Discoverd hb.glossary from 1991 while checking for heartbleed files...
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Article 516 of rec.crafts.brewing:
Path: watmath!watserv1!utgpu!jupiter!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!n stn.ns.ca!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edca stle!cc
From: cc@castle.ed.ac.uk (C Carruthers)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: GLOSSARY OF (BRITISH) BREWING TERMS
Message-ID: <13125@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 17 Sep 91 08:47:59 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University
Lines: 160
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ADJUNCT
Derived from "Add Junk". To cut costs, some breweries add potatoes, rice,
wheat flower, corn syrup, and just about anything else they can lay their dirty
hands on to provide fermentable sugars. Actually, in small doses adjuncts are
said to improve beer properties such as head retention and body.
Unfortunately, in large doses adjuncts only boost brewery profits and increase
the hangover potential of the beer.
BEER ENGINE
A kind of internal combustion engine which has been used in breweries since the
industrial revolution. The Beer Engine is so called since it is powered by the
beer it helps produce. Beer Engines are used to power grain mills and other
pieces of heavy equipment in the brewery. Scientists predict that the Beer
Engine may find many applications outwith the brewing industry as oil reserves
begin to run low.
BOTTOM FERMENTATION
This unfortunate condition is brought about by excessive lager consumption.
The artificially injected carbon dioxide in lager creates a large volume of gas
which the individual should dispose of safely, subject to local authority rules
and regulations.
BREWING COPPER
Since the turn of the 18th century it has been traditional that a PC of the
local constabulary samples each batch of beer in order to assess its
merchantability, and its alcoholic strength for duty and excise purposes. Such
a policeman is called the Brewing Copper. If the beer was found to be
undrinkable, the brewery was "fined" by the Brewing Copper when he threw
rotting extract of fish matter into the brew, supposedly to render it useless.
However, breweries soon noticed that when they were "fined" like this, often
a previously cloudy and undrinkable beer would "drop clear". The practice of
breweries adding fishy bits to their beer has been retained to this day, and
the process is still known as "fining".
BURTON UNION
Founded in Burton upon Trent in 1823, this marked the start of the trade union
movement in the brewing industry. The Burton Union has seen some turbulent
times over the years, with numerous members finding themselves having being
pushed "up the spout".
DROOP
The Brewer's Droop is a special utensil used for rousing yeast during a
"stuck" fermentation. The Droop is a long curved stick which is used to
oxygenate the wort by stirring it in order to encourage aerobic respiration and
reproduction.
DRY HOPPING
A mediaeval pub game invented by Mr Arthur Fuggle while drinking in a public
house in Kent. The aim of the game is to hop from one end of the bar to the
other while holding two full glasses of beer. The winner is the person who
manages to stay dry. The umpire's decision is final.
FINING
The technique of adding fragments of dead fish to cloudy beer. Some breweries
add liquefied cow hoofs in the form of bovine gelatine to their beer for a
similar effect. Either way, this is pretty bad news for beer drinkers who
happen to be vegetarian. See Brewing Copper for more details on fining.
HOGSHEAD
A cask which holds 54 gallons of beer. So called since only a pig could manage
to drink so much in one session.
IPA
Stands for India Pale Ale. With the increasing popularity of splendid
Indian cuisine in this country in the early part of the century, brewers
identified a niche market for a mildly spiced beer to accompany the hot dishes.
Spices added included cumin, coriander, ginger, and assorted capsicums. The
only remaining example that can be found in this country is ginger beer,
although a number of small Belgian breweries still add spice to their ales in
preference to hops.
LAGER
An obnoxious mixture of water, industrial grade ethanol, carbon dioxide, and
colouring. British lager was originally created as joke by a bored marketing
executive working for a large brewery who wanted to see if a market could be
created for such an undesirable product. The idea soon caught on, not because
of the appeal of the product, but rather when accountants noticed the positive
effects on brewery balance sheets. Note that following EEC directive AR8993/4
on Food Additives, all colouring used in British lager must now be passed by
Eurocrats in Brussels.
ORIGINAL GRAVITY
A measure of how effective a beer is at making the drinker fall over under the
influence of gravity. The higher the original gravity then the more quickly
the drinker will succumb to gravity and up flat on his or her back. Any beer
with an original gravity of more than 1050 should certainly be treated with
respect.
PREMIUM LAGER
So called because of the premium that large breweries charge on this product.
To be avoided at all costs.
RACKING
The rack is a primitive instrument of torture and is often to be found in the
basement or cellar of Victorian breweries. Brewery workers who became rowdy,
perhaps through over zealous testing of the brewery output in the sample
cellar, were placed on the rack until they cooled off. It was soon discovered
that the beer itself would improved if racked in a similar manner.
STOUT
Of a person, a polite way of saying "fat". Also a type of strong dark beer.
Actually, the two go hand in hand which is probably how the beer got its name.
Similarly, "Porter" is so called because it can make you portly, while in
Scotland "Heavy" obviously has the same derivation.
VENTING
The process of allowing excess carbon dioxide to escape from a cask before
serving the beer. This term may also be applied to lager drinkers, see
Bottom Fermentation.
YEAST BITE
A particularly nasty industrial injury which can be caused by a mutant strain
of saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mutant yeast was first detected when it was
being used to ferment a heavy winter brew by a small brewery in close proximity
to a nuclear waste repository. The mutation causes the yeast strain to develop
vicious teeth, and the resulting cells can become extremely aggressive. The
most famous case of yeast bite was when a German head brewer, Mr Hefeweizen,
lost one arm and his left leg while supervising the fermentation of a wheat
beer. This incident is the origin of the phrase "This beer costs an arm and a
leg".
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Colin Carruthers
cc@ee.ed.ac.uk
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