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The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#11

Post by mrob »

"Ask somebody to list the classic ingredients of beer and the chances are they will come back with: hops, malt, barley and water, with a bit of yeast thrown in for good measure."

It seems strange listing both "malt" and "barley". Malt is just partially sprouted barley (or occasionally other grains). In most beers all the barley is malted. Some beers do contain both malted and unmalted barley, for example Guinness, but unmalted barley can make beer cloudy so it's usually only used in dark beers.

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#12

Post by MrLeftHand »

I hope they are OK with dead animals being used to fuel their cars, made into plastics to pack their stuff, producing the electricity to power their house and all the stuff in it.

Never heard people being offended by killing plants for food, cutting trees grinding them into paper or just to have it as a decoration for holidays.

I do agree, if it's only for aesthetics we could actually leave it out and not kill something for just having clear beer.

In the end everything is made up from the same starstuff as humans, a squirrel, even the rock in the dirt and the dirt itself. Some of it is considered living the others not.

Why do I always feel a bit of hypocrisy when it comes to these topics?

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#13

Post by fennecfoxen »

Nursie wrote: post #4

The skewed view given in the article is hilarious. "Nobody really wants to advertise that they filter their beer through dead fish" Well that would be because they don't. Isinglass has a long history of use in beer and wine, and is a refined collagen. If you don't want animal products in beer, awesome, go for it. The slightly hysterical language is unnecessary though. -- edit -- Another technique sometimes used is to…

> Vegetarians do need to be careful with beer.

Vegetarians may wish to be careful with beer. Some vegetarians aren't ideological/religious about it, and some that are draw lines in different places.

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#14

Post by franze »

creshal wrote: post #6
CannisterFlux wrote: post #3

Is this something unique to British-brewed beers? According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isinglass "Isinglass finings are widely used as a processing aid in the British brewing industry to accelerate the fining, or clarification, of beer". I cannot recall ever seeing anything like this on the ingredients lists of cans from other countries (e.g. French or Spanish beers), but maybe it doesn't count as an ingredient…

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

In germany there is something called "Reinheitsgebot" - the oldest (1516) food law in existence (if you don't count religious "laws"). It states that you can only use water, barley and hops for beer production. So no fish in german beer.

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#15

Post by Nursie »

franze wrote: post #14
creshal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

In germany there is something called "Reinheitsgebot" - the oldest (1516) food law in existence (if you don't count religious "laws"). It states that you can only use water, barley and hops for beer production. So no fish in german beer.

Is that still the law?

Also, it may not be considered an ingredient so much as a tool or technique...

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#16

Post by Udo_Schmitz »

franze wrote: post #14
creshal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

In germany there is something called "Reinheitsgebot" - the oldest (1516) food law in existence (if you don't count religious "laws"). It states that you can only use water, barley and hops for beer production. So no fish in german beer.

The Reinheitsgebot is more of a myth though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-f1ztar_U

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#17

Post by dagw »

franze wrote: post #14
creshal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

In germany there is something called "Reinheitsgebot" - the oldest (1516) food law in existence (if you don't count religious "laws"). It states that you can only use water, barley and hops for beer production. So no fish in german beer.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure the law has been updated to allow natural clearing agents as long as they're completely filtered out before bottling.

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#18

Post by talldan »

creshal wrote: post #6
CannisterFlux wrote: post #3

Is this something unique to British-brewed beers? According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isinglass "Isinglass finings are widely used as a processing aid in the British brewing industry to accelerate the fining, or clarification, of beer". I cannot recall ever seeing anything like this on the ingredients lists of cans from other countries (e.g. French or Spanish beers), but maybe it doesn't count as an ingredient…

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

It'd be strange for it not to be an ingredient. As far as I understand it's added directly to the wort prior to fermentation.

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#19

Post by creshal »

franze wrote: post #14
creshal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

In germany there is something called "Reinheitsgebot" - the oldest (1516) food law in existence (if you don't count religious "laws"). It states that you can only use water, barley and hops for beer production. So no fish in german beer.

Since it's not an ingredient, the reinheitsgebot doesn't apply – none of the filter ends up in the final product. Hausenblase was used heavily for centuries, but nowadays it's simply too expensive to bother with.

Re: The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

#20

Post by creshal »

talldan wrote: post #18
creshal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently in Germany it fell out of use – mechanical filtration systems are better and cheaper nowadays –, and is only used for some traditional wines (and possibly beers). However, it is not considered an ingredient, and so does not need to be listed on the bottles.

It'd be strange for it not to be an ingredient. As far as I understand it's added directly to the wort prior to fermentation.

Yeah, but it's completely removed before bottling. Is a spoon an ingredient?
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