Beer turned black after gelatin?

OK, so I made a Brewer's Best Witbier, and everything was going great. Fermented down to the prescribed final gravity, smelled great, sample tasted decent after 2 weeks in the primary.

Then came the black death. I racked to a secondary carboy (brand new, but I washed with Oxy clean, then sanitized).

Then I added 1/2 teaspoon of gelatin. As directed on the package, I added the gelatin to a pan of 1 cup water, let sit for 1 hour, then brought TO a boil and stopped, cooled, and funneled into the carboy. After perusing the forums, I learned you aren't supposed to boil the gelatin, but the package originally said so.

When I woke up in the morning, the carboy was VERY dark (blackish). I'm going to Europe tomorrow, so I'm just going to leave it for 2 weeks and relax (not SUPER worried).

Also, I understand WitBiers are probably supposed to be cloudy, and I understand some people are against secondaries. So please don't hammer me on those 2 topics. I wanted to free up my primary vessel, and my first beer was uber cloudy, so I wanted to try out the gelatin.

Any idea what this could be? Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate the help (for this issue and weeks of answers I've found by simply searching the site)

I've attached pictures of the beer after racking, and then what I found in the morning after the gelatin took hold. In the 3rd picture, you can see little blobs, those look to be pieces of gelatin.

I just poured it in. Was I supposed to stir or anything? I wouldn't want to oxidize...

It's darker, that's for sure! But that's because the gelatin "grabbed" floating particles (yeast) which are white and make the beer look lighter. Since it's now clear, the beer will look darker.

To really see the color of the beer, sanitize a wine thief or turkey baster or something, and take out a sample and put it in a glass. You'll see that the beer isn't black!

What the rusty f...

That's something I've not seen before. Post a picture of whatever you put in there. The Jar of gelatin and a heaping teaspoon of the contents.

EDIT: Is this a case of bad lighting? Is it as dark as it looks in the picture?

I'll post in a minute. It is partially bad lighting, as when I take it out, its not AS bad. But it is definitely something I have not seen before, and it is definitely still DARK brown.

1st two were just taken. It seems to be lightening at the bottom. Anxious to see what it looks like when I get back from my trip. Hopefully it isn't stripping the light from my beer and thats why its lighter at the bottom... haha.

Honestly, the flash from my camera made this look a lot lighter than it does to the naked eye as well.

Like yooper said, it's just darker because the yeast is falling out. It will be much lighter in t he glass.

Don't worry.

Wow - never before seen the likes. Please keep us updated when you return.

Did you use grape gelatin? Thats not " dropping out yeast"!

No, I don't believe it was grape gelatin. It was gelatin from my LHBS, so I'm assuming it is absolutely da bomb gelatin made for this purpose.

I'll definitely post a picture of this in a clear bottle when I get back!

dpeanut7 said:

No, I don't believe it was grape gelatin. It was gelatin from my LHBS, so I'm assuming it is absolutely da bomb gelatin made for this purpose.

I'll definitely post a picture of this in a clear bottle when I get back!

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Sorry man. Not trying to give you **** (well maybe a little), but that isn't right at all. Did you taste it? What was the recipe?

I call Shenanigans.

I cant imagine what shenanigans id be pulling. If i was, it eould be costing me 5 hours of my life and $40. I think the recipe was 3.3# lme 2# wheat dme and 2 of another dme. I didnt add anything extra, and the beer tasted decent as i racked to the secondary. Havent tasted this yet, dont want to. I will when im back from my trip. Hopefully it clears.

Joos said:

Thats not " dropping out yeast"!

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Yes, it is.

I third yoop and passed. There are no yeast and particles for the light to bounce of off.

grape gelatin, dropped out yeast, bad lighting...all irrelevant.

one thing we can all agree on: you must call this beer "the chameleon".

that is all.

so...enough already, take a pick in a hydrometer tube or something other than a secondary. I agree with Yoop though...looks "darker" but clearer as a result of the particles falling out of solution.

You do know a Wit is supposed to be cloudy right?

Bobby_M said:

You do know a Wit is supposed to be cloudy right?

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He mentioned that in the first post and asked us not to harass him about it.

Haha, thanks Doug. It was more about wanting to try gelatin. Wish i used it on my kolsch and left the wheat cloudy.

D0ug said:

He mentioned that in the first post and asked us not to harass him about it.

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Don't put gelatin in a wit if you don't want to be harassed.

wildwest450 said:

Don't put gelatin in a wit if you don't want to be harassed.

