gelatin finings?

BierMuncher said:

I use a tablespoon per five gallon batch.

Mix it with hot tap water in a sauce pot, about 1 cup of water per tablespoon.

Stir it up and let it sit for 20-30 minutes to hydrate and bloom.

Put the pot on the stove and heat until it looks like it’s about to start boiling…don’t boil.

Cool slightly (I put my pot in a cold water bath).

Add it (gently) to the secondary (or keg) as you’re racking your beer.

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Two Questions:

1. Do you have to worry about the water/gelatin solution not being sterile?
2. I am a bit confused as to the timing. You say add it to the secondary as you're racking your beer. Do you mean add to the secondary at transfer or add to secondary at bottling time?

I brewed the Centennial Blond and need to clear it up and would like to use this method, but want to verify that I'm doing it correctly.

Thanks,

1. Nope. I'm not worried
2. I put the gelatin mixing in the secondary and then rack the beer from the primary on top of it to get a nice mixture. Remember that at this point, you DO NOT want to oxygenate/aerate your beer by shaking, mixing, etc.

FishinDave07 said:

1. Nope. I'm not worried
2. I put the gelatin mixing in the secondary and then rack the beer from the primary on top of it to get a nice mixture. Remember that at this point, you DO NOT want to oxygenate/aerate your beer by shaking, mixing, etc.

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So it would be safe to do step 2 above and let it set a time before bottling. That is my plan.

Brutus Brewer said:

Two Questions:

1. Do you have to worry about the water/gelatin solution not being sterile?

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I too use BierMuncher's method, but I heat to 180. This pasturizes the mixture. So no worries. I have also noticed a nice side effect to the Gelatin. The sediment I get in the bottom of my bottles pretty much sticks, so I have worry free pours, and get all of the beer out of the bottle.

Has anybody done this with apple cider? If it works to clear the cider, do you think it would make sense to add the gelatin/water mix to the secondary at the same time as, say, some apple juice concentrate (intended to promote carbonation)? Or, would it be better to add the gelatin to the secondary, wait for it to clear, then transfer to bottles with some sugar added to the bottom of each bottle for carbonation? THANKS!

Gosassin said:

Has anybody done this with apple cider?

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I have done this with cider. I Added the gelatin to the secondary, and then racked the cider on top. I did not add any apple concentrate though. I imagine if you add the gelatin to the secondary, and then add the concentrate at botteling, you would be fine. I would add the sugar to the botteling bucket though. It is al ot easier to hit the large whole in the top of the bucket rather than the small one in the top of a bottle.

The cider turned out really clear, and all of the sediment stuck to the bottom of the bottle. Gotta love worry free pours. In fact it stuck so well I had to fill the bottles with hot water and let them set for awhile to clean them.

HomerT said:

I will put my faith blindly in Biermuncher. :rockin:

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Should be like a list of 10 commandments here.....

1. I will not question BierMuncher
2. I will make Apfelwein.
3. Yooper is NOT the Man...in fact...she's not even A man!


on and on and on and on


You get the point.

So...a question about gelatin. Will it affect dry hopping? I just added knox gelatin to 2 carboys of IPA that have been dry hopping for a week.

TBLbrewer said:

I imagine if you add the gelatin to the secondary, and then add the concentrate at botteling, you would be fine. I would add the sugar to the botteling bucket though.

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Thanks, TBLb; I think that's what I'm going to do, 'cos I want to let it sit in secondary for a few weeks.

I have 20 gallons of beer I would like to do this to but I was thinking of doing it in the primary. Anyone see a problem with this? I want to keg this stuff this weekend so I don't want to use a secondary. That and all 8 of my carboys are full.

are there particular styles of beer that see a greater rewared with the gelatin? I am brewing an octoberfest (lagar) and am just about to the point of a diacytel rest, then into secondary and step down to lagar.

Would I benefit from the geletin, or is it not worth the effort? I am planning on a long secdondary at lagar temps of 6-8 weeks.

