1st Time Using Gelatin - My Results

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Mainer28

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Sorry, I can't post pictures but I used gelatin for the first time a blonde ale.
I soaked 3/4 a packet of gelatin in 1.5 cups of luke warm water for 5 mins. I then brought the solution to about 170 degrees and let sit for 15-20 mins. Finally, I poured the solution my keg and pressurized.

I have no patience and poured a beer 24 hours later. After the sediment poured off (about 12 oz.), I had very, very clear beer. This is the clearest beer i have brewed and it really adds a professional look.

Note: I had great hot and and cold breaks, and used whirfloc, however, my beer still suffers from chill haze (which is why I used gelatin)

Also, this beer is 20 days old.
 
Same here. Use gelatin for the first time on a Lagunitas Brown Shugga clone and I can't believe how clear it is.

I put a full packet in cold tap water and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then I heated in the microwave for a minute, never boiling and added to my keg when it cooled a bit.
 
we've also had great result using gelatin in our last few batches.
 
Sorry but not a fan of animal by-products in my brew when it can be avoided. Why not just wait a week and then the keg will clear on its own???
 
Sorry but not a fan of animal by-products in my brew when it can be avoided. Why not just wait a week and then the keg will clear on its own???

Sometimes chill haze never clears. I have had beers in the fridge for 2months that are still hazy. If you don't like using the gelatin then because of it being animal product try using biofine.
 
I used Knox gelatin for my last Belgium I bottled and ended up with "gel floaters" in my beer. Does the beer need to be ice cold to prevent this? Does the gelatin need to be refridgerated first like Jello?
 
Just hoofed up a batch of porter. I can't wait to see if I f***ed it up or not. I brought a cup or so of water up to 170° and dissolved the gelatin. Ice bath then poured in the cornie.

Animal products? Heck, I'd fin with bacon if it didn't make the beer taste so awesome.
 
Gelatin is great!!!!! I just take about 1Tbs per 5 gallons and let it hydrate/bloom with about 1 cup of water for 15-20 min. Then i heat it on medium heat up to about 175 f (boiling will denature the proteins and render it ineffective). Next i cool it in an ice bath and add it to my empty secondary fermenter and rack my beer into it. Will be super clear within 3 days and even clearer with cold crashing. :mug:
 
Sorry but not a fan of animal by-products in my brew when it can be avoided. Why not just wait a week and then the keg will clear on its own???

strictly speaking the gelatin settles out and doesnt end up in the finished product.

Personally I havent had a batch yet that wasnt crystal clear with nothing more than time and whirlfloc
 
I know it doesn't end up in the final product but I do not like using an animal by-product at all when it can be EASILY avoided. Thanks for the tip on the Biofine. I have been plenty happy with whirlfloc in brews that do not clear well on their own.
 
I used Knox gelatin for my last Belgium I bottled and ended up with "gel floaters" in my beer. Does the beer need to be ice cold to prevent this? Does the gelatin need to be refridgerated first like Jello?

I got floaties when I tried clearing with gelatin. Makes me very hesitant to try it again
 
I have had great success with Gelatin.

I heat about a cup of water to boiling, let it cool to about 110-120F, pour it into the sanitized keg, open the packet of gelatin and pour into keg, shake it around a bit, then rack. This is the easiest way I have found and it works well.

The only downside I have found is that if I move a keg, the keg is cloudy for at least 8 hours after. If I filtered, that would not be a problem. I will probably filter some beers in the future for that reason. If I am taking a beer somewhere, it would help for it to be filtered.

Eric
 
never had floaties. I just use a tea spoon of gelatin (the type you use in cooking) with a cup of hot water, dissolve and add it to the secondary before racking. Works a charm. If you are getting floaties it might indicate too much gelatin?
 
Have you guys ever "cooked" Jello or any gelatin based confection ? You need to add boiling water for it to set. So if you boil the water and add the gelatin to it, you'll get floaters. There's really no reason for you to use very hot water. A packet of Knox gelatin will properly dissolve into a small amount of lukewarm water just fine.

