That is some seriously bad brewing techniques :angry:
Doc
Homebrew laced with acid kills 51 Kenyans
By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
(Filed: 29/06/2005)
Kenyan police cracked down on illegal shebeens yesterday after 51 drinkers died and a dozen were blinded by homebrew laced with battery acid and methanol.
Last night, 180 mostly male drinkers were in hospitals in Machakos and Nairobi and the death toll could rise, said medical officials.
The brew was sold at a drinks stall in Machakos town slums, 40 miles south-east of Nairobi. Residents wrecked stores of homebrew as the deaths mounted on Sunday, forcing traders to flee.
President Mwai Kibaki ordered an inquiry into the illicit alcohol trade yesterday, authorising police to storm property suspected of being used as illegal breweries.
"We must as a nation seriously reflect on the circumstances under which so many people died at the hands of greedy brewers of this lethal brew," he said.
A half-litre bottle of beer from a licensed brewery costs about 65 Kenya shillings (48p), a day's wage for most ordinary Kenyans. The moonshine homebrew, distilled from fermented maize or sorghum then mixed with methanol, battery acid or solvents, sells for 10 shillings at slum stalls.
Methanol attacks the central nervous system, including the optical nerve, which causes the blindness common in small overdoses.
Higher intakes shut brain function, leading to mental confusion, extreme dizziness, nausea, coma and death. In 2000, 134 people died in a similar incident.
Doc
Homebrew laced with acid kills 51 Kenyans
By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
(Filed: 29/06/2005)
Kenyan police cracked down on illegal shebeens yesterday after 51 drinkers died and a dozen were blinded by homebrew laced with battery acid and methanol.
Last night, 180 mostly male drinkers were in hospitals in Machakos and Nairobi and the death toll could rise, said medical officials.
The brew was sold at a drinks stall in Machakos town slums, 40 miles south-east of Nairobi. Residents wrecked stores of homebrew as the deaths mounted on Sunday, forcing traders to flee.
President Mwai Kibaki ordered an inquiry into the illicit alcohol trade yesterday, authorising police to storm property suspected of being used as illegal breweries.
"We must as a nation seriously reflect on the circumstances under which so many people died at the hands of greedy brewers of this lethal brew," he said.
A half-litre bottle of beer from a licensed brewery costs about 65 Kenya shillings (48p), a day's wage for most ordinary Kenyans. The moonshine homebrew, distilled from fermented maize or sorghum then mixed with methanol, battery acid or solvents, sells for 10 shillings at slum stalls.
Methanol attacks the central nervous system, including the optical nerve, which causes the blindness common in small overdoses.
Higher intakes shut brain function, leading to mental confusion, extreme dizziness, nausea, coma and death. In 2000, 134 people died in a similar incident.
