Guest guest Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 OK, my dh suggested I do a search about seaweed and beer and a couple things came up. One is that yes, Irish moss is seaweed. Another is that bladderwrack was often used in beer making in the past. And there is a Kelpie Ale out (tho it sounds like they don't actually boil the seawed in the wort). And get this! http://www.organicfood.co.uk/inspiration/beer.html *Foam preserving agents:* Essentially a variation on the same alginates from seaweed that are used in pretty much every non-organic ice cream. In beer they do exactly the same job - to thicken the foam and make it last longer. You could make an organic equivalent because seaweed is cultivated organically, but nobody does yet. OK, so commercial foam preserving agents *come from seaweed*. Ha. -- Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Heidi - lots of brewing agents come from the sea, interestingly enough. In addition to the two you've lready mentioned (and you may know this), cask conditioned ales are clarified using isinglass, which are actually swimming fish bladders. The bladder is added to unfiltered cask ales to flocculate much of the live yeast so that pub-goers enjoying real ales don't also have to enjoy real upset bowels , of course, this also makes for a non-vegan ale brooks > > > OK, my dh suggested I do a search about seaweed and beer and a couple > things came up. One is that yes, Irish moss is seaweed. Another > is that bladderwrack was often used in beer making > in the past. And there is a Kelpie Ale out (tho it sounds > like they don't actually boil the seawed in the wort). > > And get this! > > http://www.organicfood.co.uk/inspiration/beer.html > > *Foam preserving agents:* Essentially a variation on the same alginates > from seaweed that are used in pretty much every non-organic ice cream. > In beer they do exactly the same job - to thicken the foam and make it > last longer. You could make an organic equivalent because seaweed is > cultivated organically, but nobody does yet. > > OK, so commercial foam preserving agents > *come from seaweed*. > > Ha. > > -- Heidi > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 cask conditioned beer has a reputation in england for stirring up some trouble, unless its been fined with isinglass. im not sure, however, if this reputation is founded in anything besides rumor and such. it would be an interesting topic to address. ive never experienced (or noticed anyway) differences between filtered ales and unfiltered ales (including homebrew). i know some friends who consider hefeweizen, which is always unfiltered, to be an assault on their system, but i have never had the problem. anyone else? brooks > > > Heidi - lots of brewing agents come from the sea, interestingly > > enough. In addition to the two you've lready mentioned (and you may > > know this), cask conditioned ales are clarified using isinglass, which > > are actually swimming fish bladders. The bladder is added to > > unfiltered cask ales to flocculate much of the live yeast so that > > pub-goers enjoying real ales don't also have to enjoy real upset > > bowels , of course, this also makes for a non-vegan ale > > > > brooks > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yeah, the isinglass thing has come up before. > To replace isinglass, to please the vegan customers, > some local wineries are using > *gluten* and *casein* ... both of which make me > ill. Oy veh. > > When I made wine earlier, we used bentonite, > which works too (and isn't of animal origin, at least, > not animal in the last few thousand years probably, > the molecules are all recycled). > > I don't get the bit about upset bowels though. > I drink the yeast from my ales ... lots of good B > vites there ... does the yeast have a reputation > for being bowel upsetting? > > -- Heidi > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 28, 2006 Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 Hi All, This note from Dom's site about Seaweed. Audrey Adding Seaweed [PRECAUTION] Seaweed is highly likely to be contaminated with high levels of Mercury. I used to enjoy seaweed in my kefirkraut, but I no longer use it due to the alarming high levels of Mercury found in ocean harvested seaweed. There may be Organic Certified seaweed available commercially, which should be safe for human consumption. But I have not looked into this area in any great depth. I'll let this rest here for you to consider whether or not to use seaweed. Dom <snippet> You could make an organic equivalent because seaweed is > cultivated organically, but nobody does yet. > > OK, so commercial foam preserving agents > *come from seaweed*. > > Ha. > > -- Heidi > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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