After lagering for 8 weeks, I'm pretty sure that it won't be necessary.

Wables said:

So...a question about gelatin. Will it affect dry hopping? I just added knox gelatin to 2 carboys of IPA that have been dry hopping for a week.

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Just added gelatin (disolved in 170 F water) straight to my cornie, dry hopped (pellets in a muslin bag suspended from the cornie lid) at the same time let it sit 4 days at 38 F.
Beer is crystal clear and has a great dry hop taste "No worries".

Well I got the knox from hyvee for a couple of bucks. Looks like there is enough in there to do several batches. I added to my heffeweizen, due to previous post saying it was crystal clear. I want to make a clear Krystalweizen. I dont know if recipe is different for krystal or not, but dont care, more of an experiment. I dont have any filtering, and am not too concerned about the end product as long is it does not effect taste! We will see. I need to mark off my boil pot. My secondary is filled to the carboy bung, well 1 inch under!

BierMuncher said:

I use a tablespoon per five gallon batch.

Mix it with hot tap water in a sauce pot, about 1 cup of water per tablespoon.

Stir it up and let it sit for 20-30 minutes to hydrate and bloom.

Put the pot on the stove and heat until it looks like it’s about to start boiling…don’t boil.

Cool slightly (I put my pot in a cold water bath).

Add it (gently) to the secondary (or keg) as you’re racking your beer.

Click to expand...

I have a light lager that is very cloudy after a week in the fridge. Can I add it to the better bottle now, or is it too late?

Cpt_Kirks said:

I have a light lager that is very cloudy after a week in the fridge. Can I add it to the better bottle now, or is it too late?

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You can, its not too late.

modenacart said:

You can, its not too late.

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+1 on not to late.

Just remember it will take about three days to see results after you add the gelatin. Another tip on this is don't cool the gelatin to much before you add it. Hot liquid rises to the top, and as it cools slowly sinks to the bottom taking all the unwanted stuff with it. If you put it in cool, it is liable to sink right through and not take much with it.

NikolausXX said:

I added to my heffeweizen, due to previous post saying it was crystal clear. I want to make a clear Krystalweizen. I dont know if recipe is different for krystal or not, but dont care, more of an experiment.

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I lost a lot of the flavor when I fined my heffe. I was not happy with the result. Next time I won't add gelatin.

Has anyone just added the Gelatin to primary after fermentation is complete? I was planning on adding it to my primary letting it set for about 3-5 days, crash cool for 2-3 days. I would then rack it onto some priming sugar (probably 4.5 ounces instead of 5 ounces due to crash cooling increasing the dissolved CO2) and then bottle? Also, will it take longer for the beer to carb up with this method?

If you are not going to use a secondary, you can add it a few days before you bottle. I just used gelatin for an APA, and it is already carbed pretty well after 10 days.

Like the name there neuron.. very chemistry-ish

Homebrewing combines the best of gourmet cooking, beer drinking and chemistry lab.

neuron555 said:

Homebrewing combines the best of gourmet cooking, beer drinking and chemistry lab.

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thats going in the sig...

Hey thanks - it's nice to be immortalized.

I'd be interested on an answer about dry hopping loose pellets in the secondary. I got the last portion of a parti-gyle IPA and my share is very cloudy. It is on day two in the secondary (plastic pail) dry hopped with 2 oz pellets. Bottle day is either Saturday or Sunday this weekend. Would I be ok with gelatin now, or should I wait for Wednesday night? Would this have an adverse affect on the dry hopping?

TIA

Daddymem said:

I'd be interested on an answer about dry hopping loose pellets in the secondary. I got the last portion of a parti-gyle IPA and my share is very cloudy. It is on day two in the secondary (plastic pail) dry hopped with 2 oz pellets. Bottle day is either Saturday or Sunday this weekend. Would I be ok with gelatin now, or should I wait for Wednesday night? Would this have an adverse affect on the dry hopping?

TIA

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Gelatin only takes about 2 days to do its thing. Wait as long as you can. Note that most dry hopped ales don’t get nearly as clear as non-dry hopped versions.

