Gelatin and dry hopping. Loss of flavor/aroma?

[zodiak3000]

Has anyone experienced a significant loss in flavor/aroma from this? The concept makes sense that you would lose some character during crashing with gelatin (yeast binding to hop oils and dropping out). On the other hand, maybe you get a more refined hop character (less harsh/vegetal and hop polyphenols)? My IPA's do seem a little "raw" for the first half of the keg. They do clear eventually, but not totally sparkling. I was going to attempt-

Dry hop 7-10 days in primary, crash to 35 for 24 hours, add gelatin for 48 hours, keg.

Thoughts? Will it ruin or make the IPA too bland? I go fairly heavy on dry hopping (7oz for 5 gallons). I don't want to lose all that great character just for a clearer beer.

 

[Grantman1]

I do this often and it has never ruined an IPA. I wouldn't worry about it, especially considering how heavy handed you are with the dry hopping. You might lose a little aroma, but not much.

I always find my brews to be cleaner tasting when I do a gelatin w/ cold crash anyway.

 

[Natdavis777]

I felt that gelatin stripped some of my aroma on my hop-forward beers, so I ceased using it (for hoppy beers only, as it does wonders clearing beer in an instant). Inadvertently, I found my pale beers were coming out pretty clear after 2 weeks in the keg anyways, so it was a win two fold.

With 7oz/5 gal, I think you would be fine with using gelatin and preserving a good presence of hop aroma.

 

[GHBWNY]

Has anyone experienced a significant loss in flavor/aroma from this?

Nope.

 

[ba-brewer]

Dry hop 7-10 days in primary, crash to 35 for 24 hours, add gelatin for 48 hours, keg.

Thoughts? Will it ruin or make the IPA too bland? I go fairly heavy on dry hopping (7oz for 5 gallons). I don't want to lose all that great character just for a clearer beer.

You can combine/skip the cold crash. I just rack from the primary at final fermentation temp to a keg then put in the keezer on serving pressure for a day or two before adding the gelatin. The first pint or two is murky/chunky then it is pretty clear after that. If you clean your keg soon after kicking the remaining gelatin rinses out easy.

 

[Natdavis777]

An alternative that I have used and seen others do is cold crash the primary/ gelatin/ transfer to keg(or secondary vessel)/ dry hop/ transfer to tertiary vessel (or pull hops from secondary keg)/ package.

Takes a little more time, but alleviates any degradation of hop aroms (if any from gelatin)

 

[day_trippr]

I almost never use a secondary and I'm a huge fan of dryhopping.

Crash-cool the primary after five days, CO2 push to keg, two weeks+ in the carb fridge and its ready for the keezer when needed.

Toss the first two ounces and then it's bright beer 'til it kicks...

Cheers!

 

[joshesmusica]

I would suggest doing a side by side test if you can. And then have someone serve you a blind triangle test.

I haven't seen any empirical evidence that shows that it would strip the aromas and oils. My guess is that if it does it's so minimal you won't really be able to perceive a difference anyways in a blind triangle test.

Perception and expectation are likely what's playing a major role here. One expects it to strip the flavors and aroma, and therefore perceives it to be so. Another expects that a clearer beer means it will taste more well rounded and still maintain its hoppy presence, and therefore perceives it to be so.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Apparently not....this is worth a read.

http://brulosophy.com/2015/01/05/the-gelatin-effect-exbeeriment-results/

 

[joshesmusica]

Apparently not....this is worth a read.



http://brulosophy.com/2015/01/05/the-gelatin-effect-exbeeriment-results/

I have been looking for that when people have this question, but I could never find it under the lists of experiments.

 

[zodiak3000]

Thanks all. Brewing this weekend and will be giving it a shot in a few weeks. Will report back with results.

 

[zodiak3000]

One more thing- Has anyone seen oxidation from adding gelatin directly to primary?

 

[joshesmusica]

no

 

[Natdavis777]

Ive never experienced oxidation from adding it to the primary. If that is something that is a concern to you though, you can always purge with some co2 before/after adding the gelatin.

 

[EtchyLives]

The link is also very appealing to me. I like myself a deliciously clear beer but also like the hops so I've always been concerned about the tradeoff between the two when using gelatin. It seems like there is very little in the way of hop flavor to be lost with gelatin - at least to one reviewer. Looks like I'll be using gelatin on my IIPA that I'm dry-hopping right now before I put it in the keg next weekend.