I see comments that suggests they do plan, more so around the hoppy styles which need to be fresh.
I think having it written on the schedule and a reminder in the comp thread should work then if people are planning. There's also nothing stopping us amending the above rules with a list of animal products (including lactose) so forum members know what not to include.
Perhaps they can run a separate competition? Along with a non alcoholic one.
But if they all want the same category then that rules out that style for a year. Plus they may not get the chance if they are slow off the boat.
That would be a worthy challenge. A quick googling seems to suggest a lot of grains are gluten free, but can you make decent beer without barley? Celiacs don't really choose to be celiacs so I'd be up for that one. Thought my son was a celiac for years, it turned out he'd been misdiagnosed.
I use finings because that was what I was told to do on a course I attended in 1984 run by a professional brewery, and I have no issue whatever with what they are made from as they remain in the lees or dregs at the bottom of the casks, and not in the beer that's drunk.
Hope you're still using floppy disks too...
Yes we do. But we also have British beers and even our amateur formulations of "overseas" beers are not constrained by local customs. FInings do serve a purpose in cask beer and also in wine. It has become part of the process for many brewers and it;s not all about making money. FInings allow a cask of beer to be drunk fresher and that is good for the hop flavour in a tradional cask ale. I don't use finings because I bottle or party keg all my beer and the "fluffy bottoms" tend to be unstable under the higher carbonation of a bottle or a keg. The way animals are treated has nothing to do with good beer. Animals on "industrial" farms are generally treated abominably. Stop buying stuff from these people. Stop buying tortured chickens from concentration camps. Stop eating McDonald's *****. Eat animals that have had a good life; and when the hooves and horns are left over to render down to fining products then that's all to the good. And when we all go non-animal and live on organic, non-GM cereal crops, where's the fertiliser going to come from to nourish these crops? There's only so much kelp in the oceans and only a few farms close enough to benefit.
Seriously though:
1) We have more than just British beers in our categories
2) the only purpose of isinglass/gelatine in “traditional” cask beers is to clear them quicker and keep them clear to get the casks from brewery to pub quicker. It’s a money making “tradition”, not anything to do with favour or quality. In fact more and more breweries are ditching finings. Leaving it out won’t have an effect on the beer (in fact some people reckon findings can strip some of the flavour, particularly hop flavour).
3) objecting to the way animals are treated shouldn’t prevent you from being able to sample good beer.
I’m not a vegetarian btw
I feel these messages probably need moving to a different thread, as we've really gone pretty much completely off topic...
Is the issue that you use finings or animal products? How difficult would it be for you not to in one of your beers?
Very