I'm considering adding gelatin to my IPA, but I'm concerned it may strip the beer of some hop flavor and aroma. Has anyone had any problems with this happening?

I've done it a couple times and I don't think it has any effect on the flavor.

What if gelatin removes all yeast from suspention, I will need some yeast for bottle-carbonation...
Is it an issue?

It's unlikely that it would remove ALL the yeast. As long as there is some, it will digest the priming sugar. It might take a little longer, but my last APA carbed on a normal schedule.

Just read through the whole thread. Only 7 pages. I suggest anyone asking questions to do the same. The last 2 pages have been nothing but questions that have already been answered a couple times in the first 5 pages.
Such as Dry Hopping, Removing yeast.

Shameless plug for gelatin...

I transferred my Centennial Blonde to secondary Sunday night. The beer had been in primary for a little over two weeks and the gravity was down to 1.003. I added some gelatin to the secondary and the following night, 24 hrs later, the beer in secondary was crystal clear. I had only used it once before, but now I'm convinced. I'll be using it on any beer that I want to be pleasing to the eye.

I brewed the latest version of Spanish Castle Ale and forgot the irish moss. This brew had crushed coriander seed and orange zest added @ flameout and was pretty cloudy going into the keg. I carbed it and let it sit for a few days and poured a quite cloudy brew. Unhappy homebrew panda.

So I boiled about 3/4 cup of water and let it cool then added 1/2 TBS. of 10 year old gelatin and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then heated it to about 170F-175F (it was so shallow in the pan it was difficult to get a good reading). Then let that cool until warm.

Then I bled down the keg, released the lid, and then turned on a very slow CO2 purge. Then I used a bent spoon and poured the gelatin solution in using a sort of 'black and tan' method...and gave a very slight swirl when done. Then sealed it and burped it a few times and back to full carb pressure.

Worked like a charm thanks to this thread.

I tasted pretty strong orange and orange zest bitterness (there was no pith in my zest...trust me) at first and the first quart or so was pretty strong on the orange/orange-zest-bitterness. But last night I tried it again and it's really getting good now.

I was curious if the gelatin 'dragged' some of the orange zest concentration to the bottom.

Would it be ok if I added the gelatin to my priming sugar water as it is cooling? I don't want to add any more water to my beer than I have to.

Three questions: 1. If I decide to use it in the secondary instead of the keg, is it a problem that the temp won't be dropping below 65F. I know some people have said they've done it in primary, etc but I was wondering how effective it is at these temps. 2. If I do do it in the keg, this keg is for a party and will keg transported before drinking. Do I risk sloshing it around and getting gel floating around and going into the dip tube. 3. How is it to clean up after the keg is done?

+1 on the sediment-gel in the keg question. I'd rather not serve jell-o floaties (or have to scrub like crazy once the keg's empty).

Wow! 10K+ views and only 75 replies.

I just add the bloomed gelatin to the primary after fermentation has finished. Makes for a nice thick yeast cake and mitigates the potential for yeast siphonage.

Once, the gelatin set so hard that the cane actually rested atop the gelatin layer but, I use the whole packet cause it's easy and cheap.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Wow! 10K+ views and only 75 replies.

I just add the bloomed gelatin to the primary after fermentation has finished. Makes for a nice thick yeast cake and mitigates the potential for yeast siphonage.

Once, the gelatin set so hard that the cane actually rested atop the gelatin layer but, I use the whole packet cause it's easy and cheap.

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How do you get the gel out of the carboy? Or are you using a bucket?

mkade said:

How do you get the gel out of the carboy? Or are you using a bucket?

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Once you rack the beer off of the bottom layer of "stuff", a hot rinse will wash out any residuals.

BierMuncher said:

Add it (gently) to the secondary (or keg) as you’re racking your beer.

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If you add it to the keg, do you end up with a thin layer of jello at the bottom of the keg? Does this cause problems with plugging your dip tube?

Thanks!
Jim