Adding gelatin to clarify your beer faster

[ferg]

It's all well and good to use this in your homebrew when it's for your own consumption or giving it to someone you can tell it has jelly in it, but what about blind tasting in competitions?? You obviously can't state "this next entry is not suitable for vegetarians" cause it's an identifier.. are our competitions suitable for vegetarians?? should we disallow the use of gelatin as a fining in competitions so as not to discriminate?

[Garry]

A beer judge that is unaware of the use of gelatin for fining is like a person with a nut allergy ordering pecan pie.

What about celiacs? Should we put a warning on competition entries saying the beer may contain gluten?

[LordEoin]

the point about any finings is that they drop out and are removed.
you can use animal based finings and still call something 'suitable for vegetarians'
the snail content of wine is far greater than the finings.

If you really don't want to use animal based finings ( gelatin, isinglass, chitosan, casein,egg albumen, bull's blood) use bentonite.
And if you don't want to risk drinking something that contains them, make all your own beer and wine and don't drink anything made by someone else.

[ferg]

Well for example we Capitals had a mini club competition last week for entries to the summer session it was comp... It was open to everyone who attended to score the beers, not just epicurean bjcp certified judges!! Some non nhc's and non brewers in attendance. If there was gelatin used in any of those beers no one was informed.

I just think that good beer should be able to be enjoyed by everyone.. I value being able to share it with my veggie friends than having clear beer.

[ferg]

A beer judge that is unaware of the use of gelatin for fining is like a person with a nut allergy ordering pecan pie.

What about celiacs? Should we put a warning on competition entries saying the beer may contain gluten?

You're conflating medical condition based food exclusions with choice based ones.

[Garry]

You're conflating medical condition based food exclusions with choice based ones.

No I'm not.

I'm saying that it should be as obvious to a beer judge that some of the beers will have finings as it is obvious that most of the beers will contain gluten.

I could just have easily said put a warning on the bottle that it contains alcohol.

The amount of finings left in the beer is negligable if not zero. It's not worth the argument. Commercial breweries use them too and don't advertise it.

[LordEoin]

Yup. Cos it's not in the beer. It has dropped out and is removed.
if vegetarians choose to drink any beer or wine, then it's up to them to be educated about it.
It's not up to us to warn them about everything that might at some stage affected an animal.
"Warning! Label adhesive may contain animal derived glue"
"Warning! Crows may have been shot to protect this grain!"

[Damien M]

Heh Heh Heh ! I love the discussions that go on here!

[Qs]

"Warning! Crows may have been shot to protect this grain!"

lol 

[Hop Bomb]

Just because it drops out doesnt make it vegan or veggie friendly. Thats not how it works lads. If it an animal product was in the process at any stage then its not vegan or veggie friendly. Yes you should have to label your beer vegan/veggie friendly. Its that way in the food sector. Why would beer be any different? I also think the name & address of manufacture should be on there too. Might enlighten folk to the paddy whack diddly eye mountain water craft beer they bought is actually contract brewed & bottled by X Y & Z. Hopefully beer labeling will come in line with the food sector sooner rather than later.

[LordEoin]

Don't forget to add your carbon footprint and cleaning chemicals. Important stuff.
i wouldn't label a ham sandwich i made with a warning to protect all the vegetarians out there, deffo won't add it to my beer.
you'd be lucky to get the style and ABV scribbled on a sticker 

[mr hoppy]

Ok, so some food labeling is "risk averse", but home-brew, or home-made food isn't and shouldn't be labelled. But (putting aside the possibility that some of us may absolutely despise all veggies) you wouldn't give a veggie you knew and liked a ham sandwich.

FWIW a good friend moved to London and became a veggie and cask freak. I'm not sure he was overly worried about finings. Of course, others might feel differently, and if they do - and you offer them a brew they may well ask in my experience, which is totally ok.

Personally, I'm giving up beer and brewing right now as I'm so outraged by the evil force germination of innocent barley seeds known as "malting" I can't look a pale ale in the head.

[LordEoin]

[ferg]

if vegetarians choose to drink any beer or wine, then it's up to them to be educated about it.

Don't forget to add your carbon footprint and cleaning chemicals. Important stuff.
i wouldn't label a ham sandwich i made with a warning to protect all the vegetarians out there, deffo won't add it to my beer.
you'd be lucky to get the style and ABV scribbled on a sticker 

Is it really though? how many of us really thoroughly research the products that we buy? And even if you did sometimes there's no way of finding out the truth of the intracies of a production of a good. Like what HB is saying, there are many things (let's stick to food and drink) that are highly objectionable that don't make it on the label, that recent story of slave labour in the Thai fishing industry or the horsemeat debacle are pretty solid illustrations of this. Corporate responsibility should be demanded by us, not sneered at!

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

You will also see proportionately more finings in use during a competition, than for a home brewers stash.

You can chill clear a home/sharing beer if you are patient, but if you are hitting close to the delivery date for that competition, many are likely to use finings to make the deadline.