Gelatin finings gave WEIRD result...can someone explain

[bmurph]

I fined my ryePA about a day and a half ago, it's still sitting in the carboy, and while I am already noticing that it is much CLEARER, the color of the beer has become much DARKER...it started out a deep golden, very hazy color, and now it's taken on a red/brown tint, between a red ale and a porter. What may have caused this?

Also, what appear to be bacterial colonies are all over the surface; I was very careful to sanitize/sterilize everything during the fining process. The only thing that did not get an iodophor bath was the gelatin powder itself.

I do have a possible explanation for the "colonies"--I'm reluctant to believe that I actually contaminated this batch because the ABV is about 5.3% and I dry hopped the beer for a week and a half before fining. The idea that one contamination could cause such an immediate bacterial bloom in a decently alcoholic and heavily hopped beer is not likely.
Before fining, the hops formed a mat on the surface of the beer, and I think the finings may have removed a lot of bits and pieces of hop material but also left lots of little hop islands (the colonies). Sound about right?

 

[wildwest450]

Did you just dump gelatin powder in the carboy? Give us your process.


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[Yooper]

When a beer clears, suspended solids drop out. Yeast is white, and other particles may be light colored as well, making the clear beer look darker. However, you're looking at the whole carboy. It will look MUCH lighter in a glass! Try it and see- use a sanitized turkey baster and take out a tiny bit and put it in a glass and hold it up to the light. It won't be nearly as dark as it appears in the carboy!

As far as the "colonies", I assume the gelatin didn't dissolve well in hot water before pouring it in?

 

[bmurph]

I boiled 2 cups of water for a good 10 minutes, took it off heat and let the pot cool while covered to about 170 F. I added one tablespoon knox unflavored gelatin, gave it a stir, then let it cool for a while. It took a while for all the gelatin to dissolve but with a bit more stirring it was fully dissolved when I poured it in the carboy. It was still a little warm, but I doubt higher than 100 F. The pot stayed covered right up until it went in the carboy.

Here is a pic of the fined beer in the carboy next to a sample taken about a week ago, post- dry hopping, pre-fining. I apologize for the glare and the bad resolution.


I can see at the top of the carboy the beer has more of the gold tint, but before fining the gold was evident throughout the whole carboy. I trust your explanation Yooper, but have you seen a beer get this much darker after fining?

And when I took the carboy out of the closet and got it in the light for the pic I could tell that the "colonies" were highly variable in size and were irregularly shaped rather than circular. I'm going with leftover hop matter.

 

[BrewThruYou]

That picture has terrible lightning no offense. I can't see anything.

 

[RchanceN]

+1 to what Yooper said.

I just had a beer that looked milky yellow before gelatin and dark Octoberfestish orange after it all settled. In the glass it's golden yellow. It all looks very different dependent on the volume.

Also, the "colonies" are probably hop particles or gelatin that didn't mix well. You don't get infections from dry hopping and you're procedure for adding the gelatin sounded right on. I've had strange looking gelatin floaters too.

 

[bmurph]

Sorry about the pic again...not a photographer but I wasn't going for brilliant color here. The contrast is what I wanted to show and I think the photo gets the point across. Anyway thanks all who were helpful; glad to hear this is nothing out of the ordinary.