Ok experts...Shoot a noob some tips!!

It's December, so I thought this would be a great time to brew a nice golden ale for the summer months.

I really want to get this brew as clear as possible and could use some tips on best place to pick up a kit.

I checked out Austin and was curious if you guys felt the upgrade from the dry nottingham yeast was worthwile or if that's a waste.

I plan to rack to a secondary(only to clarify...otherwise I would normally leave in my primary) and was curious what else I could do. The gelatin idea is intriguing to me.....is this used when transferring to a secondary? Would my local brewstore carry this or would a grocery store cally the gelatin? Does it really impart no taste?


Help?

Nottingham is a power horse.

You have the time. Just use that to your advantage.

Primary for a month. X-fer to secondary. Cold Crash to near freezing and wait it out. In the spring, bottle it up with some new yeast.

well i havent been doing this long but i put my brew into a secondary for at least 2 times as long as it was in the primary and it comes out pretty clear also make sure your 2nd is a little colder than the primary and then try cold crashing for a few days and bottle

On racking days, place the carboy in its new spot well ahead of time. Moving the carboy shakes things up, and if you carry it into your kitchen and immediately start racking, you'll transfer a lot of sediment.

Upgrading your yeast is well worth the few extra bucks. Definitely do that.

As GilaMinumBeer said, use the time to your advantage in secondary. If you leave your beer in there for a long period of time it will do the vast majority of clearing by its self. That's really all there is to it. You don't need extra tricks or purchases to clear the beer if you have the secondary time to do it.

As said before, time is your biggest advantage here. I put in primary for an average of two weeks and then secondary for 2-4 weeks and my beers have all come out really clear, at least IMO. I really don't think you need to worry about gelatin or upgrading yeast, etc.

These things may help if you do not have the time. That is what I think at least.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Nottingham is a power horse.

You have the time. Just use that to your advantage.

Primary for a month. X-fer to secondary. Cold Crash to near freezing and wait it out. In the spring, bottle it up with some new yeast.

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In this situation, when bottling, would a full yeast pack be needed? Does it need to be the same type of yeast as used originally? Would a starter be needed?

I am interesting in doing something like this myself, except for a barleywine.

you dont need to add any new yeast you add the yeast in the primary
then you add sugar to the bottling bucket just before bottling so that it gives the suspended yeast something to eat so your beer can carb up

sgrcltpunk said:

you dont need to add any new yeast you add the yeast in the primary
then you add sugar to the bottling bucket just before bottling so that it gives the suspended yeast something to eat so your beer can carb up

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even with a couple months fermenting ( 3-4 weeks primary+ 3-4 weeks secondary) PLUS cold crashing? would there be enough viable yeast left to carbonate it?