Saber Astronautics & 4 Pines Brewing

FLUID FLOW PERFORMANCE OF A 0G LIQUID CONTAINER (2013)

The main purpose of this experiment is to validate two containers designed to allow easy, simple consumption in space. The vision is for the consumable to be bottled, available off-the-shelf, hand-carried to the spaceport, and opened/consumed in the cabin safely without the use of straws or plastic bags. While the subject in this experiment is the Vostok “4-Pines” Stout (a.k.a., “Space Beer”), the container is viable for a wide range of bottled flight consumables (such as tea, coffee, juice, etc).

The second objective is to continue observations on drinkability, taste, and alcohol absorption of the beer recipe during in microgravity. The beer recipe is designed by the 4-Pines Brewing Company’s master brewer with guidance from Saber Astronautics. Vostok “4-Pines” Stout is designed to be low in carbonation and very high in flavor for baseline drinkability in microgravity. The 4-Pines Brewing Company is a licensed wholesale distributor in NSW, Australia and has won international awards for their recipes.

Dr. Held demonstrates in-flight procedures and protocols to the TRR team for one of the fluid flow devices being tested

Tara Croft and Jason Held test fluid flow device in zero gravity parabola on Zero-G Weightless Lab