Any downside to gelatin?

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Nugent

Nugent

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I have recently been using gelatin as a fining. I add it to the secondary a few days before bottling. I'm gobsmacked with how clear my beer comes out.

I'm not fussy about crystal clear beer, and originally bought and used it to clean up a really cloudy bitter that I used Wyeast 1318 on.

Has anyone had any problems (i.e. flavour, off-flavour, etc.) using gelatin in the past? I'm certainly not interested in sacrificing any good element of my beer for clarity. Any stories or advice would be helpful.

Cheers.
 
Nugent said:
I have recently been using gelatin as a fining. I add it to the secondary a few days before bottling. I'm gobsmacked with how clear my beer comes out.

I'm not fussy about crystal clear beer, and originally bought and used it to clean up a really cloudy bitter that I used Wyeast 1318 on.

Has anyone had any problems (i.e. flavour, off-flavour, etc.) using gelatin in the past? I'm certainly not interested in sacrificing any good element of my beer for clarity. Any stories or advice would be helpful.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

I don't use it, but I don't believe there is any downside at all. If I had a hazy beer, I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

The only reason I can think of to not use it is if you're serving the beer to a vegetarian. Otherwise, it shouldn't affect any flavor or keeping ability.
 
I've got a beer in the keg, cold and carbed that is pretty cloudy still. I'd like to clear it up, but was not sure if I can do this with the beer cold. Does temperature matter?
 
No downside other than the small amount of effort required. It obviously is not much, so if it is needed, I say go for it. I don't usually need it.

Using gelatin on cold and carb'd beers is good to go, I did it on several batches. It even got my IPA crystal clear.
 
I've used it on and off. On my lighter beers I use it because I want them to look as refreshing as they taste...but that's just me. As far as using it on cold beer, I'm pretty sure I've read on here where some people add it to the keg when the empty out their secondary...... So I assume they are putting the keg in the keggerator......
 
Isn't there a kosher variety of gelatin? I suppose you could make gelatin without using pork and there's no dairy involved...
 

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