I skipped the gelatin on my last pale ale and it's much hazier than all my other fined brews. I can spare the dollar and the small hassle to have a beer look ten times better.

Protip: you can add the gelatin at bottling time if you do not want to add it in the primary or use a secondary in fear of stirring crap up or oxygenating the final product. Just be sure not to add at the same time as your boiling priming solution to avoid clumping due to heat.
 
Have you guys ever "cooked" Jello or any gelatin based confection ? You need to add boiling water for it to set. So if you boil the water and add the gelatin to it, you'll get floaters. There's really no reason for you to use very hot water. A packet of Knox gelatin will properly dissolve into a small amount of lukewarm water just fine.

Shouldn't the water be heated to at least 185 to properly pasteurize it to kill any bacteria that may be present? I think it's fine to boil the water and then let it cool before adding the gelatin.
 
I have had great success with Gelatin.

I heat about a cup of water to boiling, let it cool to about 110-120F, pour it into the sanitized keg, open the packet of gelatin and pour into keg, shake it around a bit, then rack. This is the easiest way I have found and it works well.

The only downside I have found is that if I move a keg, the keg is cloudy for at least 8 hours after. If I filtered, that would not be a problem. I will probably filter some beers in the future for that reason. If I am taking a beer somewhere, it would help for it to be filtered.

Eric

Add the gelatin and let it sit for a few days before racking to the keg
 
Does any of the gelatin stay behind in suspension? My wife is vegetarian and would probably refuse to drink a beer cleared with gelatin.
 
Shouldn't the water be heated to at least 185 to properly pasteurize it to kill any bacteria that may be present? I think it's fine to boil the water and then let it cool before adding the gelatin.

You can boil it, but the way I see it, unless you have an hermetic vessel (ie. not your standard cooking pot) that will not let airborne bacteria get sucked in when the water cools due to pressure differences, bacteria will again find its way into the water/gelatin mixture. You can always use bottled water if you do not trust your water.

Personally I don't like having to boil water and wait for it to cool down. Some people swear by it, fine for them. I have other things to do with my day and you don't need piping hot water for gelatin to work :) And putting it in the fridge or freezer where the concentration of mold spores is probably higher than anywhere else in the house just doens't make sense.

Be aware that I do sanitize the spoon and pot along with the faucet.
 
Does any of the gelatin stay behind in suspension? My wife is vegetarian and would probably refuse to drink a beer cleared with gelatin.

Suspension or not, you can use other vegetarian friendly products to fine your beer that will also work (biofine).
 
Suspension or not, you can use other vegetarian friendly products to fine your beer that will also work (biofine).

"Biofine is a purified form of collagen isolated from the swim bladders of tropical fish."

Thats not exactly vegetarian... But I know what you mean - there are a couple other options.
 
I'm going to be trying gelatin for the first time soon. I'm finding with each successive generation, my yeast seems less flocculent. I'm going to cold crash and gelatin for the last week or so of primary for my current batches.

For some reason, I like the idea of hooves much better than swim bladders. Then again, I don't eat much fish... :cross:
 
"Biofine is a purified form of collagen isolated from the swim bladders of tropical fish."

Thats not exactly vegetarian... But I know what you mean - there are a couple other options.


Sorry ! I thought it was vegetarian. I know Bob mentionned some plastic based fining before.
 
There are apparently two kinds - Biofine and Biofine Clear. I believe only the latter is vegan and vegetarian friendly.
 
I used to use gelatin - until I ruined the best beer i ever made.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/i-ruined-best-beer-i-made-pics-206936/

I have not used any since - I added a week to my fermenting schedule - now I let things go for 4 weeks - and my beers are super clear. For me, after that heartbreak, I'd rather wait than get what you see in the pictures and have all that time and money got literally down the drain.
 
