gelatin finings?

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Ok you all have sold me on this I will be going to the store in the morning to get some gelatin. I have a Brown Ale in secondary that just refuses to clear. It was my firt all grain, and it will be sweet to hand the guys a kick a$$ Brown Ale! It was a relief to hear about the IPA coming out great, I will use it on my Pale Ale then as well. Thanks for the great information.
 
I'd just like to point out how spectacular gelatin is as a fining! We had a punkin' ale (actually tastes a LOT like a DFH Punkin' clone, ask for recipe if you want to try it out) sitting for 21 days and was still unbelievably hazy! Followed BM's instructions and racked on top of gelatin in secondary. Over night it looked like a completely different beer with a gorgeous super-dense packed cake at the bottom. We let it sit for the rest of that day and racked to a keg the following afternoon. I have some crappy phone pictures but I just had to share. When the beer is properly chilled and carbed I'll post the final product. Gelatin far exceeded my expectations even after reading this entire thread. I'm hooked!

CRAZY HAZY!
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....even in tiny amounts...
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My phone camera isn't even that bad... this just gives you an idea of how terribly hazy it was. Racking to secondary...
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Not even 48 hours later, racking to the keg. This picture really doesn't convey the clarity properly. It really is quite crystal...
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ok, i am sold on this and have a batch i want to clear by the weekend so no time fore experimatation on my part. I have been through the thread and do not quite see a direct answer to this..

what effect does the temperature of your beer have on adding the gelatin? I can add it to my secondary and let it sit 24 hours and cold crash, or go ahead and cold crash and add the gelatin to the cold beer???

some mention adding it to kegs, but which way, warm beer vs cold beer would the gelatin do its job faster?

UPDATE : added the gelatin to a room temp carboy following BM's method. Then placed in the fridge for cold crashing. hopefully this will do the trick.
 
what effect does the temperature of your beer have on adding the gelatin? I can add it to my secondary and let it sit 24 hours and cold crash, or go ahead and cold crash and add the gelatin to the cold beer???

some mention adding it to kegs, but which way, warm beer vs cold beer would the gelatin do its job faster?

UPDATE : added the gelatin to a room temp carboy following BM's method. Then placed in the fridge for cold crashing. hopefully this will do the trick.

It is best to prechill the beer as much as possible. In cold temps, the proteins come together and form larger particles. (chill haze, for instance) The larger bits are more easily settled out.
 
It is best to prechill the beer as much as possible. In cold temps, the proteins come together and form larger particles. (chill haze, for instance) The larger bits are more easily settled out.

Thx for the info. I added 1 tablespoon of knox, following BM's advice to the room temp secondary and then immediately crashed in the fridge. A little over 24 hours and I racked the clearest beer I have ever made into the keg. It may help that I used 1/2 a whirloc too. I had no jello sludge in the bottom of the secondary so 1 tablespoon did not seem like overkill to me either.
 
Wow, can't wait to try this. I have forgot the irish moss a couple of time and just settled with cloudy beer. Great post and thanks to all.
 
I added the gelatin to my keg before racking on top of it. I swear to god I can both taste it and smell it in the beer I pull off it. Gelatin smells horrible when bringing it to pasteurization (dirty cow hooves). Is the taste & smell all in my head?

From Wiki: Gelatin (from French gélatine) is a translucent, colorless, odorless, brittle, nearly tasteless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones.
 
I swear to god I can both taste it and smell it in the beer I pull off it. Gelatin smells horrible when bringing it to pasteurization (dirty cow hooves). Is the taste & smell all in my head?

It may well be in your head. I have never noticed the smell/taste myself. Of course, maybe I am not sensitive to that flavor. I'll be transferring a batch later today that used gelatin; I'll scrutinize a sample and see if I can detect anything. It's a small session beer so off flavors shouldn't be too hidden.
 
It may well be in your head. I have never noticed the smell/taste myself. Of course, maybe I am not sensitive to that flavor. I'll be transferring a batch later today that used gelatin; I'll scrutinize a sample and see if I can detect anything. It's a small session beer so off flavors shouldn't be too hidden.

+1

What kind of gelatin did you use? Was it plain knox? If so, I can guarantee that there is no flavor. I've used this on nearly every beer I've made since I discovered it and have never had one off flavor.
 
I added the gelatin to my keg before racking on top of it. I swear to god I can both taste it and smell it in the beer I pull off it. Gelatin smells horrible when bringing it to pasteurization (dirty cow hooves). Is the taste & smell all in my head?

From Wiki: Gelatin (from French gélatine) is a translucent, colorless, odorless, brittle, nearly tasteless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones.

you say that you put it in the keg? Are you serving from this same keg with the gelatin in it?
If so I would say that is the problem.
 
you say that you put it in the keg? Are you serving from this same keg with the gelatin in it?
If so I would say that is the problem.

This thread is 14 pages long... and filled with folks doing exactly that: adding gelatin when racking to their serving keg. While I haven't yet done it, based on the previous responses, I doubt very highly that that's the problem.
 
+1

What kind of gelatin did you use? Was it plain knox? If so, I can guarantee that there is no flavor. I've used this on nearly every beer I've made since I discovered it and have never had one off flavor.

Yep,
Plain ol' inexpensive Knox. No need for the spendy designer gelatins that the homebrew suppliers want to sell you. This stuff works just as well.
 
Its early, I know, but I'm already becoming a believer. I racked a cream ale on top of some gelatin in the secondary yesterday and already this morning I can see clean through the stuff, whereas, yesterday it was hazy. Sitting next to an IPA in primary, the stuff looks crystal clear.... can't wait to see it in a glass out of the keg.
 
