Does Gelatin fining have the affect of compacting dry hops at bottom of fermentor

[NotSoNew2Brew]

This is one of my first posts.

Been brewing for a while but have a particular question that I really have not found a solid answer to on the forum. In particular; Does adding gelatin during the cold crash period help in compacting and/or keep the loose dry hop partials from moving around as much, especially with movement from the siphon?

I brewed a IIPA that has a significant amount of dry hopping, and I did so in the primary to minimize transfer loss and exposure to oxygen. There is about an inch of trub at the bottom, and on top of the trub is another inch of much darker green hops from the dry hoping, looks like a slice of Spumoni ice cream!

I am planning to fill a 3 gallon keg and bottle the remaining 2 gallons. If I were kegging it all I wouldn't be concerned, but since I am also bottling I am in hopes the hops 'move' less when the siphon gets close to the bottom.... Its my first time using gelatin :/

thanks all

 

[yellowthere]

I dry hop and add gelatin all the time. Nothing to worry about based on my experience. Clearing out all the yeast and trub will help your hops shine, whether from the boil or dry hopping.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[kombat]

I don't know whether or not gelatin affects compaction of dry hops, but I do know that a few days of cold-crashing will cause most of the hops to drop to the bottom and remain there while you rack to a keg or bottling bucket (or both, in your case).

With that said, I also wanted to add a comment about using gelatin and dry hops with IPAs. Literature I've read suggests that in addition to precipitating proteins, gelatin can also strip volatile hop oils from your beer, so I follow a protocol that separates the two steps to maximize the benefit of dry hopping. Here's my protocol for brewing an IPA:

• Ferment in primary (6 gallon glass or plastic carboy) for 3 weeks.
• Move fermenter into fridge and cold crash for 1 day.
• Add gelatin solution, wait 3-4 more days.
• Rack beer to 5 gallon glass carboy and leave out of fridge to allow it to warm up. Add dry hops at this time and wait 7-10 more days with beer at room temperature.
• Move fermenter into fridge and cold crash again, for 2-3 days, but NO GELATIN this time.
• Rack cold beer to keg, begin carbonating.

This gets me very clear beer, because by the time I rack it to secondary, it's already been cold-crashed and gelatined. The hops will add a little bit more haze, but that's fine in an IPA, and this method ensures I'm not stripping out any hop aroma with gelatin. It adds a few days to the schedule, but in my opinion, it's worth it to get very clear beer while preserving maximum dry hop aroma.

 

[NotSoNew2Brew]

Thanks Kombat. Good to know.. I think controlling the dry hop schedule is one of the most amazing parts of brewing. I'm tingling all over waiting for this batch..