction when combined with the ultraviolet rays of the sun. This reaction can result in “lime disease,” also known as “Phytophotodermatitis.”

The effects of the reaction can begin within minutes of the lime juice being exposed to the sunlight. In most cases, a rash will appear on a person’s body within 24 hours. This rash can burn and become very painful.

Precautions to Take When Adding Limes to Beer

If you really love the taste of lime in your beer, don’t worry, you can decrease your odds of getting “lime disease” by cutting, squeezing, and adding limes to beer when you are out of direct sunlight.

So, make your lime/beer combo in the house and not out in the sun. A few other precautions you can take include the following:

•     Wear a large-brimmed hat.
•     Cover up your legs and arms.
•     Sit under a big umbrella.
•     Wear gloves.
•     Use an SPF-50 sunscreen with broad-spectrum UVA/UVB.

Taking these precautions can help you beat the odds of getting Phytophotodermatitis, so why not give them a try the next time you decide to add lime to your favorite beer.

A word of caution: The risk of skin irritation is not limited to the type of alcohol used. In this case, we are talking about beer. The same risk is present, whether you are adding the lime to beer, a margarita or a vodka-tonic. It is the lime and sunlight that is the issue here.

Can You Add Lemons to Beer?

Some people have changed to adding lemons to their beer instead of limes, let’s take a quick look to see if it is safe to switch from adding lemons instead of limes to your beer.

The fact is you should be concerned about getting lemon juice on your skin when in direct sunlight. Yes, it could cause you to get Phytophotodermatitis, which can be painful.

However, using the same precautions mentioned above, such as cutting your lemons indoors, then squeezing them into your beer before going out in direct sunlight, will help decrease the odds of getting the disease.

Now, let’s talk a little bit more about Phytophotodermatitis just in case you do experience a rash or burn after mixing up your favorite lemon or lime beer drink.

Is Phytophotodermatitis Contagious?

According to Fairview.org, “Phytophotodermatitis is an inflammatory reaction of the skin.” It is often referred to as “lime disease” or “margarita disease.” It usually begins with a burning sensation; then, a red rash will appear, which in most cases turns into dark marks or blisters.

However, thankfully, it is not contagious.

You can feel the effects of the disease within minutes of being exposed, but it can take up to 24 hours before you will notice the rash and skin burns appear. The rash may get worse for 1 to 3 days.

Does Phytophotodermatitis Go Away?

The fact is Phytophotodermatitis isn’t as common as other types of dermatitis. However, it can cause nasty blisters to appear on the skin. The blisters and marks caused by the disease can be very painful.

Phytophotodermatitis usually goes away on its own, but in some instances, a person might need to seek the help of a dermatologist.

Some people choose to use home care treatments for the disease before they seek professional help, so let’s talk a little about the things you can do at home for your disease now.

Ways to Treat Phytophotodermatitis

There are some home care remedies for treating Phytophotodermatitis; you can try out; these include the following:

•        Use ice packs: On the first day, you can put ice packs on the infected area to help relieve the pain. Also, you can find first aid creams at your local pharmacy that may also help with the pain.
•        Apply a dressing: Some people find it helpful to apply a dressing to the burn. If you do put a dressing on your infected area, make sure to change it once a day. Also, remember a dressing might stick to your skin. If this happens, dampen the bandage with warm water and then carefully remove it.
•        Wash it: You will need to wash the infected area at least once a day with soap and water. Remember to simply pat it dry with a towel.
•        Apply hydrocortisone: This will help the inflammation around the infected area.

If the rash and burn don’t go away on its own, then you should see a medical professional. A doctor can usually diagnose Phytophotodermatitis with a simple physical exam. They may even be able to diagnose it just by asking you questions about your recent activity.

You should be aware that sometimes the disease gets misdiagnosed because it somewhat resembles a sunburn, fungal infection, chemical burn, and even a poison ivy rash.

Well, I hope this helps you answer whether or not you can add lime to your favorite beer. Remember, if you are going to add that lime to your favorite beer, then take as many precautions as possible. Also, if you do happen to notice a rash or burn on your skin that doesn’t go away, be smart, and act quickly to treat it before it worsens.

