[tater03]

My husband was in the store awhile back and came home and told me that they now had organic beer. I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried it? I ran a search on it and it seems that a lot of the alcohol manufacterers are going to be coming out with their own version of organic beer.

[peachy]

Really? I haven't heard anything about that before. And I wonder if it's certifiable or just a portion of the beer is organic?

I don't drink beer so I don't think I would be able to tell the difference.

[EviesEarth]

I have seen organic wine, and tried it too. I have not seen or even heard of organic beer. Would you happen to know the brand? I would be interested to try it, even though I am not a beer drinker.

[tater03]

I know Anheuser Bush has some out now. It is called Stone Mill and the have another one called Wild Hop Lager but I have not tried either one. I looked for it in the store and I didn't see it.

[Roguegal]

Wait a minute! Isn't beer organic to begin with? It's made from Hops and something else. You mean there are chemicals in beer? You learn something new every day!

[Reverend Blair]

Mostly what they call organic beer is just beer without preservatives in it. In some cases they use the goop at the bottom of the tanks for fertilizer or animal feed.

There is a law in Germany...or maybe just a German province...that prohibits making beer with anything but barley, hops and water.

The most problematic part of the beer industry is the huge, centralized breweries. Beer is heavy and shipping it from a centralized location is very energy intensive.

If you want to be an environmentally beer drinker, the best solution is to buy beer made locally. Most areas have micro-breweries. As an added bonus, they usually make a better product too.

[EviesEarth]

If it is being sold as organic, then I would assume that the barley, hops and other ingredients are organic. I do not think non organic beer has any chemicals added, or does it?

[Reverend Blair]

I doubt there are enough organic growers to supply the beer market. Growing crops like barley to certifiable organic standards is very difficult because of overspray from neighbours, etc. There is also presently a world-wide hops shortage, and beggars can't be choosers, so insisting on organic hops in quantities large enough for a mega-brewery is kind of a long shot.

[EviesEarth]

Possibly the best route for someone that wants organic beer would be to make your own. I have seen the make your beer kits online a while back.

[Reverend Blair]

Yeah, it's pretty easy too. I've made a fair bit of beer, so I have some tips for working from the kits:

-Double malt. Instead of using sugar, use two cans of molasses. Only use one pouch of yeast though.
-Keep it dark. Light damages beer, so let it ferment in dark room.
-Through in some extras. Nuts, caramel, and licorice all go well with dark beers. Just toss a cup or so into the wort when boiling up the original gallon.
-Get fresh yeast. The yeast in the kits is often past date. Buy a pouch of fresh stuff.
-mix your carbonating sugar in with the entire batch instead of shocking each bottle or keg. Just pull a few cups of wort, bring it to a boil and mix in one cup of sugar for every five gallons of beer. If you want more carbonation, add a little more sugar. Add the sugar mixture to the wort and stir well. Now bottle the beer.
-Use mini-kegs, or big kegs if you have the space. Do you want to wash 72 bottles or four little kegs?