Reinheitsgebot vs. irish moss/fermcap/gelatin

[scottland]

and that's about when they amended it to include yeast.

Our point is its antiquated, and has little bearing on the modern homebrewer

 

[BetterSense]

Well, I just racked my SMASH APA to secondary, and I put a packet of gelatin from the grocery store in with it. We'll see if it comes any more clear. I'm not sure what to blame my cloudy beers on; maybe its my BIAB technique.

 

[jfr1111]

Well, I just racked my SMASH APA to secondary, and I put a packet of gelatin from the grocery store in with it. We'll see if it comes any more clear. I'm not sure what to blame my cloudy beers on; maybe its my BIAB technique.

How fast do you chill ? Ever since I started using Whirfloc and got a wort chiller, the wort I produce is of great clarity post-boil. If I leave the kettle be for the crap to settle, I can see at the bottom of it in about 20 minutes.

On the other hand, it's been my experience that even cloudy and hazy wort can drop clear once the beer is fermented and left to its own devices in a cold environement.

A packet of gelatin is way too much. Even half a pack seems to be pushing it. It can strip off flavours and aromas.

 

[BerelsBrews]

my GF and her family are jewish and keep kosher, so using gelatin moves the beer from being meat/dairy-neutral into the meat category. so i have to be judicious about which beers i use gelatin in, if I decide to share homebrew with them.
.

I don't know if anyone is still reading this thread but using gelatin to my knowledge would not make something "meaty" as much as it would not be kosher at all as most gelatin comes from animals that are not kosher

 

[C-Rider]

I just developed a good process for myself that gets clear beers without additives. Just seems more natural to me. Wouldn't want anything beneficial in the beers make up to be lost. In my mind,anyway.

Me too. It's called Cold Crashing, down to about 36* for a week.

 

[EmDubeu]

Whirlfloc and cold crashing. Clear beer every time.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[boscobeans]

It's my understanding and that of an actual historical beer historian that I met recently (yes, I guess they do exist), that the Reinheitsgebot does not preclude the use of fining agents. These fining agents drop out and are not found in the finished product.

As such, they are not considered ingredients but rather processes. Therefore, they are implicitly allowed under the 1516 doctrine.

So you could use wirlfloc, gelatin, Irish moss, and isinglass and none of that would violate the German purity law.

Bingo !

Section 6 of the German Beer Purity Law states:

6.Only materials which act mechanically or by absorption and are thereafter removable, leaving no, or only such residue in the beer which is of no health, taste or odour concern may be used to clarify beer.

I'm not sure how often the original laws were changed, but as brewing science and techniques advance there will probably be even more changes.

bosco

 

[VladOfTrub]

Reinheitsgloobengleeben is still in effect in Bavaria in lager breweries. If finings are used the Inspector of Breweries has to be notified. As long as the fining is removed before packaging all is good. Beechwood came about for use in settling tanks because it is left in the tank.

 

[boscobeans]

I get a kick out of people who take the whole Reinheitsgebot seriously. The laws have no provisions in them as far as the water or anything in it that is used in process.

Germany was using and still installing lead pipe (yes LEAD ) for drinking water up until 1970. They have been drinking beer out of pewter steins for centuries and only the newest of them are lead free. As a matter of fact lead pipes are still being used all over Europe and only within the past few decades have any laws preventing it been put on the books. Lead pipe has been used in the USA up until the early 1900's, where 70% of New York City's domestic water travelled through lead pipes either in the main supplies or in home plumbing systems..

I'd rather drink a beer with a little moss, polyclar or fish scales in it than something made with water that comes out of lead pipes and fountains that date back to the Roman Era.


bosco