I used to use gelatin - until I ruined the best beer i ever made.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/i-ruined-best-beer-i-made-pics-206936/

I have not used any since - I added a week to my fermenting schedule - now I let things go for 4 weeks - and my beers are super clear. For me, after that heartbreak, I'd rather wait than get what you see in the pictures and have all that time and money got literally down the drain.

If the error of that incident is to lead inactivity, then it is you that should quit brewing and the rest of us that should keep using gelatin. You mentioned you got the water too hot for the gelatin, which is not the gelatin's fault.

That aside, has anyone experimented with the effects of gelatin on dry hopped beers? I use gelatin only when I need a crystal clear beer for presentation (meaning I'm sharing it with people and want it to look good). However, the last time I used it was after I dry hopped a new recipe, and it did not turn out quite as I had expected. However, since it was a new recipe I don't know if it is a recipe error or from the gelatin.
 
I used to use gelatin - until I ruined the best beer i ever made.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/i-ruined-best-beer-i-made-pics-206936/

I have not used any since - I added a week to my fermenting schedule - now I let things go for 4 weeks - and my beers are super clear. For me, after that heartbreak, I'd rather wait than get what you see in the pictures and have all that time and money got literally down the drain.

Take it as a learning experience. Now you know what happens if you overheat the gelatin just like how most of us didn't know about 99% of the things we use to do but now do them right.
 
If the error of that incident is to lead inactivity, then it is you that should quit brewing and the rest of us that should keep using gelatin. You mentioned you got the water too hot for the gelatin, which is not the gelatin's fault.

Take it as a learning experience. Now you know what happens if you overheat the gelatin just like how most of us didn't know about 99% of the things we use to do but now do them right.

Umm - was not looking to start an argument - rather I simply relayed my experiences. And the link I posted clearly states the mistake was my own. From the post:

I feel like such a dumb ass. I publicly post these to hopefully prevent someone else from making the same mistake.


I simply have forgone the use of it at all, choosing rather to give another weeks time to clear out.

I used gelatine for many previous batches with good results; conversly I switched to AG and have not used it at all, also achieving good results.

I only offered the link as a "Don't make the same mistake I made" lesson.

Not knocking anyone's method - just trying to be helpful. Sorry if anyone misunderstood my intentions. I like coming here to get help when I need it, and offer help to others when I can. Not to enter into confrontational dialog.
 
Can I add this to a finished beer? Apparently so-my ale is cloudy-I forgot to use Irish moss and it hasn't settled out yet. I haven't completely carbed it either. Going to give it a gello shot tomorrow!
 
I racked 2 batches of brew into secondarys with gelatin after a month in primarys on friday(2/11/11) around noon and the secondarys have been crash cooling in my fridge since. my question is i have some time today(2/13/11) to rack to kegs should i let it crash cool longer or will the gelatin be done doing what it needs to so i can rack today? i can always rack next weekend but im getting antsy. also i am a gelatin newb
 
ranchonodinero said:
Can I add this to a finished beer? Apparently so-my ale is cloudy-I forgot to use Irish moss and it hasn't settled out yet. I haven't completely carbed it either. Going to give it a gello shot tomorrow!

Well hoofing it worked out well and the beer looks great! I can't taste anything that shouldn't be there and my hair and nails look good too!
 
I seem to do mine different than everyone else but it works great.

I generally don't use secondaries. I just crash cool my primary for a day or two, add gelatin then rack to keg after a day or two. Clear no floaties works great.

First time I used it I added it to the keg and racked on top but got floaties so switched my process and have never looked back.

Polyclar is the vegan alternative. As long as you don't count the poor old dinosauers that died to make the oil to make the plastic.

Rudeboy
 
I'm planning on using gelatin to clear an ESB thats in the primary now.

Any thoughts on boiling the water and then cooling it purely to remove oxygen?

It doesn't seem like anyone here has had a problem with oxidation, just curious.
 
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