Sugar is food for yeast, and alcohol is what is produced when yeast metabolizes sugars, so adding sugar to beer is a necessary step in the process. The key is to know when to add the sugar, how much to add, and what kind to add.

What happens if you add sugar to beer? There are four primary reasons that you would want to add sugar to beer. If you add it during primary fermentation, it will increase the ABV of the beer. You can also add sugar to lighten the body or to alter the flavor or color of the brew. Bottle conditioning your beer is another reason you would add sugar.

Homebrewing has become an extremely popular pastime as the increase in microbreweries and craft beers has continued over the past 10-15 years. Whether you’ve got some experience in this area or are just starting to think about giving it a try, knowing how and when to use sugar is an important part of the process.

How and When to Add Sugar to Beer

The process of setting up a beer will vary greatly depending on the methods that you are using. Regardless of how you get there, you will eventually arrive at a point where you have what brewers call the “wort.” This is the result of combining and heating the basic elements of beer: water, grain, and flavoring agents (hops).

Once you have your wort and it has cooled to the point where it will not kill the yeast, you take the step of pitching the yeast. It is the yeast feeding on sugars in your wort that produces alcohol. If you add sugar to your wort during the cook or during the “primary fermentation” phase of brewing, it will result in a higher alcohol content for your beer.

Depending on the types of sugar you add, and precisely how far along your beer is in the fermentation phase, the result might be a lightening of the body of the beer. Alcohol is lighter than water, and so beer with higher alcohol content should have a lighter body. Certain sugars can also impart color and flavor characteristics to your brew.

When your beer has finished fermenting, it will be lightly carbonated or mostly flat. One of the easiest ways for homebrewers to carbonate beer is called bottle conditioning. This method requires you to add additional sugar. Once you seal the beer in the bottle, the fermentation of that final bit of sugar inside the sealed bottle will have the effect of force carbonating your beer.

The Myth of Sugar and Cidery Beer

Some brewers and craft beer enthusiasts will swear that adding sugar to your beer will give the beer a cidery flavor. This is a myth that is easily disproved to anyone who is willing to listen to reason. The kinds of off-flavors that people describe as cider-y are almost always traceable to poorly sanitized brewing equipment or some other misstep in the brewing process.

While cidery flavors should not be blamed on sugar, there are certain sugars that have noticeable effects on the finished flavor of beer. Since there are so many different kinds of sugar and so many sources that you can incorporate in your brewing, it’s worth taking a look at what those are.

Kinds of Sugars and Where to Find Them

As we said above, beer’s primary ingredients are water, grain, and hops. Grain contains high starch contents, but heating the water and the grain together breaks those starches down into sugars. When your mash is complete, and your wort is cooling, there will be fructose, maltose, glucose, and sucrose present. Each of these sugars is fermentable by beer yeasts.

Fructose

Fructose is a rapidly fermentable sugar that is derived from a variety of starches. Fructose is also known as Levulose.

Glucose

Glucose is another very fast fermentable sugar. Some brewers use the terms “Glucose” and “Dextrose” interchangeably, though Dextrose is derived specifically from corn.

Sucrose

Rapidly fermentable by beer yeast, Sucrose is a natural fermentable found in malts.

Maltose

A slower fermentable, it occurs naturally in malt and other sweeteners.

Lactose

Lactose is non-fermentable by beer yeast, though it can be fermented by different types of wild yeast. It imparts a sweet flavor in beer and is commonly used to turn stouts into “milk stouts.”

So then, every source of sugar that you can add to your beer, from maple syrup to table sugar, is ultimately going to resolve as one or more of these types of sugars. A visit to your local homebrew supply store will give you a good idea of just how many options there are for adding sugars to your beer.

Candi Sugar

This is a very popular option for Belgian-style beers and strong ales. It is a slowly crystalized sucrose that can end up white, amber, or brown in color. The darker the color, the more caramelized the crystals and the more of an effect it will have on the color and flavor of your beer. These sugar sources are used to lighten the body of the beer and increase the alcohol content.

Corn Sugar

As we said above, corn sugar is known as Dextrose and is molecularly identical to Glucose. Corn sugar is what most brewers prefer for bottle conditioning their beer. Dextrose can also be used to lighten the body of the beer and increase ABV%.

