for the brewers/veggies... real ale + beer safe for vegetarians? the ingrediant that makes it clear...?

Question

i know that an ingrediant is used in making the real ales and beers is fish,and it is used to make the liquid clear and not cloudy... however, dowes this ingrediant sink to the bottom of the barrel so when the beer/real ale is pulled through, the fish does not come through too.

sort of like when you pull a pint, the head settles at the top, and doent sink to the bottom... would this ingrediant start at the top, then settle at the bottom of the barrel and not come to the top?

i work in a real ale pub, and my boyfriend is a vegetarian and hes only just found out, but as long as the ingrediant doesnt get pulled through with the pint he sees it as being ok, as hes not actually drinking it...

if anyones confused by this il add more... dont go on about how hes not a true veggie or what ever, just a question for the brewers out there...

best answers will be rated...and good answers thumbs up

thank you

x

just for the record, hes not a vegan...

hes is vegetarian... does not eat meat "occasionally" he doesnt eat it full stop...if he did he would be a pescatarian...but please, just the question...

he just would like to know as hes been drinking it for a while as he was told that it was veggie friendly...but the brewer told him about the ingrediant, so he wants to know more...


thanks again, sorry for the confusion

x

Answer 1

Some beers/ales are fined with isinglass...not all. For those that are not (which is many), then they're perfectly veggie.

For those beers that are fined with isinglass, it's still an ingredient in the beer (even though it's not consumed and is discarded) so I would not in good consience be able to call it vegetarian.

You never know...perhaps if the brewers could be persuaded to use a veggie friendly method of fining (bentonite, irish moss) then it could even be something to use as marketing...veggie friendly beer.

Answer 2

Yes you could say that beers are safe for vegetarians. Only some beer companies use an ingrediant called isnglass which a form of a gelatin that come from a specific fish. However it does not stay in the beer. It is used as a finning adgent. This means that it is added to the beer to get all of the fine particules to settle out of the beer. Then the clear beer is taken off of this settlement at the bottom of the tank or barrel. The stuff of the bottome of the tank where the Isnglass is not touched when the beer is removed. However if this still bothers you then you should look for a beer that has either been filterd or a beer that is bottle fermented. These will not contain the fish byproducts. In my opinion you would have nothing to worry about. the fish product will not be in the head.

Also for your information the head of the beer is actually an air/beer mixture. It is very simular in structure to whipped cream. The head only appears when beer is poured from a preasurized source. Such as a tap/keg or a bottle.

Answer 3

The ingredient you're talking about is the liquid used in the swim bladder of the fish. It is called Issinglass.
It is a natural additive to the beer which acts as a clearing agent. By attaching itself to the suspended yeast, it drops all precipitation to the bottom of the fermenting tanks and thus gives beer its clarity. However, there is still a considerable amount of minute sized yeast present in the beer which continues to react very slowly. The beer is live as evidenced by the slightly bubbly nature of the beer called the "bead". Traditionally isinglasses have been made from the swim bladder of the sturgeon but nowadays, with sturgeon an endangered species, the swim bladder of the Threadfin is now commonly used. liquid, giving the beer a clearer appearance.
It's still within the beer when pumped out, to some extent.

I would submit that if he is a true vegetarian, the issue of whether it stays at the bottom is irrelevant, since it is still using an animal for its production.

Answer 4

Many of the dead fish particles are held in suspension in the liquid.

same would be true of wines that use "charcoal" as a fining. Its actually not charcoal, jsut called that because it looks like it, its actually ground bones,

no matter how clear it looks, there will be some dead fish in beer that uses isinglass to fine it. Show me any process that would filter this out completely ?

Some beers are veggie, you need to contact each brewery to find out.

Personally, i find the safest veggie path to being drunk is to make all my own beers, lagers, wines and ciders.

you can't really post an incorrect statement and expect us not to comment on it just because you ask. This is a questions and answers site and we should say if something is incorrect.

no product that uses slaughter by-products in its process is suitable for vegetarians, no matter how much it settles out of the product. So, while he's doing a great job by avoiding all the other meat products, he is not a vegetarian - he is a person that restricts thier meat intake.

Thanks for the thumbs down people.

Sticking to the question then, Parts of the dead fish remain in the beer. thats all you needed to know, right ?

Look at it this way. Several beer manufacturers put "suitable for vegetarians" on thier beers. What does that tell you about the rest ?

Other people saying fishy beer is veggie is just burying your head in the sand because you like beer and don't want to give it up. Would a vegetable soup be veggie if i stirred it with a cow bone ? No.

and finally, you cannot say "hes is vegetarian... does not eat meat "occasionally" he doesnt eat it full stop...if he did he would be a pescatarian...but please, just the question..."....he does, he eats fish. I've no problem with that at all, good luck to him, but he eats fish, end of.

Answer 5

Good question.

Generally, anything used to clarify beer is called finings. One of these types is Isinglass, which is a gel-like substance from fish bladders. Here's the entry from the source below about Isinglass...

"Its use is very popular in Great Britain and wherever "real ale" is served from the cask. This style of beer benefits from the 48 hour clarification induced by the addition of isinglass at kegging time. Isinglass is positively charged but its effectiveness in settling yeast will vary with the strain of yeast being used. Its preparation is time-consuming; it involves weak acid solutions and must be done with care over a period of days. Improper preparation will render these finings useless."

So to answer your questions, yes, isinglass works to clarify the beer by attaching itself to the yeast and helping it sink to the bottom. After that it depends on whether the brewery filters it. If it does, then the isinglass will be removed just like the yeast is. If it doesn't then you'll have to check your pint - if you can see yeast or sediment in it, chances are there's isinglass too, but if you can't, then there probably isn't any.

Answer 6

To a true vegan, that is one that obstains from the partakeing of animals that die or are killed for human consumption, the fish oil that is used is cause enough not to consume the ale.
Yes the ale takes Fish Oil to settle some of the extraction process that occurs in the Hops and Barley. Not all recipes use this, but a majority do. Some Micro Brewers do not do this in some of the production. Ask each Micro Brewer if they do or do not.
Some beer/ale is made with the vegan/holistic in mind, it is less Alcohol per pint, and its taste is consdered to be lacking, by some, yet it exists.

Answer 7

As a broad generalisation, cask-conditioned 'real ales' contain finings (though I believe there may be some that do not - you will have to enquire). However the amount you would get in your glass would be pretty microscopic since the stuff sinks to the bottom of the barrel. Brewery conditioned 'keg' beers including lager do not, since they would have been filtered rather than fined. Same for all canned beers and I believe bottled beer. Isinglass would be impractical in bottled 'real' beer.

Answer 8

I had no idea that fish was used in beer making. I am vegetarian and now I want to know if the same thing is in Cider as I drink that To be honest reading everything above I think your boyfriend needs to think about the beer drinking if he doesn't eat fish either

Answer 9

What you are referring to is isinglass finings. It is made from fish, as you rightly say. It links to the floating particles and with them, sinks to the bottom of the vat during brewing. None should still be present in a pint pulled in a pub, but beware bottle conditioned real ales which have a sediment, as some will be present in the sediment.

Answer 10

He shouldn't drink beer then cause as far as I know veggies don't eat things that even touch an animal and the beer touch the fish.