Gelatin as fining vs. irish moss. Pros/cons?

Hey,

Considering using gelatin for my next batch. Anyone know the big difference between this and irish moss? Good things/bad things? Does one do a better or a different job than the other?

Cheers.

nigel31 said:

Hey,

Considering using gelatin for my next batch. Anyone know the big difference between this and irish moss? Good things/bad things? Does one do a better or a different job than the other?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

I'm definitely a noob, but I have read before that one reason for using the Irish moss is for people that are vegetarians as gelatin is an animal byproduct. I'm sure there are other factors besides this though.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Irish moss is a kettle fining. You add it to the last 10 min of a boil to help coagulate and bind protiens/polyphenols. Gelatin is a cold side fining. I typically use it in the keg once the beer is cooled to kegerator temps. Most people will use them in conjunction.

Edcculus said:

You are comparing apples to oranges. Irish moss is a kettle fining. You add it to the last 10 min of a boil to help coagulate and bind protiens/polyphenols. Gelatin is a cold side fining. I typically use it in the keg once the beer is cooled to kegerator temps. Most people will use them in conjunction.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I was thinking of the difference between irish moss and isinglass (made from fish bladders).

This should help:

Rhoobarb said:

Don't boil it with the gelatin. But boil your water by itself to sanitize, then add the gelatin when it is lukewarm - ~115oF. Add it to your secondary, then rack the beer on top of it. It'll float down to the bottom, taking proteins with it, in a couple of days. Works for ales or lagers.
/2/2b/Jello_pudding.jpg[/IMG]

Click to expand...

Here's the thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/irish-moss-gelatin-118529/

PhelanKA7 said:

Yeah. I was thinking of the difference between irish moss and isinglass (made from fish bladders).

Click to expand...

Well, you were still partly correct. Gelatin is made from skin and bones. A vegie alternative is agar. Use for clearing finished beer.

Irish moss is, in fact, a seaweed and not moss at all. Use in the boil kettle.

As Edcculus said they are two different things. Irish Moss a kettle fining and helps precipitate hot and cold break while gelatin is used on the cold side. They do different things and are most times used in conjunction with each other.

Is there any reason you would NOT want to use gelatin? Any cons/drawbacks?

There is no real drawback other than the minimal time required. Even if you cannot cold-crash the gelatin helps - but it works much better in cold beer than room-temp as you've already desolubilized a lot of proteins through cooling.

Bryan

One drawback for gelatin or agar is that once it's in there, you can't get it out. So if you accidentally shake your keg up, you're going to have the gelatin/agar mixed in with your beer.

Newsman said:

One drawback for gelatin or agar is that once it's in there, you can't get it out. So if you accidentally shake your keg up, you're going to have the gelatin/agar mixed in with your beer.

Click to expand...

That makes sense. However, if you're bottling I would expect it would be left behind in the fermentor or secondary, correct?

paulquinn said:

That makes sense. However, if you're bottling I would expect it would be left behind in the fermentor or secondary, correct?

Click to expand...

In theory. I've never used it, I just count on cold-crashing to get 99% of the trub out.

paulquinn said:

Is there any reason you would NOT want to use gelatin? Any cons/drawbacks?

Click to expand...

Well, it makes it a non-vegetarian friendly beer. That's the biggest drawback to some, and why I will never use it. I don't want to have to consider someone's food preferences before offering a beer, and I would think for someone who was vegan or vegetarian, they wouldn't expect cow products in beer. I am not a vegetarian myself, though.

Yooper said:

Well, it makes it a non-vegetarian friendly beer. That's the biggest drawback to some, and why I will never use it. I don't want to have to consider someone's food preferences before offering a beer, and I would think for someone who was vegan or vegetarian, they wouldn't expect cow products in beer. I am not a vegetarian myself, though.

Click to expand...

There are vegan alternatives to gelatin, such as Agar.

Yooper said:

]I would think for someone who was vegan or vegetarian, they wouldn't expect cow products in beer. I am not a vegetarian myself, though.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure that is such a sound assumption. Animal products such as isinglass have been common in commercial brewing for a long time (100+ years, I think).

Bryan

Warthaug said:

I'm not sure that is such a sound assumption. Animal products such as isinglass have been common in commercial brewing for a long time (100+ years, I think).

Bryan

Click to expand...

I know it's been used in wine- but I really don't know of any commercial breweries that use isinglass or gelatin in beer. I would assume that filtering is the norm, and not finings, in both commercial beer and wine making.

In England at least, isinglass is pretty commonly used in beers - especially in the "real ales". The institute of brewing has published a number of papers on the detection of isinglass in commercial beers, and (assuming I remember correctly), its in a pretty large portion of UK-sourced beers. Many filtered beers also contain isinglass, as isinglass improves the efficiency of filtration.

Bryan