Fining beer

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Brewer3401

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Is there any product that will produce brilliantly clear beer in a short time span.

I'm using gelatin, and if I leave it for 10-14 days, the beer is brilliantly clear.

Looking for something faster.

Thanks
 
Brewer3401 said:
Is there any product that will produce brilliantly clear beer in a short time span.

I'm using gelatin, and if I leave it for 10-14 days, the beer is brilliantly clear.

Looking for something faster.

Thanks

Are you crash cooling it? That should shorten the time.

Short of pushing the beer through a filter, I don’t know anything faster than gelatin and 37 degrees.
 
Isinglass is quicker than gelatin, but not by that much. It is also a royal PITA to prepare. Used it once, then switched to gelatin. Cheaper, easier, same result (with time).
 
KC Superkleer shellfish finings work in a few days. In conjunction with cold-crashing, it will work wonders.

Also check out a highly flocculent yeast strain. The best I've seen is Wyeast London ESB. It finished fermenting in 2 days, and when I racked to secondary on day 4, the hydro sample was crystal clear. Too bad that batch got infected, but oh well.
 
Evan! said:
The best I've seen is Wyeast London ESB. It finished fermenting in 2 days, and when I racked to secondary on day 4, the hydro sample was crystal clear. Too bad that batch got infected, but oh well.

Ouch! Sounded like a wonderful beer.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
You need to add the gelatin to COLD beer.

Remember...Jello? Not very good at room temp...;)

Read that also.

But, I thought if I add the gelatin into 65 F beer, then crash the temp, the gelatin would have time to attach to the proteins/yeast before gelling up and flocking out.

I boil water, cool it, add gelatin and spin it for an hour, then slowly raise the temp to 150 F before adding to the brite tank.
 
I've never used finings yet. I'm pretty happy with what crash cooling to 39 degrees before kegging does for me. Here's what my Oktoberfest looked like before kegging.

OktoberfestBeforeKegging.jpg


After it's carbed, it will continue to settle & clear in the keg. Moving it from the garage to the house will stir it up some, but it will settle in the kegerator after a day or two.
 
How much gelatin are you using? Do you just mix it in with the beer fermenting or lagering in the secondry and then wait?

I have never used it, but I have an aweomse bock lagering at the moment, and it tastes great but is still a little murky after 2 weeks primary at 10 C (50 F) and 3 weeks in secondry at 4 C (39 F).

(Sorry about the semi-hijack)
 
homebrewer_99 said:
Here's my brews after adding gelatin...clear enough???:rockin: :D :mug: :mug:

Nice brews! I find that I get similar results with just crash cooling. It takes a bit more time though, but then again, it forces me to age my beer properly.
 
I recently starting using gelatin because I would always get chill haze in my beer. They would eventually clear out, but I wanted quicker results. In order for gelatin to fight chill haze, the beer must be at your desired serving temp before the gelatin is added. I had a Belgian Blonde that cleared up about 24 hours after adding the gelatin and water mixture. Here's what I did:

Chill beer in kegerator and carbonate (24 hours at 30 psi for me)
Heat 1/2 cup of water in the microwave until boiling
Remove water and mix in 1/2 tsp of gelatin with a wisk
Pour gelatin mixture into the keg and wait a day or two

I don't have any pictures, but the results are amazing (just like homebrewer_99's pictures). I will be using gelatin on all the beers that I want to be clear from now on.
 
damntheman said:
…In order for gelatin to fight chill haze, the beer must be at your desired serving temp before the gelatin is added. I had a Belgian Blonde that cleared up about 24 hours after adding the gelatin and water mixture. Here's what I did:

Chill beer in kegerator and carbonate (24 hours at 30 psi for me)
Heat 1/2 cup of water in the microwave until boiling
Remove water and mix in 1/2 tsp of gelatin with a wisk
Pour gelatin mixture into the keg and wait a day or two
Hmmm.

Interesting. I wonder if the gelatin works better to clear the proteins causing chill haze when they’re “visible”…due to the cold.

I have good results using the secondary at room temp, but I might try the chilled-keg method. Maybe half in the secondary to condition and the other half in the keg after it’s chilled.
 
Not to threadjack, but do you have to transfer the beer to another keg after using the gelatin? If not, do you cut your dip tube to avoid all the sediment or just draw off the first pint or two until it clears?

I only use whirfloc at the end of the boil for fining but would like to get some of my lighter beers a little clearer a little faster. I usually drink them to fast to wait out the cold conditioning.
 
jdoiv said:
Not to threadjack, but do you have to transfer the beer to another keg after using the gelatin? If not, do you cut your dip tube to avoid all the sediment or just draw off the first pint or two until it clears?

I only use whirfloc at the end of the boil for fining but would like to get some of my lighter beers a little clearer a little faster. I usually drink them to fast to wait out the cold conditioning.
I just draw it off. Haven't had a dip tube plugged yet, but occasionally you get some small gelatinous chunks coming out.
 
FlyGuy said:
I just draw it off. Haven't had a dip tube plugged yet, but occasionally you get some small gelatinous chunks coming out.


Thanks, I'll have to give this a try. Can you just use unflavored gelatin from the grocery store?
 
jdoiv said:
...do you have to transfer the beer to another keg after using the gelatin? If not, do you cut your dip tube to avoid all the sediment or just draw off the first pint or two until it clears?
even before using gelatin, I cut all my dip tubes by about 1/4 inch (if they were straight) or gave them a sharper bend (if they were bent) to get them off the bottom a bit more. These dip tubes were practically touching the bottom.

I end up tossing about 6 Oz's but a small price to pay to not me constantly sucking up yeast.
 
How does whirfloc compare to gelatin? I've been thinking about trying a clarifier and from I've seen they are the most popular.
 
jdoiv said:
Not to threadjack, but do you have to transfer the beer to another keg after using the gelatin? If not, do you cut your dip tube to avoid all the sediment or just draw off the first pint or two until it clears?

I only use whirfloc at the end of the boil for fining but would like to get some of my lighter beers a little clearer a little faster. I usually drink them to fast to wait out the cold conditioning.

If I want quick beer (not a dry hopped one), I ferment for 5-7 days, then do the gelatin in the primary, crash to 34 F, then after 5-7 more days keg it.
It's not brilliant, but clear.
 
Brewer3401 said:
If I want quick beer (not a dry hopped one), I ferment for 5-7 days, then do the gelatin in the primary, crash to 34 F, then after 5-7 more days keg it.
It's not brilliant, but clear.

I'm veg so I stay away from the animal derived finings.

When I do fine a brew I use bentonite. I use it a day or so after fermentation has finished. Then let it sit for a couple more days. It's still slightly cloudy when it goes into the bottles but by drinking time it's perfectly clear.
 
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