Beer is delicious. This is a fact.
According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, American consumers drank the equivalent of 27.5 gallons of beer and cider per person during the course of one single year.
But, did you know there’s more you can do with beer than just drinking it? Our friend wilgubeast over at Instructables inspired this article with his really cool list. Taking his lead, we expanded on it, finding a whole bunch of other cool uses too! So, if you have a few beers hiding in your fridge, go ahead and give one of these fun projects a try!
Use a Mini-Beer Can to Reduce Snoring
According to Men’s Health, you can easily reduce snoring with only a safety pin, a pocketed T-shirt, and a 6-ounce mini can of beer.
Before bed, fasten the beer can into the pocket of the T-shirt with a safety pin, and then put the T-shirt on backward. Having the can there will likely prevent you (or your husband, in my case) from sleeping on the back, the position most likely to make you snore.
WebMD explains, “Lying on your back makes the base of your tongue and soft palate collapse to the back wall of your throat, causing a vibrating sound during sleep. Sleeping on your side may help prevent this.”
While WebMD suggest taping a tennis ball to the back of your T-shirt, the beer can method works equally as well.
Be forewarned, however. If you keep snoring regardless of the position you sleep in, you may have obstructive sleep apnea. Sudhansu Choroverty, a neuroscience professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Health and Medical Sciences advises WebMD that you should “see a doctor in this case.”
Can add flavor to meat—but DOES NOT tenderize
There’s a big misconception that as a result of alcohol’s acidity, it will be able to tenderize meat in a marinade.
Sorry to say, but this simply isn’t true— marinades, in general, add flavor, but do not tenderize the meat. The Washington Post even reported on a study conducted by food scientists where a cut of meat was left in a mildly acidic marinade (like one with wine or vinegar) for 8 whole days- the end result was a mushy surface, but even after all that time, the marinade had only penetrated less than 1/8 of inch through the cut as a whole.
So, if you’re looking to tenderize, you’re better off going with a salt solution brine, which actually causes the proteins in the meat to change their shape, resulting in much more tender meat.
The Kitchn says the basic brine formula is 4 tablespoons of salt per 1 quart of water. If you have something like a full turkey, you’re going to want to submerge the meat in the brine for about 12 hours while something smaller, like chicken breasts or pork chops, only need about 1/2 an hour to really notice a difference.
What beer CAN do for your meat, though, is give it a great flavor— but you need to cook off the alcohol. According to the French Laundry Cookbook (via AmazingRibs.com), “Alcohol in a marinade in effect cooks the exterior of the meat, preventing the meat from fully absorbing the flavors.”
So, for a great alcoholic marinade using something like wine or beer, you’re going to want to simmer the alcohol out of the marinade over medium heat. Then after the marinade has cooled, you can pour it over the cut of meat to sit and absorb the flavor.
May Reduce the Risk of Cancer
I’m sure this one can be debated, but it’s been said that certain ingredients in beer can actually help prevent cancer. Last year, The American Chemical Society reported on a study published by the Chemical Research in Toxicology journal. They say:
“Hops, the flower cones used in beer-making, are also found in dietary supplements designed to help treat post-menopausal symptoms and other conditions. Scientists are now investigating whether an extract from the plan could help fend off breast cancer.
“The results suggest that 6-PN (a hops compound) could have anti-cancer effects, although more studies would be needed to further investigate this possibility, researchers say.”
Apparently, beer can prevent cancer in other ways, as well. When you grill or fry meat at high temperatures, mutagenic carcinogens— compounds able to literally transform your DNA and increase your chances of cancer— are formed.
Now that we’ve covered the fact that a beer marinade DOES NOT TENDERIZE, it has been shown to cut the formation of these carcinogens down by about half. So, it’s something work considering. There’s a 60-second explanation of it by Scientific American, which you can listen to here.
Trap and Kill Slugs and Mice
Humans aren’t the only ones who love beer— it turns out animals are also big fans, too! Interestingly enough, you can use flat beer to catch a few pesky pests, such as slugs and mice. The method for each is more or less the same.