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Very helpful, snob.

dpeanut7 said:

Very helpful, snob.

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wildwest gets away with a lot because of his avatar. And I, for one, am a supporter.

Wheat beer or not it looked like there was still an active ferment going on that you stopped with the gelatin. The color change was the yeast going from suspension to the bottom.

brewingmeister said:

Wheat beer or not it looked like there was still an active ferment going on that you stopped with the gelatin. The color change was the yeast going from suspension to the bottom.

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This is the most likely answer

i add gelatin to my beer but i use knox gelatin. never had that happen!!! Hope you like dark beer lol!! I think it will be ok!!!

did you add black food coloring too the gelatin???

passedpawn said:

wildwest gets away with a lot because of his avatar. And I, for one, am a supporter.

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Supporter of what? Harassment? I mean i can handle it, hes just a person on the internet. Irrelevant to me.

brewingmeister said:

Wheat beer or not it looked like there was still an active ferment going on that you stopped with the gelatin. The color change was the yeast going from suspension to the bottom.

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I mean, im a noob, but it was at the expected FG for 3 days, was in the primary for 14 days total before racking and addition of gelatin. Could there still be fermentation after that?

dpeanut7 said:

Supporter of what? Harassment? I mean i can handle it, hes just a person on the internet. Irrelevant to me.

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A support of his avatar I think, and who isn't!

Harassment just comes with the territory.

dpeanut7 said:

I mean, im a noob, but it was at the expected FG for 3 days, was in the primary for 14 days total before racking and addition of gelatin. Could there still be fermentation after that?

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No, probably not. But wheat beers have tons of yeast in suspension, usually, and usually a non-flocculant yeast is used for yeast flavor in the beer.

Another issue is that extract beers, particularly with a partial boil where you boil 2 gallons of wort and top up with 3 gallons in the fermenter, can be darker than a beer made with a full boil or adding the bulk of the extract at the end of the boil.

Taking the yeast out of suspension, combined with a partial boil of an extract batch means the beer may be darker than desired. That's ok, as it won't affect taste.

Seriously, instead of going back and forth, why not use a turkey baster/wine thief/piece of tubing and just pull out 2 ounces and put it in a glass and hold it up to the light. It will NOT be that dark in a glass.

Being a wheat it is probably done and it was just the non flocking yeast. I'm guessing the srm of this brew is 10 or below.

This thread is hilarious. All it's missing is someone making the "Your beer is ruined, better send it to me" joke.

That is exactly what clear beer looks like in a carboy.

If it was me I would go to europe and got to munich and drink alot and forget about it!! Look at guisness it is dark lol!!

brockettbrews said:

If it was me I would go to europe and got to munich and drink alot and forget about it!! Look at guisness it is dark lol!!

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Cheers to that!! Thanks for the theories guys, and everyone else for the entertainment. Will check back in 2 weeks with a thiefed sample.

passedpawn said:

Yes, it is.

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Have you ever brewed a beer before? Have you ever watched it ferment? I don't care if you pitched 25 vials in a black beer and it flocced, it would not look like that. Whats worse is to tell a new brewer ( if this thread isn't complete BS) that nothing is wrong with it. that is completely ridiculous!

dpeanut7 said:

Supporter of what? Harassment? I mean i can handle it, hes just a person on the internet. Irrelevant to me.

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I support his avatar. Not sure what you are talking about.

Joos said:

Have you ever brewed a beer before? Have you ever watched it ferment? I don't care if you pitched 25 vials in a black beer and it flocced, it would not look like that. Whats worse is to tell a new brewer ( if this thread isn't complete BS) that nothing is wrong with it. that is completely ridiculous!

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Yes, I've brewed a beer before. Yes I've watched it ferment. I stand by my statement, the light beer has a lot of suspended yeast, and the dark beer is clear. The flash from the camera is making the two look very different.

There is nothing wrong with his beer. You, Joos, seem to indicate there is. I'd like to hear your explanation.

As I mentioned (more than once), a simple test would be to pull out a tiny sample and put it in a glass and hold it up to the light. That beer isn't black- it's lighting and the yeast has fallen out so it looks even darker. An extract beer, especially if the extract was boiled for a long time in a partial boil like in this Brewer's Best Kit, can be darker than you'd expect. In poor lighting with a flash, it can look incredibly dark. But I don't think that beer is as dark as it appears in those pictures and in a glass it would look much lighter.

Oxidized beer gets darker, too, but it seems like it'd be WAY too early for it to show signs of oxidation if it was just racked a couple of days ago so I don't think that's an issue.