For those that worry about 'cloudy' beer

[Titus A Duxass]

I found his comments on German beer interesting, He say's no one in Germany complains about a cloudy beer, it's considered acceptable etc ...... I was thinking, well of course, fining must be unheard of! Reinheitsgebot, the Beer Purity Law would forbid it ....... right ?

Correct, finings is against the Reinheitsgebot.
Some beers over here are sold naturally cloudy (trub), they are usually the beer that is brewed on the premises. The Kellerbeir in the Bayrische Bahnhof is excellent and cloudy.

 

[brewtim]

brewtim, I think you are missing the point of the article by Justin, which is by adding fining ingredients you will be taking out some of the flavour of the beer, which can't be a good thing surely.

I get what he is saying, but I'm not convinced (on either side of the argument for cloudy or clear beer), maybe I didn't put my thoughts forward well enough - in a nutshell, a beer could be cloudy or clear and taste like *****, or it could taste great and I enjoy beers both ways oooeer :shock:

Sure, Justin says that fining a beer will/could remove flavour components, but I'm pretty sure that it's not true for all beers, just as it's not true for my own homebrew where I am able to make side-by-side comparisons and most of my beers taste better with a bit of fining!

:wha:

PS Isinglass was 'invented' in 1795, before fashion, did the brewers in the 19th & 18th centuries use it to improve flavour, stability, look, or was it just about speed of clearing casks for sale, what about Irish Moss and other finings?? We have been conditioned to drink clear beer for 200 years at least :drink:

 

[Aleman]

I think you are missing the point of the article by Justin, which is by adding fining ingredients you will be taking out some of the flavour of the beer, which can't be a good thing surely

It think the key word here is SOME how much? what compounds? . . . Quantify it!! . . .is the change in bitterness actually detectable by the average human palate. Yeah we know finings remove flavour, and have done for years, does that mean all the beers we drank in our youth (and I'm talking the dark days of Red Barrel) was tasteless flavourless ****! . . . Of course it wasn't Courage Directors, Benskins Bitter, Greene King Abbot . . . Brilliantly clear beer and wonderfully tasty.

Stop telling me how I should brew my beer!! If I want to use finings (Or Not) that is my decision, I'm not going to force my beer on anyone, so luckily none of you will be able to taste just how **** my beer is with all the messing about I do to it and the stuff I add to it!!

 

[Swazi]

I'm not totally convinced by this article either. Surely any losses in flavour can be rectified by recipe adjustment? I fine my beer because I like it to look good. I then base my recipe decisions on what the clear beer tastes like. If I need more hops, I add more hops. I've never thought "my beers not hoppy enough, I'll leave out the finings next time".
I'll accept the vegan argument though. Anyone who wants to target that market is welcome to it.