gelatin

Can any store bought (obviously plain seasoned) gelatin be used to clarify beer. Or is it a special kind purchased at a homebrew supply. Made a trip to the lhbs to recently to make a run just for that if i don't have to.

Most of us use Knox Gelatin' you can pick it up at Wal-Mart or your local grocery.

+1 above. It's usually stocked where the canning stuff is.

Yep....Knox gelatin here also. A couple of boxes will last a long time and it's very cheap.

Can anyone give a quick run through of how to use gelatin while I am kegging?
Just want to make sure I am doing it right, wouldn't want to end up with a keg full of coagulated beer jello. I just boil a tiny bit (how much) in water then poor that into the keg...over the beer? before I rack in the beer?...

Thanks

You shouldn't boil the gelatin.

What I do is to rehydrate the gelatin in about 3/4 cup of water for 15 minutes and then bring up the temperature to 175f for 10 minutes and then pour into my fermenter.

Ok

I was going from a long primary fermentation directly into my Corny kegs. Am I stupid to be adding Gelatin the day of racking into the kegs. I originally thought it would just clear the beer and settle to the bottom of the keg. But now I am reading in other posts that people add gelatin to a fermenter and let lt sit a few days before racking and a jello sludge is left on the bottom. If I am doing this into a keg, Will I end up with a jello sludge clogging my dip tubes and what not? Or will I be ok with my current plan which is heat the jello, pour it in the keg, rack beer on top, chill, carbonate, drink. Or is it not even worth it at this point?

mdf191 said:

Ok

I was going from a long primary fermentation directly into my Corny kegs. Am I stupid to be adding Gelatin the day of racking into the kegs. I originally thought it would just clear the beer and settle to the bottom of the keg. But now I am reading in other posts that people add gelatin to a fermenter and let lt sit a few days before racking and a jello sludge is left on the bottom. If I am doing this into a keg, Will I end up with a jello sludge clogging my dip tubes and what not? Or will I be ok with my current plan which is heat the jello, pour it in the keg, rack beer on top, chill, carbonate, drink. Or is it not even worth it at this point?

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While others have good results with that approach. Personally I would do 2 things differently:
1. Transfer the beer to the keg and allow to cool for a day or 2. This will allow chill haze to develop (if its going to). The gelatin will remove chill haze, but the chill haze has to be there to get removed.
2. Gelatin (and other finings) work by attracting haze particle such as yeast & proteins into larger clumps. The larger the clump, the faster gravity will settle them out Stokes Law). Thus, if you add to gelatin on top of the beer, it will gather the particles that cause the haze on its way through the beer to the bottom of the keg. As a rule, I do this in an corny before carbonation and then transfer to a serving keg and force carbonate.

As mentioned, others have disagreed with both points. But, from what I have read and tips from other brewers, both points will yield better results. My experience bears that out.

I have used gelatin in the serving keg with no problems. I can't say the same for dry hopping in a serving keg -- I clogged the snot out the dip tube the one and only time I tired that!

Cheers,
Glenn

I searched a ton of gelatin posts for the answer to my question, no avail. I put 1/2 packet of Knox in 1 cup cold water. let it sit for a bit. then heated it up, and it just started to boil so i pulled it off and cooled it. i dumped it into my keg, but the entire bottom of the pot was covered in the gelatin substance it looked like. Did i get ANY gelatin actually into my beer? Should i just go ahead and do another cup of gelatin and maybe trying stirring it more to keep it from all sticking to the bottom of the pot?

I used gelatin on my beer to clear it of chill haze, and it did not work. When my beer came up to room temp in the glass, it was clear, but I still get chill haze.

incutrav said:

I searched a ton of gelatin posts for the answer to my question, no avail. I put 1/2 packet of Knox in 1 cup cold water. let it sit for a bit. then heated it up, and it just started to boil so i pulled it off and cooled it. i dumped it into my keg, but the entire bottom of the pot was covered in the gelatin substance it looked like. Did i get ANY gelatin actually into my beer? Should i just go ahead and do another cup of gelatin and maybe trying stirring it more to keep it from all sticking to the bottom of the pot?

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Don't boil it. Should bring it up to around 170-180. If you boil it, it turns into, well....a gelatinous mass. You want it liquid.

Shepherd5 said:

I used gelatin on my beer to clear it of chill haze, and it did not work. When my beer came up to room temp in the glass, it was clear, but I still get chill haze.

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I'm not sure it removes chill haze. Some people swear that using gelatin after cold-crashing does help with chill haze, some say it won't. I've always used it when I rack to the keg, and then I cold crash/condition. Works good for me.

Right, it was liquid when i poured it in, but there was a layer of gelatin stuck to the bottom of the pan. With such a small volume of water, it went from warm, to boiling, in about 5 seconds. I would guess i will have to throw some more into my keg as i dont see how the actual gelatin made it in there. Do you have to stir in constantly when heating up to prevent sticking, or am i the only one w/ this issue?

I use about 1 cup water, 1 packet knox gelatin. Sprinkle into cold water and let soak 15 min. Bring up to just under boiling, (where it looks like it's about to start simmering...that's around 180F), while stirring or jostling the pot.

I don't even cool it then, I just dump it into the keg, (either before I rack beer in, or I dump the hot gelatin on top of the beer). You can even do this once you've carbonated your keg...just be ready with the lid as it will foam up when you dump in the gelatin.

I found that more water is the key. Too little water and you get jello in your pot. I dont' see a problem with adding an extra 1/2 cup of water to 5 gal of beer.

Yep. What he said ^. My process exactly.

Not sure why people don't attack the root cause of chill haze? Fast cooling = cold break and no chill haze. Cold crash and a bit of patience.

I bought a packet of Gelatin which is getting dusty as I see no reason to use it.

samc said:

Not sure why people don't attack the root cause of chill haze? Fast cooling = cold break and no chill haze. Cold crash and a bit of patience.

I bought a packet of Gelatin which is getting dusty as I see no reason to use it.

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Who cares how you go about getting clear beer? Adding gelatin is about as little amount of work as you can do.

What all does crash cooling entail, fast cooling of wart right after boil, or after fermenting? I am not sure when this is done, but I have heard that it is important to fast cool at both points in the brewing process. Is this true?

Cold crashing is after fermentation.
Either in the primary, secondary or after you rack to a keg or right before you bottle. I put mine in the refrigerator at about 38-40 degrees F.

Chilling the wort right after the boil is more important than cold crashing.