Does adding gelatin oxygenate my beer?

I've been using gelatin to clarify my last couple of batches of beer. It's been very effective, but when I dumped my gelatin solution into my carboy tonight, it occurred to me that this process might be a source of potential oxygenation.

I've been crash-cooling my beer for the past 4 days, and tonight I took off the foil covering, dumped in 1 cup of water with a teaspoon of gelatin dissolved in it, and put the foil back on. But when I poured it in, obviously it splashed a little.

Do you think this is a potential issue? In theory, the only gas in the tank at this point should be CO2, right? So if it splashed, it would only have splashed some CO2 into solution (I'm hoping). Is there another (less splashy) way I should be introducing the gelatin into the carboy? Or am I worrying over nothing?

I have used gelatin many times pouring it into a carboy w/o having any issues of oxygenation. You could try pouring this down a large diameter piece of sanitized tubing if it is a big concern for you still.

kombat said:

I've been using gelatin to clarify my last couple of batches of beer. It's been very effective, but when I dumped my gelatin solution into my carboy tonight, it occurred to me that this process might be a source of potential oxygenation.

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Nah no way! Everything beautiful that we make requires we do something ugly to something we already have that is already beautiful to begin with. That's just how it is.

Gelatin rocks.

Beer ain't that delicate. Oxygen is going to get into your fermentor. If you're planning on storing this beer until your great-grandkids can enjoy it legally, you might have a problem, but generally speaking these kinds of minor exposures aren't enough to oxidize.

If you are so worried about oxygen maybe you should replace that foil with an air lock after primary.

I switch to foil when I cold-crash, because cooling the air inside the carboy will cause it to contract, which creates a suction effect that will pull the StarSan from the airlock and into my precious beer. It also fits better in the fridge.

I take a square of foil, spritz it with a little StarSan, then cover the mouth of the carboy and secure it with a couple of elastics. It's not an airtight seal, but I figure it's enough to keep it sanitized during cold crashing and clarifying, until I keg it 4 days later.

Why, what do YOU guys do?

I fill up my airlock with vodka before cold crashing. A little does get sucked back into the beer, but an ounce or two of vodka isn't gonna do anything perceptible to my beers flavor.

kombat said:

I switch to foil when I cold-crash, because cooling the air inside the carboy will cause it to contract, which creates a suction effect that will pull the StarSan from the airlock and into my precious beer. It also fits better in the fridge.

I take a square of foil, spritz it with a little StarSan, then cover the mouth of the carboy and secure it with a couple of elastics. It's not an airtight seal, but I figure it's enough to keep it sanitized during cold crashing and clarifying, until I keg it 4 days later.

Why, what do YOU guys do?

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The foil doesn't keep oxygen out. As the contraction occurs it draws in oxygen rich air. Neither that or the gelatin is really a huge concern, but of the two I'd be slightly more worried about letting air in.

I also use vodka, and as I have seen this suction action when you lift a Better bottle full of beer, with the s type air locks If you fill it appropriately (not too full) it doesn't seem to suck any more than a few drops, at most.