Question about gelatin...

Ok, so I used gelatin for the first time in my strawberry blonde. Here's the scenario... fermented, racked onto strawberries for 1 week, racked off of strawberries into carboy, added gelatin. That has been about 5 days ago. Is there a time limit on how long I should now wait to bottle? Will the gelatin cause any ill effects if left too long in the tertiary? I'm trying to avoid the "I think I've got an infection" thread, but there is some weird stuff going on in my carboy. I'm pretty sure it's all normal, but.... there is some krausen looking stuff on top, with some stringy/globby things hanging down. (Yes, those are scientific terms.) Suggestions?? Comments?? Reassurance??

I added gelatin to my secondary after I dryhopped. It was in there for 3 days before I cold crashed. I never had any stringy thingys hanging down though. From what I know, you should be able to leave the beer in there with the gelatin for a good while with no ill effects. It's flavorless and even if it gets into the bottle, it will coat the bottom. Which works out good when you pour since it keeps the yeast in check when you're pouring.

i'd let it fully settle out before you rack to bottling bucket or keg. give it a week or more to do its thing and you should be fine.

Here's a pic, not very good quality due to lighting and the G1s camera sucking!! But, you get the idea...

android said:

i'd let it fully settle out before you rack to bottling bucket or keg. give it a week or more to do its thing and you should be fine.

Click to expand...

+1 ... like android said, give it a week or so to settle out and you will be fine. Besides letting your brew sit a little longer before you bottle will not hurt anything ...if anything it will allow the yeast to do a little more cleaning up of any off flavors.

I was going to let it set at least till the end of the week, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't some kind of unwritten rule about the time between using gelatin and bottling. Sounds like i'm good.

I tried to add gelatin the other day, and it just clumped up in a couple of large ball and is floating on the top. I think I may have over heated the gelatin. I used some Agar-Agar that I had around and figured it would do the same thing. I would prefer not to use animal derived gelatin. Anyone have this happen before.

adfirmus said:

I tried to add gelatin the other day, and it just clumped up in a couple of large ball and is floating on the top. I think I may have over heated the gelatin. I used some Agar-Agar that I had around and figured it would do the same thing. I would prefer not to use animal derived gelatin. Anyone have this happen before.

Click to expand...

You have to "proof" the gelatin in warm water for about 30 min. Then slowly heat it on the stove, but DO NOT BOIL. I use a thermometer and don't let it get over 180.

Edcculus said:

You have to "proof" the gelatin in warm water for about 30 min. Then slowly heat it on the stove, but DO NOT BOIL. I use a thermometer and don't let it get over 180.

Click to expand...

It's also refered to as "blooming" and it can be done in cold water, though it just takes longer (overnight is usually fine). Of course, it doesn't hurt to raise it past 150 so as to be sanitary.

Also keep the beer to be fined at or under 50*F for the gelatin to work properly.

Edcculus said:

You have to "proof" the gelatin in warm water for about 30 min. Then slowly heat it on the stove, but DO NOT BOIL. I use a thermometer and don't let it get over 180.

Click to expand...

I guess you can't skip the proof step. I only let it 'proof' for about 5 minutes I think.

I let it bloom for 30 minutes... then heated, cooled and pitched.... I followed BierMuncher's technique...