This all sounds like a great way to clarify hazy beer. I'm working on a belgian golden strong ale (similar to duvel style) right now that's been in the secondary for a couple weeks and still super hazy. This style in particular really should be crystal clear, and after reading through this thread gelatin seems like a good option. I'm only worried that the several months of bottle conditioning i'm expecting to have with this will be drawn out even longer if I drop out a large amount of the yeast with gelatin. Has anyone tried using the techniques in this thread on golden belgians or other strong clear beers?
 
I racked my graff onto 1 tablespoon ( I was going to go for a little less, but the stuff was crazy cloudy) of knox gelatin yesterday and this evening it's already cleared a whole bunch. As of now it's much clearer at the top than the bottom, but given a couple days more to finish up I expect it'll be gorgeous. Far clearer than I expected given the fact that I put the hops straight into the boiling wort without a bag or anything.

I'm only 2 batches in and I'm already a big fan of using gelatin for fining :)
 
I racked my graff onto 1 tablespoon ( I was going to go for a little less, but the stuff was crazy cloudy) of knox gelatin yesterday and this evening it's already cleared a whole bunch. As of now it's much clearer at the top than the bottom, but given a couple days more to finish up I expect it'll be gorgeous. Far clearer than I expected given the fact that I put the hops straight into the boiling wort without a bag or anything.

I'm only 2 batches in and I'm already a big fan of using gelatin for fining :)

How long was your graff in the primary before you racked it over?
 
How long was your graff in the primary before you racked it over?

At the time of racking I thought it had been at least two weeks (I didn't take any notes 'cause it was my first batch and I slacked, real bright I know) but the next day I looked back on my posts and realized it had only been 11 days. What can I say, I'm easily excitable... I did take two gravity readings over 3 days that were both the same at 1.008 but I should have had a little more patience. Now that it's done I'm going to let it be another week or two to see what happens, then I'll bottle.

I made sure I wrote a few things down the next time :drunk:
 
I just used gelatin for the first time last saturday when I kegged two beers, my pale ale and Coastarins Winter Brown Ale.
This was the first time I checked, so they may well have been clear a couple of days ago, but they are crystal clear already!
I am in love with gelatin now :ban:
 
I read through the whole thread, and one or two people have asked this question with no answers.

Has anyone used gelatin fining and successfully washed yeast from the bottom of the fermenter?

I have an IPA that I plan to brew and with all the hop additions as well as dry-hopping, I think there will be some hazing due to all the hops.

However, I only use a primary ale pail and I want to harvest the yeast. Would the gelatin mess up the yeast washing process?
 
I read through the whole thread, and one or two people have asked this question with no answers.

Has anyone used gelatin fining and successfully washed yeast from the bottom of the fermenter?

I have an IPA that I plan to brew and with all the hop additions as well as dry-hopping, I think there will be some hazing due to all the hops.

However, I only use a primary ale pail and I want to harvest the yeast. Would the gelatin mess up the yeast washing process?


Do you bottle or keg? If kegging, just add the gelatin to the kegs. If bottling, then idk, hopefully someone answers your question :)
 
I read through the whole thread, and one or two people have asked this question with no answers.

Has anyone used gelatin fining and successfully washed yeast from the bottom of the fermenter?

I have an IPA that I plan to brew and with all the hop additions as well as dry-hopping, I think there will be some hazing due to all the hops.

However, I only use a primary ale pail and I want to harvest the yeast. Would the gelatin mess up the yeast washing process?

I have done this. It wasn't a problem to harvest and reuse the yeast.
 
Do you still taste any off flavors? And what is the consensus on amounts? I read Biermuncher's post for 1 Tablespoon and the another saying 1/4 - 1/2 Teaspoon... What is everyone doing? Also, any further comment on higher quantities stripping proteins and body from the beer?
 
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Lack of cold break causes chill haze. When a beer is chilled, the proteins partially precipitate and form a haze. As the beer warms up, the proteins re-dissolve.

I use gelatin quite often. The proteins are attracted to it and attach t the gel. As it (the gel) falls, it drags the proteins with it. Good, long chilling helps, too.
[/FONT]
 
How does this work? Aren't the proteins already present in the beer before it's cooled?

Polyphenols and proteins form to make a larger particles in cold beer and I know you have heard the saying “The bigger they are the harder they fall”
 
Hmmm, I currently have no way of cold crashing any of my beer after I add gelatin. If I can't get good cold break after brewing, am I just stuck with chill haze, gelatin or not?
 
To cut back on the chill haze without any crash cooling available use Irish Moss. I use SuperMoss from LDCarlson. I use only a heaping teaspoon of this in 4oz of pre-cooled wort and add with about 10 minutes left in the boil and I have some really great results with it. However, the first time I used it I got really careless and used about 2 tablespoons of it. Yeah, the beer was clear, but a lot of the important non-fermentables were gone too, which left me with a really flat-flavored beer.
 
To cut back on the chill
haze without any crash cooling available use Irish Moss. I use SuperMoss from LDCarlson. I use only a heaping teaspoon of this in 4oz of pre-cooled wort and add with about 10 minutes left in the boil and I have some really great results with it. However, the first time I used it I got really careless and used about 2 tablespoons of it. Yeah, the beer was clear, but a lot of the important non-fermentables were gone too, which left me with a really flat-flavored beer.
but a lot of the important non-fermentables were gone too

Not sure about this but +1 on Irish Moss...it helps form the cold break
 
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