OK, trying to figure this cold-crash/gelatin thing. I have a cream ale I cold crashed on 3/27. 0n 4/1 I dissolved 1 tsp gelatin in 1 cup hot tap water, let sit 25 minutes, then brought up to 180 degrees, then cooled to about 90 degrees, then poured into the beer. today 4/5, it seems to be a nice jelly-like layer floating on the top of my beer now. If I give the carboy gentle nudge it start to have that lava lamp effect. Did I do something wrong or does it just need more time?
Sould I try the gelatin again?
Boil the water, not the gelatin -180 is too hot for the gelatin. Bring the water to a boil, let it cool a bit, dissolve the gelatin in the water, let it bloom and cool for a few minutes, pour it into the beer.
Just an fyi, using a full packet of gelatin is way to much. You can really strip off aroma and even flavor with that much, ask me how I know. The commercial stuff I use only calls for 1/2tsp per 5 gallons. It doesn't take much.
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I use a tablespoon per five gallon batch.
Mix it with hot tap water in a sauce pot, about 1 cup of water per tablespoon.
Stir it up and let it sit for 20-30 minutes to hydrate and bloom.
Put the pot on the stove and heat until it looks like its about to start boiling dont boil.
Cool slightly (I put my pot in a cold water bath).
Add it (gently) to the secondary (or keg) as youre racking your beer.
Why would you add it to a keg that your going to serve out of? The first runnings for a while would be gelatin.
So I have seen a couple people ask the question I want to ask with no answer.
Is it possible to add the gelatin to the primary after 3 weeks and then transfer to a keg to age?
Any problems with this?
If you naturally prime a keg with dextrose, would you add knox gelatin once you put the keg into the kegerator? My kegerator is full right now, so I have a keg that was primed with dextrose ready in about a week. Obviously, I would have to open the top to pour the gelatin in.
Oldsock said:The English method is to add the finings and priming sugar at the same time, but you could certainly add the gelatin after priming (you will lose some carbonation though).
Ok so I've used Knox gelatin as per biermunchers instruction on a 5 gal APA and it worked better than I had hoped.
I want to use it on a 1 gal batch that I'm playing with and would like to know if anyone has suggestions for scaling it down for this size batch. I have to do this tonight so...a little help please.
Does anyone have experience with doing it both ways? I.e., the easy way described above, and the more involved way, with a cold crash in secondary? Does the more involved way deliver noticeably better results?
guinnessface said:Sorry for the pun, but can anyone clarify how clear the beer becomes after adding gelatin? Are we talking no sediment, or "macrobrew crystal clear?" I've tried to add KC finings for less than impressive results. Every time I keg, my beer is opaque until the last 1/2 gallon or so....usually after sitting a month in the keg...then it's clear as can be. Am I to assume that gelatin will speed this process up? I'm using a 7 gal conical, so I usually skip secondary.....can I just add the gelatin to the conical after a few weeks and let it sit for another week or so? Can I get good results without a cold crash? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
I could read a book through the beer. Even the dry hopped ones. Does that answer your question?
Eric
I could read a book through the beer. Even the dry hopped ones. Does that answer your question?
Eric
Sorry for the pun, but can anyone clarify how clear the beer becomes after adding gelatin? Are we talking no sediment, or "macrobrew crystal clear?" I've tried to add KC finings for less than impressive results. Every time I keg, my beer is opaque until the last 1/2 gallon or so....usually after sitting a month in the keg...then it's clear as can be. Am I to assume that gelatin will speed this process up? I'm using a 7 gal conical, so I usually skip secondary.....can I just add the gelatin to the conical after a few weeks and let it sit for another week or so? Can I get good results without a cold crash? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
BrewThruYou said:Well, I used knox gelatin in my keg and it's amazingly clear. Love this stuff. After I bottled a few from the keg and shared, my buddy wants to try it too. The problem is that he can't cold crash and he doesn't keg. Will gelatin have any effect at room temperature?
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