Comments on: Budweiser ‘Double Mashing’ on GE Rice

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:51:05 +0000

“My question is what, in the name of all things pure and sacred, does rice have to do with brewing beer? Water, barley, malt, hops and yeast. End of story.”

Right…this is exactly why this article is filed under “small business,” and not under “brewing information.” Get your facts straight, or at least do some research before you begin criticizing a process which you possibly know little about.

Rice is an adjunct cereal grain used in many American style lagers (Go ahead and switch to Sam Adams, Mark – they use cereal adjuncts as well). Rice gives beer a lighter body, a cleaner finish, and a sort of ’snap’ to the mouthfeel of the beer. This is typical of most American style lagers. I’m not necessarily promoting/waving a banner for the use of rice/adjunct grains in general here; just explaining their effect on the finished product.

As Beretta touched on, rice also adds the needed starches, which will be broken down into fermentable and non-fermentable sugars during the mashing process, and which the yeast will feed on later, producing alcohol. The rice/corn/wheat/oat/barley percentage in the mash determine the body and color, among other things, of the finished beer. There are so many variables here, which is why there are so many different styles of beer!

If you like a lighter American lager, then go drink a Bud Light or Miller Light (which uses corn grits instead of rice), or Pabst, or Coors, or Sam Adams Light, or your favorite microbrew. Plenty of choices. If you prefer heavier beers, that’s great too. Just don’t knock the ingredients or the manufacturer before you actually understand the purpose and function of the ingredients in the brewing process.

By: Beretta

Beretta — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:54:42 +0000

In order to make a very light pilsner beer with a regular alcohol volume ( 4.5-5% ABV), rice is used to add pure fermentable sugars to the beer. If you used just barley the beer would be too dark and tastey or light colored and too week ( < 2% alcohol). Rice adds no flavor to the beer, just alcohol. (keep in mind most US States have laws demanding a certain alcohol % in beverages sold as “Beer”) Does it not make sense that if A.B. buys 10-12% of US’s rice, and US rice is %30 “contaminated” then most of A.B.’s beer would be about %3 contaminated with GE rice? GE Rice is BAD, I guess. I think a more important test of A.B. Beer would be to run a spectral analylis on a clean sample, and one on a typical A.B. beer. I’m sure A.B. does this already, as lager brewers are especially attentive to weird flavors and chemicals in their beer. In other words: What real effect does using GE rice have on the beer?

By: ali kriscenski

ali kriscenski — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:09:03 +0000

Hi Mark, That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

By: Tuesday Travels: A Toast to Sustainable Drinking

Tuesday Travels: A Toast to Sustainable Drinking — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:25:33 +0000

[...] you read Greener Assets, you’ll know that I tend to keep an eye on the green side of the beer brewing business so when I caught wind (yes, pun, sorry) of this little news bit I had to share over here at Daily [...]

By: Mark Herpel

Mark Herpel — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:43:21 +0000

Wow, great post, I’m switching to Sam Adams.

Mark