Been away from home brewing for a year and a half. But with my re-entry I stepped up and am now doing all grain and kegging. Stoked.
Anyways I know every homebrew issue has already been answered somewhere on the internet, but with some searching I haven't found my specific issue answered:
Please keep in mind this is my first all grain batch, and first time kegging. And I'm flying solo, no one to walk me through this. But... for my for batch I did a simple PA, and did 14 days primary then racked straight into keg from there. Back in my extract days I knew of fining techniques like gelatin and such, but never really cared about having a crystal clear beer. I would just do a little Irish moss at the last 15 min of the boil and always had good results. While preparing for my first time kegging I always read about people adding gelatin, but I didn't bother because clarity wasn't really a goal on my first batch. Anyways I had been force carbing it for 5 days at 38 deg and I wanted to see how it was progressing. I poured 3/4 of a pint expecting the sludge that collects at the bottom. I read this is what I should expect as everything settles. But instead beer poured out, cloudy beer, like you could see the yeast floating around, but still 98% beer. I was expecting the beer tube to scoop up a bunch of cake at the bottom. I stuck that pint back in the fridge and in 45 min all the gunk settled to the bottom(like when I used to bottle). I poured some more today (day 7 in kegerator) and still all cloudy. It's like the particles aren't settling the keg, and they are still free floating in there, and only settling once dispensed from tap. I feel like after a weeks there should be stuff sitting at the bottom. Is this why everyone I read uses gelatin?
Question 2: I like a really thick mouthfeel on most of my beers, especially dark. I'm gonna brew a stout next. If I want and extra thick mouth feal will gelatin prevent that by causing all the particles to coagulate to the bottom? I mean if add dextrine malt, will adding a finning agent defeat the purpose?
Thanks!
Anyways I know every homebrew issue has already been answered somewhere on the internet, but with some searching I haven't found my specific issue answered:
Please keep in mind this is my first all grain batch, and first time kegging. And I'm flying solo, no one to walk me through this. But... for my for batch I did a simple PA, and did 14 days primary then racked straight into keg from there. Back in my extract days I knew of fining techniques like gelatin and such, but never really cared about having a crystal clear beer. I would just do a little Irish moss at the last 15 min of the boil and always had good results. While preparing for my first time kegging I always read about people adding gelatin, but I didn't bother because clarity wasn't really a goal on my first batch. Anyways I had been force carbing it for 5 days at 38 deg and I wanted to see how it was progressing. I poured 3/4 of a pint expecting the sludge that collects at the bottom. I read this is what I should expect as everything settles. But instead beer poured out, cloudy beer, like you could see the yeast floating around, but still 98% beer. I was expecting the beer tube to scoop up a bunch of cake at the bottom. I stuck that pint back in the fridge and in 45 min all the gunk settled to the bottom(like when I used to bottle). I poured some more today (day 7 in kegerator) and still all cloudy. It's like the particles aren't settling the keg, and they are still free floating in there, and only settling once dispensed from tap. I feel like after a weeks there should be stuff sitting at the bottom. Is this why everyone I read uses gelatin?
Question 2: I like a really thick mouthfeel on most of my beers, especially dark. I'm gonna brew a stout next. If I want and extra thick mouth feal will gelatin prevent that by causing all the particles to coagulate to the bottom? I mean if add dextrine malt, will adding a finning agent defeat the purpose?
Thanks!