Foster's email about what they put in beer

cleverpig · Post by **cleverpig** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 9:09 am

A mate sent me this, it's a email from Foster's about preservative (220) in their beer:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us at Foster's.

The ingredients of beer in general include:

Raw materials:
Â· Water
Â· Malted barley
Â· Sugar syrup - derived from cane or wheat
Â· Roasted barley or malt for enhancing colour
Â· Yeast
Â· Hop extract

Additives:
Â· Caramel for colour and flavour
Â· Sulphur dioxide - may be added (mostly, occurs naturally from fermentation)
Â· Carbon Dioxide

All our beers are similar with respect to sulphur level. All beers have less than 10 ppm SO2 added, and all have less than 25 ppm total SO2.

For further information please contact us on 1800 007 282.

Kind Regards,
Betty.

Does sulphur dioxide ( preservative 220) really occur naturally from fermentation

If it does then how come coopers are preservative free

KEG · Post by **KEG** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 9:47 am

perhaps because it's only considered a preservative when extra is added?

alcohol is a preservative, so by that reasoning, no beer is preservative free

BierMeister · Post by **BierMeister** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 10:30 am

Hops is one of the original preseratives and was used quite a lot in historic times to preserve food stuffs etc... so there is definately preservatives in all beers including non alcoholic ones. They only have to list what they put into a product not what the product naturally or otherwise produces itself.

cleverpig · Post by **cleverpig** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 11:37 am

I guess I was really having a dig at Foster's in that their wording implies that there beer is free of artificial preservative.

Also liked the line "Caramel for colour and flavour"......

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 2:21 pm

KEG wrote:perhaps because it's only considered a preservative when extra is added?

alcohol is a preservative, so by that reasoning, no beer is preservative free

Except a non alcoholic 1

Edit: was trying to be smart then saw the beermeisters post

DAMN YOU MAN!!!

KEG · Post by **KEG** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 2:32 pm

shot down

hey, even Cooper's Birrell has 0.5% alcohol

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 2:34 pm

KEG wrote:hey, even Cooper's Birrell has 0.5% alcohol

And plenty of taste. The taste of sh!t.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 2:34 pm

Thats probably cos its bottle conditioned

There are non alcoholic beers though arnt there, not that i think its right nor would i want one

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 3:42 pm

lethaldog wrote:Thats probably cos its bottle conditioned

There are non alcoholic beers though arnt there, not that i think its right nor would i want one

Oh no... More lethaldog "I'm into kegging... nyer nyer nyer" carryon...

Isn't it weird how we all brew for the taste but we probably wouldn't bother if it turned out without alcohol...

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 6:58 pm

That's because the alcohol is a vital component of the flavour profile.

Cheers,
Greg

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 7:05 pm

That might explain why the beer I am enjoying right now is just soooooo flavoursome...

BierMeister · Post by **BierMeister** » Wednesday Feb 28, 2007 1:36 pm

lethaldog wrote:
KEG wrote:perhaps because it's only considered a preservative when extra is added?

alcohol is a preservative, so by that reasoning, no beer is preservative free
Except a non alcoholic 1

Edit: was trying to be smart then saw the beermeisters post

DAMN YOU MAN!!!

Oh yes, pays to read every post before opening said mouth. Saves embaressment.

r.magnay · Post by **r.magnay** » Sunday Apr 22, 2007 9:26 am

Actually rwh, since the quack convinced me to cut back my alcohol intake I have been drinking a bit of Birrell,on my AFD's, it is not the best beer around, but I would sooner drink it than many of the commercial beers around, as for it tasting the same as shit......I personally have never tasted shit,..............so I guess I will have take your word for that!