Clarifying agent

Main article: Finings

Some brewers add one or more clarifying agents to beer, which typically precipit
ate (collect as a solid) out of the beer along with protein solids and are found
only in trace amounts in the finished product. This process makes the beer appe
ar bright and clean, rather than the cloudy appearance of ethnic and older style
s of beer such as wheat beers.[67]
Examples of clarifying agents include isinglass, obtained from swimbladders of f
ish; Irish moss, a seaweed; kappa carrageenan, from the seaweed Kappaphycus cott
onii; Polyclar (artificial); and gelatin.[68] If a beer is marked "suitable for
Vegans", it was clarified either with seaweed or with artificial agents.[69]
See also: Vegetarianism and beer
Production and trade