Ballistic Beer Co. Forced to Issue Recall Due to Unsafe Excess Alcohol

Excess alcohol from secondary fermentation can lead to illness and exploding beer cans. Photo: Photo by Amanda Klamrowski/Pexels

Yes, there is such a thing as too much alcohol. At least if this newest mishap on behalf of Ballistic Beer Co. is to be believed.

The brand has just issued a recall on several of its most popular craft beers, including the Hawaiian Haze IPA 375ml, the Hawaiian Haze Pale Ale 375ml and the Reef Pale Ale 375ml.

The culprit? Diastaticus, a variant of brewer’s yeast that accidentally arose during secondary refermentation of these batches.

According to the press release, affected batches contain “excess alcohol” and “may cause illness if consumed.”

The New South Wales Food Authority has released descriptions of the recalled batches:

Recalled Beers. Photo: New South Wales Food Authority.

In an interview with BrewsNews, Ballistic Beer Co. CEO David Kitchen said “it is really irregular, it could be a can in a carton kind of thing.”

In addition to running the risk of illness, over carbonation from secondary refermentation can actually cause cans to explode.

“Our feeling was that there was a risk that at some point one of these cans could explode and feasibly lead to an injury, and at that point really our decision was we should proceed with the recall rather than pretend it isn’t there,” said Kitchen.

Secondary refermentation is a process that many brewers intentionally utilize during production. In this case, however, it appears to have occurred by accident when yeast in the brew remained active and consumed residual sugars.

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