For slugs, you need to dig a hole and bury a jar or plastic container, leaving only the lip uncovered. Now, just pour some beer and wait. Wilgubeast says slugs will be attracted by the yeast in the beer, and when they go to drink it, they will get stuck down there and eventually drown. Sorry, sluggies!
For mice, Men’s Health suggests a similar method. Fill a few pails, and put a makeshift ramp leading up to the lid of the container. Mice will be attracted by the smell of the beer, but once they fall into the container, they will be unable to get out.
Tada!
Polish Copper Cookware and Gold Jewelry
This was one of the most obscure uses of beer that I have come across, but I thought you guys might appreciate the tip! Gregg Smith, the general manager of the Idaho Brewing Country, tells Men’s Health:
“In days of yore, the last bit of beer from spent kegs was collected and used to polish the copper vats in breweries. Because of its acidity, you can just pour some on, let it sit for a while, then wipe it off. It also works well on Revere Ware pots.”
For gold jewelry, simply drop a ring in a container of beer and let it soak a bit before polishing.
To Reduce the Risk of Kidney Stones (Maybe)
According to WebMD, when kidney stones are in the kidney, they don’t cause any pain— it’s when they begin to make their way out that they become excruciating.
BottomLine Inc. describes a study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, where researchers examined the effects of a variety of drinks on kidney stones. While sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit punch increased the risk of kidney stones by 33% and 22% respectively, beer actually reduced the risk of kidney stones by 41%, having the biggest positive effect out of all the drinks tested.
The idea that beer can help pass and eliminate kidney stones is a bit controversial. Beer is a diuretic, encouraging you to pass urine, and ePain Assist says a moderate amount of beer “can help to remove small-sized kidney stones” and “[reduce] the risk of undergoing pain while passing” the stone.
The controversy stems from the fact that beer is also dehydrating, one of the main factors that contribute to the formation of the stones in the first place. But, if you don’t overdo it, and follow your beer up with a few big glasses of water, you should be fine.
Beauty, Beauty, Beauty!
This one is my personal favorite! Although it sounds a bit bizarre, soaking in beer can provide a ton of beauty benefits, especially in regards to hair and skin.
According to Medical Daily, beer has a low pH, allowing it to tighten hair follicles and clean hair. The yeast from the froth is also great for fighting acne, by decreasing sebum production and subsequently reducing pimples.
If you have some extra beer around and want to try it out, here are recipes for a beer conditioner, face scrub, bubble bath, hair rinse, and facial mask.
If you want to hop right into the beer beauty (literally), you can even try soaking in a beer bath. Europeans have been doing it for centuries, and according to The Alternative Daily, beer baths can improve damaged skin cells and conditions such as eczema, exfoliate and improve elasticity, reduce wrinkles, hydrate the skin, condition hair, and stimulate the circulatory system!
The Alternative Daily says, “Creating a beer bath is easy. You don’t actually need a whole bath filled with beer. All you need is one bottle of your favorite brew, 2 tbsps of coconut oil, and 1 cup of Epsom salts. Add to a warm bath, swish around with your hand, and dive in.”
Steaming Food
As with a marinade, steaming food with beer can make for some really tasty flavors. According to Good Food:
“Beer steaming probably dates back to the 10th or 11th century when the clean, low-alcohol beer produced in monasteries was a safer alternative to the local water supply. Today, […] every beer, from the cider-like Belgian lambics to lightly bitter pale ales, gives its own particular flavor to mussels, clams, prawns, crabs, and even hot dogs.”
Although the beer recipes on this list don’t all involve steaming, there are a few cool ones, such as beer-steamed rice and Belgian steamed mussels. Give ’em a try!
Beer Can Art and DIY Projects
Okay, while this one doesn’t technically use beer cans, if you’ve tried out any of the other methods list, you’re going to have some cans lying around! So, instead of giving the employees at the dump and recycling center some extra work, why don’t you make something cool with the cans, instead?
Simply Googling “Beer Can Art” will bring up a myriad of cool, artsy things that you can do with beer cans. Whether you’re interested in making a beer can solar panel, stove, shingles, or just something pretty and fun, I can guarantee that the instructions are out there.
Don’t forget to check out this list of fun beer can art projects to start!
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