Cannot cold crash 3 days prior bottling.. use gelatin ?

My IPA is sitting in the secondary carboy right now with about 2.5 oz of hops in pellets in a muslim bag floating near the top, and I think it will be ready for bottling in about 2-3 days (according to the taste I got from the sample I took today).

I don't have a fridge to cold crash, but i'd like to get the clearer beer possible. I was thinking of using gelatin.

When to add it and how?

Bon soir! I loved Quebec City when I visited. Beautiful city, plus I went to a really nice strip club too haha

I know this is a rather inexact science, but I know that your weather has you right around freezing temperatures. Would it be too much to move your carboy outside for an hour or two prior to bottling?

I haven't used fining agents, so I'll let someone else chime in about that.

@TheBeerist I can certainly move it outside on Sunday. Weather forecast is indicating between 2 to -4 celcius. But I dont think I can let the carboy sit outside for the night because it will freeze (-4 celsius).

I think the longest period I could coldcrash outside would be about 8 consecutive hours during the day, when the weather will be around 2 to 0 celcius.

Will it really help? What do you guys think?

@TheBeerist Strip clubs in Quebec city??? What ? Never heard of it

0.5 tsp per 5gal of beer for the gelatin.

let it soak in about 1\8 cup of water for 60 min

add hot water to disolve after the 60 min about 1/4 to 1/2 cup

works best to do this right after you transfer to secondary

4-5 days and it will be very clear

rack to bucket and bottle as normal

StoutMeister said:

0.5 tsp per 5gal of beer for the gelatin.

let it soak in about 1\8 cup of water for 60 min

add hot water to disolve after the 60 min about 1/4 to 1/2 cup

works best to do this right after you transfer to secondary

4-5 days and it will be very clear

rack to bucket and bottle as normal

Click to expand...

I only have 2 days left.. Still ok / worth it ?

ido not know if 2 days is long enough. will waiting 4 days matter that much ? if you want super clear beer i would stir it in let it sit 4 days then rack and bottle, but thats just me and i dont always do things the "right" way

The gelatin requires time and cold. The beer should be cool or cold when you add the gelatin and remain as cold as possible to expedite the process. 31F is a good temp.

I did some cider this way and it worked well.

Ok thanks all for the advices and tips.

Since I don't have much time left, today I will drop down the temperature in my basement where the carboy is located. In the evening I will remove the dry hops bag from carboy and put gelatin.

Tomorrow I will cold crash outside all day long and.. bottle in the evening! Voilà.

What do you think?

Will there be gelatin in the bottles interfering with the yeast/carbonation?

I don't understand the arbitrary time frame. You will need at least a week to bottle carbonate. Then you will need to bottle condition for a time too.

So yes, you might get it to work in a 2 day period, but what is two days vs. 3 days when you have at least a few weeks more to wait?

Well you are right highgravity. But I do need to watch the beer to make sure it doesn't freeze and I am also dry hopping at the same time.

But I just figure it! I have a small shed beside my house and I moved the beer there. It's not heated but I put a small ceramic heater in it to make sure it doesn't go below zero. Temperature in Quebec city right now is ranging between -3 and +5 degree celcius.

So finally I will end up doing 3 days of cold crashing. But I can't go over this point because I dont want to go over 10 consecutive days of dry hopping. My bag of hop is kinda stuck in the carboy.. removing it or transferring the beer is not an option right now since I'm lazy!

Wow! I am about to bottle (tomorrow evening) and my beer look super clear now. But I can see some ugly green slime around the muslim bag filled with pellets.

Should I worry ?

beauvafr said:

Wow! I am about to bottle (tomorrow evening) and my beer look super clear now. But I can see some ugly green slime around the muslim bag filled with pellets.

Should I worry ?

Click to expand...

Are you making this beer just to look at or are you going to drink it? The green stuff around the hop bag is hops. Nothing to worry about there. Once you bottle it the yeast will be eating the priming sugar and get the beer all stirred up again. Then with a bit of time it will settle out and become clear again. Had you just bottled it and given it time, it would have cleared on its own. You might have gotten a bit of chill haze when you refrigerated it but after a couple days that should have cleared out too.

Bottling is done!

THe tasting sample i drank yesterday is making me very confident this beer is gonna be a big success!

Thanks all!