A word on gelatin

I'm curious how many people use gelatin or other fining agents in their home brews. I realize gelatin is a pretty common fining agent used by many homebrewers these days, but I'm not sure how many people realize that gelatin is made from bones and skin. Let me pause here and say that I am not a vegetarian, I don't really care too much one way or the other what people put in their beers. That's not the purpase of this thread. I'm simply trying to make people aware. Perhaps you have friends or family that are vegetrian, or even vegan (as I do). And you might not think twice before giving them a homebrew clearified with gelatin. Hopefully now you will.
Many breweries also use isinglas (fish guts) for clearity. But I don't hear of that much in the homebrewing community.
It was a very sad day for my wife and a number of my friends a couple years ago when they found out some of their favorite brews had said products in them. So, again, just be aware if you weren't already. Thanks for your time.

I use irish moss in the boil and a calendar for anything after that.

I don't use it but it's not because I give a darn about anyone's feelings about ingesting animal products. I just haven't had the need since enough of my process seems to clear the beer without it. I'm guessing some or all of these techniques help; Rolling boil, irish moss, fast chilling/cold break, cold crashing, time.

No one actually thinks that boycotting the use of gelatin is going to stop the demand for animal slaughter do they? It's more a byproduct of a ravenous meat hunger, not Jello. Dang, now I want a steak AND jello.

Whirlfloc in the boil. Sometimes fine with gelatin in secondary, especially for paler beers. A little cloudiness seems more forgivable in a darker beer for some reason.

Chad

Whirlfloc in the last 5 minutes of the boil. Time does what gelatin does for me.

Yeah. Gelatin is extracted from bones and connective tissue. Moslty from cows and horses. Can you spell J-E-L-L-O? Better yet, how's a nice big serving of Banana Cream Horse tissue suit ya'?

On the other hand Isinglass is made from fish bladders (mosly Sturgeon for what it's worth.

Whirlfloc or Irish Moss are the only finnings that are of a botanical origin and are derived from Red Algea.

When you really look into them, none of them are very appealing, gastronomically speaking.

FWIW, Isinglass is the only one that is truely effective at binding itself to yeast to aid in flocculation. The others are useful at binding to proteins and phenols.

IIRC, there was a write up blurb in the last BYO regarding Turbid mashing.

I have both Gelatin and Irish Moss in my brew kit but rarely use them, opting instead for cold ageing.

I generally cold crash or use Irish Moss. But in the end, if my beer is a bit hazy, who gives 2 spits.

I always use whirlfloc (well, when I remember) and get a great cold break as part of my brewday with my chiller. I have never used any other finings, except for time.

My brews are crystal clear, even the IPAs.

My brews have all come out really really clear with no special fuss. Either I have flawless technique, or I don't have high standards for clarity.

Honestly I am surprised at how clear my pale beers come out, given the amount of fuss others take over it.

I do leave hop particles in the primary. I have heard that this greatly helps clearing. I guess it must.

Unless I've done an IPA with tons of hops, I don't filter at all.

Whirlfloc and cold crashing. I have used gelatin in the past, but haven't noticed it making a big difference.

Couple of things:
1) Shouldn't people be happy they find a use from all the "leftovers" from the beef market. Kind of like american Indians and using every part of the buffalo?
2) Are vegans going to be upset because I bottle condition? I don't want them to get all upset when I tell them they just ate entire families of living creatures.

I use Whirfloc at the end of the boil and sometimes use geltain.

Parker36 said:

2) Are vegans going to be upset because I bottle condition? I don't want them to get all upset when I tell them they just ate entire families of living creatures.

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Most vegans tend to think of yeast as a fungus, and therefore OK to eat. Some vegans do avoid yeast though. I personally will eat the yeast, and the fish, and the chicken, and the pig, and the cow (gonna eat me some veal later this week.) I personally have no moral dilemma with using gelatin in any food product.

Loup said:

Most vegans tend to think of yeast as a fungus, and therefore OK to eat. Some vegans do avoid yeast though. I personally will eat the yeast, and the fish, and the chicken, and the pig, and the cow (gonna eat me some veal later this week.) I personally have no moral dilemma with using gelatin in any food product.

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Except for the pig (allergic) I am with you. Nothing beats a big ole bowl of bone soup, Yumm! Everytime I find myself in Singapore I look for the stall that sells it. To this day I still don't know how to pronounce the name of the dish or the name of the stall.

Irish Moss, crash cooling AND gelatin in most of my brews, mostly because I am an impatient brewer and many of my regular brews are best enjoyed "young".

IMHO opinion, crash cooling combined with gelatin (I add gelatin to the crash cooled secondary) are the silver bullet that produces clear brew.