Specialty Sources

There are many other sources that you can experiment with in your brewing recipes. Some, such as maple syrup, molasses, and agave syrup, have become pretty popular. Others like beet and cane sugar, palm sugar, and raw sugar are riskier to use in the brewing process because they offer more potential problems than they do upsides.

Sugary Beer and Bottle Conditioning

If you’ve ever been getting ready to pop the top on a bottle of homebrewed beer only to find yourself holding onto a miniature version of old faithful, then you know just how bad things can get when bottle conditioning goes wrong.

There are two main ways to perform bottle conditioning. The first is bottle priming, a method that has brewers place sugar directly into the individual bottles before filling them with beer. This method makes it difficult to control the exact weights of fermentable sugar that go into each bottle. When too much sugar goes in, the beer geyser is the result.

The other way to bottle condition beer is to batch prime your beer. This method has brewers add a set amount of fermentable sugar to the whole batch of beer before portioning it into bottles. Because the fermentables are being introduced into a larger volume, small measuring errors make less of a difference.

Giving Sugar a Try

Are you ready to try adding sugar to your next homebrew project? If you’ve read all of the information in this article, you definitely know enough to begin the process of experimenting. Ultimately it will be experimentation and experience that will help you develop an approach that suits your brewing process and your taste in beer.

Half of the fun of homebrewing is tinkering with the results until you’ve gotten everything just perfect and then challenging yourself to do it that well every time. Think of adding sugar as one more tool in your brewer’s tool kit.

It can be a great way to increase the alcohol content of the beers you brew. As you experiment, you’ll find that you can also affect changes on the body, color, and flavor of your beers that range from subtle to significant. Give it a try and see what you can come up with.

I was at a friend’s house the other day and he was drinking beer out of a beautifully crafted beer stein which happened to have a lid on it. I asked him why the beer stein had a lid on it and he had no idea. I was curious so I did a little digging and found out some really neat things about beer steins, but first let’s get to the question at hand.

This is why beer steins have lids: After the bubonic plague struck Europe, several infestations of flies and mosquitos landed as well. To protect against the dangerous insects and as a sanitary measure, people began covering food and drink to keep out diseased flies. The beer stein lid was born. The lids come in handy now for preventing spillage and keeping the beer at a constant temperature.

Beer steins are beautifully decorated with different themes and although they were originally created to keep insects out of drinks, beer stein lids are highly decorative pieces that come in handy to prevent spills and warm beer. They can be made of different materials, varying styles, and a number of sizes. I’ve done a bit of research about all these things so keep reading to find out a bunch of interesting information on beer steins.

What Is the Lid on A Beer Stein For?

Preventing the spread of bubonic plague took all kinds of measures in the 14^th century. Diseased flies were all about, and beer drinkers needed to devise protection. Today, the lids still serve a good purpose to keep fruit flies out, and they also help to keep beer at a constant temperature.

Nowadays you can find steins with or without lids, mostly serving a decorative purpose. Let’s find out a bit more about all the different kinds of beer stein lids out there.

The Many Different Beer Stein Lids

Nowadays, the lid serves the purpose of adding a nice finishing touch to the stein. There are hundreds of different lids currently available, but the vast majority can be categorized into five different types.

• Ornamental – These lids are always pewter and are the most popular choice of lids for limited-edition type steins. The shape of this stein lid is typically conical with a finial at the top and they usually have a lot of details that require special craftsmanship. 
• Conical – This is the cone-shaped lid that is usually made out of pewter but can also be made out of white base metal. These are the most common lids and least expensive and now are mostly machine-made. The surface gets plated with either a nickel to create a shiny finish or a pewter-like alloy to create a darker antique finish.
• Flat – These lids are also known as semi-flat lids, as they are not entirely flat. They are typically made from pewter and have a surface that is easy to add engravings too.
• Inlay – These are known to be very attractive lids, usually always with a pewter lid and flange with a stoneware figurine in the center.
• Figurine – Known as a top-of-the-line lid, mostly made of pewter with a figurine mounted on top.

Benefits Of Beer Steins

A drinking vessel that once was used to help protect beer drinkers from the bubonic plague, beer steins have now become a staple in many pubs and breweries. Here are a few factors that make people believe that the beer stein is the perfect drinking vessel.

