Yeast Cake Re-use/Gelatin/Cold Crashing

**raceskier** · 01-23-2010, 12:19 AM

OK, I'm tying all of these recent threads together as they may apply to the ball of knots issue I'm having.

About 2 months ago I brewed a Dead Guy clone. Domestic 2-row (no I don't know the specific maltster), specialty malts and Pacman yeast. 150F Mash temp, 1.055 SG. The fermentation took off like crazy at a controlled 60F. I had a stable 1.009 FG in 4 days with a very clear beer. I transferred to secondary and saved the yeast cake in the primary. I do the airless transfers with Better Bottles, so I don't suspect contamination, as I have not had any to date. Knock on wood. At each transfer I do a taste test with the remnants and it was all good each time.

The next week I brewed a Mirror Pond clone, same domestic 2-row from the LHBS. 151F mash temp, also a 1.055 SG. I dumped the chilled wort directly on the saved Pacman yeast cake in the original primary. 9 days later at 60F, it was at 1.015. Much slower. I racked to secondary left at 55F and left traveling for the holidays and skiing. 3 weeks later it was at a stable 1.009 and looked quite clear. I moved the BB back in the house figuring I was ready to bottle. In moving the BB, the yeast got kicked up a bit and the beer clouded. I figured, no problem, I'll rest it a day or two. Well, it would not clear at room temp. So, it was the old standby of gelatin to the rescue. My gelatin technique is cooled boiled water with a half package of Knorr gelatin, then heated to 170-180 for about 5 minutes. I dumped this in the BB, swirled and left it at room temp for 3 days. Still pretty cloudy. Hmmm. OK, lets try cold crashing. Well it's been sitting at 34F for 4 days now and it's still cloudy!

What do I try next?

**eanmcnulty** · 03-13-2010, 08:28 PM

I don't know. What did you do about it?

**dstar26t** · 03-15-2010, 11:54 AM

Gelatin works better if you add it to very cold beer.