Warbirdbrewer
Member
I still consider myself a noob brewer ( 30 gallons so far all extract.)
I just finished fermenting an Oktoberfest ale and an IPA. I've been reading about using gelatin to clear up beer so I decided to give it a try.
I ferment in a 7cu/ft chest freezer with a Johnson digital temp controller. Both beers had been fermenting over 3 weeks and the gravity had stabilized in the predicted FG range. 24 hours before adding gelatin I set the temp to 35F to start cold crashing.
I mixed the gelatin per the instructions I read on many posts here ( 1/2 tsp in a cup of water, let it bloom, heat to 170, stir and add to beer etc). I bottled the Oktoberfest 48 hrs later. It was in a plastic primary and looked clear. I transferred to my bottling bucket with priming sugar. I use an auto siphon with a muslin bag covering the opening just in case I get into the bottom debris. Bottling went just fine.
The next day I went to bottle the IPA. It was in a glass carboy. First thing I noticed when I removed the carboy from the freezer was there the top third of the beer was crystal clear. The other 2/3 were cloudy and there was an obvious line separating the clear from the cloudy. I was already committed to bottling so I had to proceed.
Fast forward a few days and I took held up one of the bottles to the light and it had dozens of clear round beads floating throughout the beer ( see the photo, the dark specks in the middle of the beer are the beads). I'm assuming those beads are suspended gelatin. I up ended the bottle and large chunks of debris fell from the bottom of the bottle. I looked at my Oktoberfest and it was the same but to a lesser degree.
Soooo I'm i screwed or once the bottles go into the fridge this stuff will settle out?? Sorry for the long winded post, but I wanted to give as much Info as possible. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440772833.295231.jpg
Cheers
I just finished fermenting an Oktoberfest ale and an IPA. I've been reading about using gelatin to clear up beer so I decided to give it a try.
I ferment in a 7cu/ft chest freezer with a Johnson digital temp controller. Both beers had been fermenting over 3 weeks and the gravity had stabilized in the predicted FG range. 24 hours before adding gelatin I set the temp to 35F to start cold crashing.
I mixed the gelatin per the instructions I read on many posts here ( 1/2 tsp in a cup of water, let it bloom, heat to 170, stir and add to beer etc). I bottled the Oktoberfest 48 hrs later. It was in a plastic primary and looked clear. I transferred to my bottling bucket with priming sugar. I use an auto siphon with a muslin bag covering the opening just in case I get into the bottom debris. Bottling went just fine.
The next day I went to bottle the IPA. It was in a glass carboy. First thing I noticed when I removed the carboy from the freezer was there the top third of the beer was crystal clear. The other 2/3 were cloudy and there was an obvious line separating the clear from the cloudy. I was already committed to bottling so I had to proceed.
Fast forward a few days and I took held up one of the bottles to the light and it had dozens of clear round beads floating throughout the beer ( see the photo, the dark specks in the middle of the beer are the beads). I'm assuming those beads are suspended gelatin. I up ended the bottle and large chunks of debris fell from the bottom of the bottle. I looked at my Oktoberfest and it was the same but to a lesser degree.
Soooo I'm i screwed or once the bottles go into the fridge this stuff will settle out?? Sorry for the long winded post, but I wanted to give as much Info as possible. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440772833.295231.jpg
Cheers
