Additives in Domestic Swill

[JPW]

Glad we got the same form letter Paul.

My question to them mentioned allergies.

I had glossed over the "essentially" part. It kind of makes you wonder....

Well, I'll solve the riddle by drinking GOOD beer and and leave the worrying about ingredients to how much much lead is in my lovely DC water.

[paul o' vendange]

Here in Chicago, we are actually blessed with great brewing water, at least for dark ales. 56 ppm Ca, 141 ppm bicarbonates, I seem to remember.

Ok, I admit I may truly be off the deep end. But still puzzled by Miller's computer-response. Then it occurs to me. In the same paragraph, they say their beer is "essentially" natural; and their brews have no additives.

OK, is is is? To wit:

"Beer" is finished product; strictly speaking, a given "brew" comes from the kettle, and "brews" are the precursors to "beer." Therefore, is it me, or is Miller dissecting the English language such that they are indeed "brewing" naturally, but adding a host of crap downstream to their finished product?

Come forth, O' Miller, and make testament!

-P

[paul o' vendange]

Found it:

"A recipe from the 1500s:

Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken (you must gut him when you flaw him). Then, put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun-stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together in vessel. In a week or nine days bottle it up, fill the bottle just above the neck and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.

Lest you think that was just an example of The Funny Stuff People Did A Long Time Ago, people actually still make this stuff. Boston Beer Co. recently whipped up some cock-ale from a recipe from Compleat Housewife (a British cookbook from 1736), out of 12 gallons of beer, "one large and elderly cockerel," raisins, mace and cloves. According to Koch, the founder of Boston Beer Co., the beer was a great success."

Cheers.

I used to judge home brew contest all the time. During a regional roundup in New Orleans (brewers from various groups in the gulf South) and one of the lads (John D. for those of you that know him) and some of his buddies made one of these things.

Think about it. Something with animal fat in it that is going to sit around at room temp for a few days (okay-55F, but still pretty warm) and then be cooled and people are going to drink it. Not me buddy. I used to tell people to bring em on. I would drink weird beer and strong beer all day long, but nothing with animal fat. Sorry. Not a good plan. Sure beer is acidic, but why take the chance? YUCK.

Brooks, I put "cock ale" right up there with "Babylonian Beer." A bubbling soup of musty barley-paste is not my idea of "I'll have another." Then again, I've never been a big fan of bloodletting to cure my headaches either.

[cdh]

First, liquid carbon dioxide is run through a bed of pelletized hops. It absorbs the hops' oils and resins, the key flavor, aroma, and bittering components. Then the carbon dioxide is allowed to evaporate, leaving the extract.

OK... maybe I'm revealing a huge swath of ignorance running through my chemistry education, but isn't there no such thing as liquid CO2? I thought one of CO2's biggest claims to fame was that it sublimed from solid to gas without ever having a liquid state... dry ice and all that...

What's the deal? I'm really worried for the state of nature if Miller can get liquid CO2...

[paul o' vendange]

CDH - actually, CO2 is commonly liquid, under pressure. In fact, this is how dry ice is made - liquid co2 undergoes rapid pressure reduction (expansion chamber), causing some of the liquid to flash to vapor, the remainder to thereby flash-cool to solid state (at -109F) - dry ice.

Paul

[paul o' vendange]

I should add, though, Chris, that the chemical property of C02 is one of its great benefits - supercritical C02 (past its "critical temperature/pressure point", no further pressure will being liquification; rather, the compound exhibits both gas and liquid properties) is used in making hop extracts - a fantastic solvent, supercritical C02 has negated the need for the solvents formerly used, primarily methylene chloride or hexane (talk about chemical soup). The initial phase in Miller's reduced isohumulone extract, discussed above.

Paul