Cold conditioning Ales vs. the use of Finings

I am brewing a Duval which calls for cold conditioning for 4 weeks. The cold conditioning at 35F helps clear the haze by settling out the suspended yeast (cold break). Does any one have any experience combining cold conditioning with the use of finings such as Super-Kleer in order to expedite or perhaps elliminate the cold conditioning?

wagendorp said:

I am brewing a Duval which calls for cold conditioning for 4 weeks. The cold conditioning at 35F helps clear the haze by settling out the suspended yeast (cold break). Does any one have any experience combining cold conditioning with the use of finings such as Super-Kleer in order to expedite or perhaps elliminate the cold conditioning?

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i am wondering the same thing. i have a lager going, and its plenty cold right now so i'm not worried yet, but i think it might get warm before i'm ready to finish lagering it. i think i might lager as long as possible and then use some pectin or whatever that stuff is. good idea?

I would wait for the 4 weeks on the Duvel clone, but that's just me. Yes, clarifiers will make the beer clear quicker, but I'm not sure that would benefit the finished beer.
phuzle, why are you going to warm the lager up in the middle of the lagering process? I don't understand that! If you are lagering the beer, you don't want to change the temps dramatically. Now, if you have already been lagering for a period of time, then just kegging or bottling would be in order. What type beer did you make? and how long have you been lagering it? After the lagering period, I have used clarifiers when I wanted a really clear beer for comps or whatever, but I haven't needed to do that now either, extended lagering has made them absolute clear. Last, pectin isn't what you want, maybe Polycar, which is sold as Divergan F now, or Isinglass, or even gelatin would suffice.

BitterRat said:

I would wait for the 4 weeks on the Duvel clone, but that's just me. Yes, clarifiers will make the beer clear quicker, but I'm not sure that would benefit the finished beer.
phuzle, why are you going to warm the lager up in the middle of the lagering process? I don't understand that! If you are lagering the beer, you don't want to change the temps dramatically. Now, if you have already been lagering for a period of time, then just kegging or bottling would be in order. What type beer did you make? and how long have you been lagering it? After the lagering period, I have used clarifiers when I wanted a really clear beer for comps or whatever, but I haven't needed to do that now either, extended lagering has made them absolute clear. Last, pectin isn't what you want, maybe Polycar, which is sold as Divergan F now, or Isinglass, or even gelatin would suffice.

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i have only been lagering for a week. i dont want to warm it up, but the warm weather will be coming before i want to finish. i figure if its 50 degrees or warmer i may as well stop lagering, right? but i still want it to be super clear, so i think i'll use polyclar. should i just let it keep sitting at 50, 60 degrees?

I let my bock just sit there even though our weather has warmed up a lot since I made it in December.

I wouldn't think you'd want finings in a Duvel clone. Isn't that an unfiltered beer? But, hey, that's why we're homebrewers. Cheers!

you're still letting your bock sit, even at warmer temps? i figured, warmer temps meant it was time to bottle.

my lager is a dark dobblebock and its only been lagering a week. i figure we'll have a month more of cold weather but i'd really like to lager it for 2-3 months. will one month clear it up enough? also, when is the best time to rack a lager to secondary?

phuzle said:

you're still letting your bock sit, even at warmer temps? i figured, warmer temps meant it was time to bottle.

my lager is a dark dobblebock and its only been lagering a week. i figure we'll have a month more of cold weather but i'd really like to lager it for 2-3 months. will one month clear it up enough? also, when is the best time to rack a lager to secondary?

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I doubt the warmer temps will effect a beer afterit has been lagering for awhile, it will just make it ready quicker, but may still have some rough edges to it if bottled or kegged to quickly.
Now, you ask about racking to secondary phuzle. Which makes me ask, is it still in primary? if so, it is not lagering yet.
But, to answer you question, I usually primary my lagers about 10 days, then raise the temp to 60ºF to do a diacetyl rest, for 2-4 dyas, then drop the temp back to primary temp for a couple days, then rack to secondary. Why drop it back to primary temp, because according to Noonan in " Brewing Lager Beer", this speeds up the process and requires less lagering time at 30-40 ºF. That is what I do, but is not the only way. Having used this process, I am drinking a Doppelbock that lagered for only 6 weeks and is great , so I can't argue Noonans method.
Done right, 1 month of lagering will clear a beer with no prob.