Vegetarianism and beer

Beer is typically made from barley malt, water, hops and yeast and so is often suitable for vegans and vegetarians. However, some breweries such as British cask ale producers may use animal products in the filtering process. Most breweries do not reveal if they do or do not use animal products in the processing of their beers; exceptions are Samuel Smith, Anheuser-Busch, the Marble Brewery in Manchester, the Black Isle Brewery, and Black Sheep Brewery, all of whom have declared they make vegetarian beer.

Non-vegetarian additives

Finings

Most beer is filtered without the need for animal products, and so remains vegetarian; however British cask ale producers don't filter the beer at the end of the production process. When beer is left unfiltered, the yeast that fermented the wort, and turned the sugar in the barley into alcohol, remains in suspension in the liquid. The yeast that remains suspended in the beer creates a cloudy appearance, and can have a yeasty flavour.Finings are used to clear the beer of yeast – there are a variety of agents used as finings, including silicon dioxide, gelatin, polyclar, and isinglass.