Just my $.02. YMMV

I use gelatin as well with great results. One thing to keep in mind is the gelatin attracts the proteins and drops them to the bottom of the beer. The beer is then siphoned off the yeast/gelatin on the bottom of the carboy to the keg or bottling bucket. If you’re a vegetarian don’t worry about the gelatin in your beer because if used properly it’s not in your beer.

Beer is beer. Anybody that wants to complain about the clairty of my beer can always opt out to the PBR in the bottom back corner of the fridge. My only clear brewed beverage is the Apfelwein. Time does my fining.

cold crash and conditioning time is all that I use. you can read the paper through all but the stout.

I'm not sure what everyone means by cold crash, this makes me think you chill it really fast. I just throw it in the keg, and let the kegerator do the chilling, after a week or so it's crystal clear. No finnings of any sort.

King of Cascade said:

If you’re a vegetarian don’t worry about the gelatin in your beer because if used properly it’s not in your beer.

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For a lot of veggies (not all of course) it's not whether it's in the final product or not, it's just that it was used at all. For a lot of folks it's just an ethical decision. But that's for a different forum.

I use Irish Moss and time to clearify my beer. The "time" part works best, IMO.

My sister-in-law is a vegan and while I don't see her often I want her to be able to drink the beer I make and tracking vegan beer is just pointless, so I don't animal products in my beer. I figure the animal flesh washed down by beer more than makes up for it.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Whirlfloc or Irish Moss are the only finnings that are of a botanical origin and are derived from Red Algea.

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The owner of my LHBS informed me that Whirfloc contains both irish moss and gelatin.

The owner of my LHBS informed me that Whirfloc contains both irish moss and gelatin.

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I have never heard that before. I'll do some research and get back

cold crashing is chilling it to below serving temps. I cold crash at 30-32* then rack to the keg and condition at 68*

King of Cascade said:

I have never heard that before. I'll do some research and get back

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I think it's Irish moss and carrageenan, which is also derived from seaweed.

I actually filter my beer through the intestines of slaughtered baby rabbits. The cilia does a great job at catching the proteins and yeast. It takes about 20 baby rabbits to filter 5 gallons but they breed like rabbits so what do I care. Then I lager it in a cellar I created out of an old fox den. When the foxes kept coming back I boarded the entrance up and filled it with water. I pulled the bodies out the next day and used the skins to make nice furry linings for my toilet seat. I so hate cold toilet seats. I used to go to the pound and pick up strays to bring home to run my dog powered grain mill but they kept dying, I guess they didn't like the dry ramen noodles i bought for them at costco for food. Anyway thats how I do it.

I rarely make a beer you can see through even under the best of conditions. Time takes care of the others.

I think it's Irish moss and carrageenan, which is also derived from seaweed.

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Yea... I can't find anything that says it has gelatin

you know you could just not tell them it has an animal product in it, it's not like it'll kill them. I think a bunch of us can attest meat != death or sickness.

You may think that's unethical or something, but in all honesty being a veggie is slightly dumb, I've never heard an argument that made sense for it. And what they don't know won't kill them. Besides, why do we have to go out of the way for a very small minority?

KingBrianI said:

I actually filter my beer through the intestines of slaughtered baby rabbits. The cilia does a great job at catching the proteins and yeast. It takes about 20 baby rabbits to filter 5 gallons but they breed like rabbits so what do I care. Then I lager it in a cellar I created out of an old fox den. When the foxes kept coming back I boarded the entrance up and filled it with water. I pulled the bodies out the next day and used the skins to make nice furry linings for my toilet seat. I so hate cold toilet seats. I used to go to the pound and pick up strays to bring home to run my dog powered grain mill but they kept dying, I guess they didn't like the dry ramen noodles i bought for them at costco for food. Anyway thats how I do it.

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Hah! I may have to look into your methods, sounds much cheaper than buying finings.

I personally do not use any finings. If in the future I do decide to use something I plan on being vegan friendly as I have vegan friends. However they have no problems with yeast, many vegans don't have issue eating fungi.

I have heard some vegans avoid honey, others do not, as it could be considered an animal product.

Knowing everything that makes up my brews I leave it up to them to decide if it is ethical for them to drink.

Irish moss + cold crash

Well it's an interesting subject. I am definitely an omnivore but being a Catholic I don't consume meat or its products on Fridays. I'd hate to not have to drink beer on a Friday just because I used gelatin. Also, the thought about not telling someone that it would matter to that you use an animal product in your beer (or any other product) is kind of BS. Good way to lose a friend real fast. Or, at the very least, their respect.