Looks like a thread for me
The RGH is a cornerstone of the German beer culture. It limits the styles that can be brewed there, but also protects German beer. If if werent for the RHG, some german brewers would have already started to use adjuncts. They don't belong into any German style beer though there are (non-German) beer styles that are impossible w/o them.
I can only select fair-weatherd fan, though I'm striving to be a devoted follower. Here are the does and don't according to the currently valid German RHG as I know them right now:
- Primary ingredients only malted grain, water, hops and yeast. If you are using a lager yeast only barley malt is allowed. If you are using an ale yeas you can also add sugar, but not if you want to adhere to the Bavarian RHG.
here is the fine-print:
- Only the water can be treated with salts, not the mash. And after threatment the water still has to meet drinking water standards
- mash/wort can only be treated with lactic acid that comes from the malts lactic bacteria and malt sugar (acid malt, sour wort)
- no Whirlfloc or irish moss in the boil
- finings: Gelatin is out, isingglass and PVPP (polclar) are ok when you filter
- no artificial CO2 for carbonation of the beer. This gets most of the home brewers.
- hop extract only if it was extracted with water and fermentation CO2
- no isomerized hop extracts.
I generally start out with RHG compliance, but may deviate if I need to to fix the beer. One exaple would be the addition of gelatin as a fining agent. But I do carbonate naturally in the Keg before I start lagering the beer.
But for this years 4th of July I'll make a Classic American Pilsner which requires corn or rice
Kai.