Adjuncts

Discussion in 'Drinking' started by JEFE, Jun 4, 2008.

  1. JEFE

    JEFE New Member

    Messages:
    1,135
    Just some random information on additives:

    "The Reinheitsgebot (help·info) (literally "cleanliness or purity law"), sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law" in English, is a regulation that originated in the city of Ingolstadt in the duchy of Bavaria on April 23, 1516, although first put forward in 1487, concerning standards for the sale and composition of beer. Before its official repeal in 1987, it was the oldest food quality regulation in the world. The vast majority of German breweries continues to comply to this regulation and uses this in their marketing approach."

    "In the original text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley, and hops. The law also set the price of beer at 1-2 Pfennig per Maß. The Reinheitsgebot is no longer part of German law: it has been replaced by the Provisional German Beer Law (Vorläufiges Deutsches Biergesetz (Provisional German Beer-law of 1993)), which allows constituent components prohibited in the Reinheitsgebot, such as wheat malt and cane sugar, but which no longer allows unmalted barley.

    Note that no yeast was mentioned in the original text. It was not until the 1800s that Louis Pasteur discovered the role of microorganisms in the process of fermentation; therefore, yeast was not known to be an ingredient of beer. Brewers generally took some sediment from the previous fermentation and added it to the next, the sediment generally containing the necessary organisms to perform fermentation. If none were available, they would set up a number of vats, relying on natural yeast to inoculate the brew.


    Hops are added to beer to impart flavours but also act as a preservative, and their mention in the Reinheitsgebot meant to prevent inferior methods of preserving beer that had been used before the introduction of hops. Medieval brewers had used many problematic ingredients to preserve beers, including, for example, soot and fly agaric mushrooms. More commonly, other herbs had been used, such as stinging nettles.

    The penalty for making impure beer was also set in the Reinheitsgebot: a brewer using other ingredients for his beer could have questionable barrels confiscated with no compensation.

    German breweries are very proud of the Reinheitsgebot, and many (even brewers of wheat beer) claim to still abide by it. This is purely for marketing purposes; all modern commercial brewers in Germany add cultured yeast to the brew, and wheat beer contains wheat. Neither yeast nor wheat are allowable ingredients under the 1516 law."
     
  2. big10donjuan

    big10donjuan New Member

    Messages:
    6
    like so many frat boys drinking Natty lite.......
     
  3. JEFE

    JEFE New Member

    Messages:
    1,135
    You like so many frat guys that drink Natty lite? Dude, are you coming out of the closet or something?
     

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