Veggies, Bladders and Beer, Oh my!

Some vegetarians may be surprised to find out that their beer might have meat products in them. Sounds fishy, right?

Some beer producers don't filter beer at the end of the production process. When this happens, the fermenting yeast remains suspended in the beer, creating a cloudy appearance and a yeasty flavor.

Finings are used to clear the beer of yeast. These are substances that usually "clump" the yeast together (the actual term is "flocculate"), causing the yeast to settle to the bottom of the beer cask, or float to the top to be skimmed off - which begs the question: does the skimmer yell, "Flocculater, alligator!" as he skims the flocculate?

Historically, people have used all sorts of naturally occuring substances to remove yeast from beer, things like egg whites, milk, Irish moss and even blood. Today, the most common finings are substances like bentonite clay, gelatin, diatomaceous earth and activated carbon.

Isinglass is a widely used fining agent in British breweries. Although isinglass sounds like some kind of objets d'art you'd find in Saruman's tower, Isengard, it's actually made from the swim bladders of fish, usually sturgeon, and comes from the Dutch word Huizenblass (Huizen is a type of sturgeon, and Blass means bladder in Dutch)

When it comes to animal byproducts in their brew, many brewers don't like to kiss and tell. A great resource to find out which beers are vegetarian-friendly can be found here: http://www.zen159730.zen.co.uk/Vegetarian_beers.html

But many major brewers have made the move to a fish-friendlier fining process. Strainrite offers alternatives which preserve flavor while saving the sturgeon!

For primary clarification on transfer prior to cold-crashing, Strainrite recommends the EVP (Enhanced Vertical Pleat) or the Madd-MAXX series’ MAXX-Flow MF, a polypropylene, large diameter filter.

For chill haze removal after cold crash, Strainrite offers the Clarity Cartridge line’s Fiber Maxx pleated filter cartridges, which effectively remove proteins and tannins that cause haze. The Fiber-Maxx utilizes a high surface area and high void volume media, incorporating microglass fibers in a uniform matrix that optimizes element flow rate and service life. For microglass fibers in a large diameter cartridge, Strainrite recommends the Madd-MAXX series’ MAXX-Flow GF.