German brewer’s in the medieval period brewed beer in its most pure form. German beer purity law of 1516 (Reinheitsgebot) prohibited use of any additives in beer. The only ingredients added in beer were malt (rice or barley), hops, yeast and water.
(I added the bold — the bad grammar and omission of the word Reinheitsgebot belongs to Buzzle.com.)
What macro brewer financed that research?
The list of preservatives in beer is not complete, but is already scary enough.
Hi Stan! Thanks for the info.
Plant oils also kill foam. Add even an EtOH extract of hops to a finished beer and the foam is gone. I imagine it’s the surface tension that gets obliterated with the non-polar oils.
BTW- did you see the alpha numbers for the H.L. var. neomexicana hops that the Christ in the Desert Monastery folks are growing? Jenny has some of our plants and the numbers came out pretty Noble at 7%-9% and a real low HSI. Woo Hoo!!
Wow. Between you and me, it makes me question whether I can rely on the work of Florentyna K on the issue of genetic testing for breast cancer at all.
Todd – Looking forward to the full analysis of the hops at Christ in the Desert. Including oils.
Then, of course, some good (blind) taste panels with Brad’s test batches. Should be fun.
I’m more scared by this sentence “However, the levels of formaldehyde detected in most beers are often below the danger level.”
Most? Often?
I think they missed the boat before the rice in thinking that malt/hops/water/yeast* were “added” to beer, rather than stating that beer under those requirements was comprised of those ingredients. Also, it’s the “mixing of all these ingredients” that “produces alcohol”. You know what, I have no idea why you gave this site any attention… the following sentence equally sucks. Dear Lord, what a train wreck of information.
*I know, yeast wasn’t part of the original reinheitsgebot.
There are other things wrong with it as well: 1. there was no Germany in the “medieval period”, this order was only in the state of Bavaria, 2. “Gebot” means order, not law (Gesetz). Germany did not become a federal state until 1871. The original order also did not include yeast, that was added later. I wonder where the author got this information?
My only guess is a rice farmer using wikipedia stumped up the research info here.
When you said Reinheitsgebot, you’ve said “formaldehyde.” Anyway, that’s what they tell me on the internets.
Someone’s reading your blog, Stan: the grammar and history still suck, but it no longer includes “rice” in the Reinheitsgebot.
“Intelligent Life on the Web”
Indeed
“…the grammar and history still suck,”
Is there such concepts on the internet Lew? I was just looking at a Pearl Harbor photo gallery at the Chicago Tribune web site. The 3rd picture showed “Ford Island hangers burning on 7 DEC. 1941.”
Sometimes I despair openly.