Gelatin for clearing

Has anyone used gelatin for clearing ciders?

Nope - only pectic enzyme.

Isn't that more of a wine thing?

Works great.

My pale ale take almost a month and a half to clear. Gelatin knocked it out in 2 days.

I did learn that you don't want add the gelatin to really cold beer, add the gelatin and then start the crash cool. otherwise you'll get a thick layer of jelly at the top. If it does happen, warm it up to fermenting temps and it will dissolve and drop out, with all of the haze to boot. Beirmuncher's method works pro.

I usually cold condition then add gelatin. As long as you dissolve the gelatin first there's not jelly layer anywhere to be found.

@Johnny - gelatin knocks out yeast so it can be used for any fermented beverage. I use it in conjunction with cold conditioning for both beer and cider.

where would one aquire gelatin

Edible gelatin is available from the cake cooking section in supermarkets in Australia. Better and easier to use the dried stuff than the leaves. I can't say for sure in Chile though.

I was reading about gelatin being used in beer but was wondering if anyone had used it for ciders. I am not a fan of adding pectic enzyme. I have never used it. that is the only reason. maybe some day i will try it.

you can get gelatin at any grocery store where they sell jello just make sure it is unflavored. Unless you would like to add a bit of flavor to what ever you are making.

I am going to use it on a cider this weekend and will have some pic to post also.

Yep, works great. Most of the haze in cider is yeast and other small floating solids. Gelatin and a week or two in the fridge will knock all of that right out.

I like gelatin (bone derived) because it isnt dirt (bentonite), bio-engineered (pectic enzyme), fish guts (isinglass), chemistry class (PVPP), seaweed (Irish Moss), or the same stuff that some sand papers use (Kieselsol).

so it is just unflavoured jelly, and i can use ..say strawberry jelly,and i can add it before fermentation or after. this is a big help

I wouldn't use flavoured. Use plain. You add it after fermentation is complete as it works to knock the yeast out of solution. You need yeast in solution for fermentation to occur.

@vespa -irish moss and PVPP (polyclar) are used to clear different particles to gelatin so not really comparable. I believe pectic enzyme also serves a diffeent function to gelatin and isinglass but I've never used it.

ok thanks i have 3 5 gallon batches fermenting all with different ingredients, one more question, how much would you use, let me get this straight, the jelly that comes in powder and you mix with hot water that kids like actually clears cider???

It is gelatin, essentially unflavored jello. Not jelly.

You can use Knox Gelatin that is found in the grocery store. Never tried it for cider, but for beer, a small amount, maybe a 1/4 teaspoon, is used in 5 gallons.

Don't use jelly.

I used it in a cyser recently. I used 1/3 of 1/2 teaspoon to one gallon, and that might have been too much. You just need a tiny little bit. Knox. It's in the grocery store. It worked. But you will lose some volume, swirling it around daily will help it pick up more stuff and also compact it more, so you don't lose as much beer/wine/mead/cider when you bottle. This was added when I cold crashed it.

I had a open bottle of cider that i have been sipping on so i added 1/4 teaspoon to it last night. I hope it does the trick. it finished just under 1.000 and is still a little too sweet. i was thinking it might be from what is floating in the cider it is still pretty cloudy.

johnnyo1977 said:

I had a open bottle of cider that i have been sipping on so i added 1/4 teaspoon to it last night. I hope it does the trick. it finished just under 1.000 and is still a little too sweet. i was thinking it might be from what is floating in the cider it is still pretty cloudy.

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fining wont bring down the sweetness, that comes from disolved sugars. Fining will clear it up though making it beautiful

thought that might be the case. but i am going to find out shortly.

Question for those who used gelatin in the secondary. I dry hopped 1oz a few days ago and wondered if I could swirl the hops off the top into suspension and then pour the gelatin mixture on top? Would it also help to pull the hop material down to the bottom? I figure I'll use the gelatin in my corny before putting into the kegerator to condition if this won't work.

flananuts said:

Question for those who used gelatin in the secondary. I dry hopped 1oz a few days ago and wondered if I could swirl the hops off the top into suspension and then pour the gelatin mixture on top? Would it also help to pull the hop material down to the bottom?

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I did exactly that and a few hours later all the floating hops had been pulled to the bottom of the fermenter.