• Status symbol – Back in the earlier days, people who owned a beer stein were seen as having status in the community. It showed that they were someone who could afford small luxuries in a difficult time in the world.
• Durable – Beer steins are made with sturdy materials that are built to last through daily use.
• Memorable experience – Beer steins make great souvenirs to remember a beer or place you have enjoyed. And since they are so durable, they’ll last a long time.
• Better taste – Better tasting beer is all about personal preference. Those who love the traditional design and feel of a beer stein will often say that the flavor of the beer is better. It could be that the porous nature of the vessel helps add a flavor to the beer while the thick stoneware and the lid can help keep the beer at optimal temperature.

Beer Stein Sizes

Metric volume is the most common method of sizing a beer stein; one metric liter is 33.8 ounces. The most popular sizes of beer steins are the ¼ liter (8.5 oz), ½ liter (16.9 oz), ¾ liter (25.4 oz) and 1 liter (33.8 oz). The half-liter size is the most popular.

History of the Beer Stein Lid

As briefly mentioned in the opening section, after the 14th century, as a reaction to the plague, there was a law established in Germany that required any beverage containers to be covered for sanitary purposes. At that same time, different techniques to improve earthenware created stoneware, which then created the presence of stoneware drinking vessels.

By the end of the 19th century, the stein was defined as being made in Europe crafted from different materials like pewter, mainly in England, and glass, porcelain, and silver elsewhere in the region.

Over the centuries, many stein-decorating styles and techniques were developed and refined, resulting in the wide variety of craftwork and artistry we see today.

Types of Beer Stein Material

There are many different kinds of beer steins made these days. A lot of them serve the purpose of decoration or are given as souvenirs from different breweries. Many beer steins are still made with lids, while some are made without. Here are the different materials used to make most beer steins.

Pewter

Pewter is a compound consisting of tin, copper, and antimony. In Europe, pewter has a minimum of 92% tin and copper and antimony are added to harden the metal. The higher tin content means a more silvery color.

These steins are component cast, meaning that the lids, bodies, handles, and ornamentation are all separately made.

Crystal

Crystal is a clear, high-quality glass. The body of these steins are hand-cut, and either hand-engraved or engraved by a mold. Usually, these are mouth-blown and case-hardened with a transparent coloring on the exterior.

Glass

Glass is the least expensive of the most popular material used. Glass bodies and handles are made from a mold, and the lid is often attached by machine. The bodies are usually transfer-decorated which are the only handwork that is involved.

Ceramic

Ceramic steins fall into one of five categories according to the quality of the ceramic mass, raw materials, firing temperature, color, and density of the mass.

• Earthenware – Fired at a temperature around 1,000 °C, this is a colored mass that is porous until it is glazed.
• Ceramics – Fired at about 1,050 °C – 1,080 °C, this is a slightly porous, light-colored ware that must be glazed to be impermeable.
• Creamware – Fired at 1,150 °C and then again at 1,180 °C without a glaze and then decorated and fired again at around 900 °C-1,000 °C. This is a white earthenware with a lead glaze.
• Stoneware – Fired in high temperatures of 1,200-1,400 °C, this hard material becomes glass-like and has a result product of less than 2% porous so that glaze is not mandatory.
• Porcelain – Fired at temperatures of 1,300-1,400 °C, true porcelain is made of kaolin and petuntse. These ingredients produce a white, more or less translucent, glass-like material.

Ceramic Stein Decorations

There are a few different techniques used to decorate the body of a ceramic stein.

• Raised relief – This three-dimensional technique is easily the most popular. A highly detailed decorative area is raised above the background of the stein.
• Transfer decoration or decal decoration. The least expensive of the decorations. Because of modern technology, we can now produce great details of portraits, paintings, and photography that gets transferred onto the stein quite easily.
• Incised decoration or etched-decoration. This is a more complex and expensive technique, so it is not as popular. The subject outline of the stein is etched by hand into the body.

Well that pretty much exhausts my knowledge about beer steins and why they have lids on them. Hopefully next time you are enjoying a brew in a beer stein you can impress your friends with all you’ve learned here today!