Can You Brew Beer On the Moon?

When some apocalyptic issue in the very near future force humans scamper to another planet , we ’re probably going to have the same question .

Can we still get shitfaced ?

A squad of University of California , San Diego students are competing to get off an experiment aboard a space vehicle build by Indian inauguration TeamIndus , which encounter a million dollar bill as part of Google ’s Lunar XPRIZE competition . The students , like all of us , want to have it away whether barm can survive to ferment beer on the Moon .

Image: NASA/Adam Clark Estes

Image: NASA/Adam Clark Estes

The proposed experiment startle with wort — malt and weewee combine together , machinate on Earth and placed into a special experimentation vessel . The vessel would allow the fermentation physical process , where the barm turn sugar to alcohol , and the carbonation procedure , of become the bubble into the beer , to occur simultaneously without put out any spare carbon dioxide .

“ [ The cannister ] contains three compartment — the top will be filled with the sweet beer , and the second will contain the barm . When the rover bring down on the moon with our experiment , a valve will afford between the two compartment , allowing the two to mix , ” explains Srivaths Kaylan , a University of California , San Diego nanoengineering major and the squad ’s mechanically skillful lead , in apress passing . “ When the yeast has done its job , a second valve open up and the barm sink to the bottom [ to ] disjoined from the now fermented beer . ” The team , “ Team Original Gravity ” also admit UCSD student Neeki Ashari , PR and Operations lead , and Han Lu Ling , brewing lead .

It takes a specific kind of yeast to brew under the stressful conditions of blank . “ Different strain [ of yeast ] have different survival capabilities , ” Lance Shaner , owner ofOmega Yeast Labswho will furnish the student with yeast , say Gizmodo . “ Someone advocate one of our strains , ” called HotHead , for “ having a across-the-board temperature tolerance for the unsung condition and fluctuations . ” He enunciate the strain could create a tasty beer under a broad temperature range , from 60 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit ( 16 to 38 degrees Anders Celsius ) .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Gizmodo also asked Matt Simpson , Beer Industry Consultant and founder ofThe Beer Sommelier LLC , what he thought about the labor . “ I see no rationality for the experimentation to betray . Provided gravitational force , or want thereof , is the only factor that will substantively be changing in the fermentation process , typical ale brewing barm ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) should still prosper , ” though he pointed out that yeast requires certain levels of oxygen in monastic order to come through , reproduce and do its fermentation piece of work — there will be a little bit of atomic number 8 in the canister . Simpson noted that the students might cease up with a cloudy beer , since lower gravity may prevent the barm from dropping out of suspension . “ I see no rationality it wo n’t simply ferment in that surroundings , ” said Simpson .

TeamIndus plans to launch their craft December 28 , 2017 , and the UCSD squad is still contend with 24 others for the spot on circuit board the ship . But by god , I trust they ’re the one that get pick .

This post has been updated to let in more selective information about the squad .

William Duplessie