Lagering vs Fining/Cold Crash

[rtstrider]

I've been reading/searching and have not really found a clear cut answer on this. The answers I've been finding are the lager means long term cold storage for clearing/cleaning up beer. The going theme is this helps drop chill haze, proteins, polyphenols, etc from the beer. Now the hang up is say I cold crashed and used gelatin for fining to speed up the clearing process. From what I read this also strips chill haze, proteins, polyphenols, etc from the beer and helps clear the beer much quicker. I've used gelatin in the past with absolutely zero luck but this time I changed up my process a bit and it's working perfectly! My question is outside of the long term "clearing" process why lager if gelatin/finings seem to accomplish the same goal? Here are some references

In regards to gelatin clearing chill haze/polyphenols

"In addition to clearing out chill haze causing proteins, gelatin also has the wonderful side effect of binding to polyphenols. They are the bitter, stringent compounds that can really mess up the flavor of a good beer."

https://www.craftbrewing.com/blog/clearing-your-beer-with-gelatin/

And I'm under the assumption that lagering does the same? I'm well versed in ale brewing and am very green with lagers so hoping someone can point me in the right direction. For reference I'm fermenting a faux German Pils with Wyeast 2112 and will be bottling. I used the 2.0 pitch rate per brewers friend yeast starter calculator, fermented at 58F and ramped up to 68F for a week once the krausen dropped. It's been cold crashing since 1/11 at 34F, ramped down to 32F on 1/12, fined with gelatin on 1/13 and has been clearing beautifully since! Anywho I'd appreciate any input to help fine tune the process!

 

[Home_alone1]

I don’t know , I do know I lagger when I have time and use gelatin when I’m on a time crunch. I’ve also heard people say using gelatin can add oxygen to the beer but it hasn’t effected any of mine yet.

 

[Valley9]

I've been reading/searching and have not really found a clear cut answer on this. The answers I've been finding are the lager means long term cold storage for clearing/cleaning up beer. The going theme is this helps drop chill haze, proteins, polyphenols, etc from the beer. Now the hang up is say I cold crashed and used gelatin for fining to speed up the clearing process. From what I read this also strips chill haze, proteins, polyphenols, etc from the beer and helps clear the beer much quicker. I've used gelatin in the past with absolutely zero luck but this time I changed up my process a bit and it's working perfectly! My question is outside of the long term "clearing" process why lager if gelatin/finings seem to accomplish the same goal? Here are some references

In regards to gelatin clearing chill haze/polyphenols

"In addition to clearing out chill haze causing proteins, gelatin also has the wonderful side effect of binding to polyphenols. They are the bitter, stringent compounds that can really mess up the flavor of a good beer."

https://www.craftbrewing.com/blog/clearing-your-beer-with-gelatin/

And I'm under the assumption that lagering does the same? I'm well versed in ale brewing and am very green with lagers so hoping someone can point me in the right direction. For reference I'm fermenting a faux German Pils with Wyeast 2112 and will be bottling. I used the 2.0 pitch rate per brewers friend yeast starter calculator, fermented at 58F and ramped up to 68F for a week once the krausen dropped. It's been cold crashing since 1/11 at 34F, ramped down to 32F on 1/12, fined with gelatin on 1/13 and has been clearing beautifully since! Anywho I'd appreciate any input to help fine tune the process!

Yeah I’d like to know also. Most answers to this on other posts are all over the map. I lagered for 4 weeks and still had chill haze. I’m doing another small batch, my goal is to lager for 2 weeks and use finings then test it. There was one person who says he only lagers for a week now after he started using finings to clear up his brew and cannot tell the difference. Just going to experiment with it myself I guess.

Cheers! Hope it went well.

 

[rtstrider]

Yeah I’d like to know also. Most answers to this on other posts are all over the map. I lagered for 4 weeks and still had chill haze. I’m doing another small batch, my goal is to lager for 2 weeks and use finings then test it. There was one person who says he only lagers for a week now after he started using finings to clear up his brew and cannot tell the difference. Just going to experiment with it myself I guess.

Cheers! Hope it went well.

It didn't I've all but given up on w34/70. I've had nothing but trouble with that yeast. Ended up getting Wyeast 2124 and I'm going to give that a go. Anywho I will say this much. I inherited a fridge around 2 months ago. I've tested "lagering" a good bit of my bottled brews in there. They definitely taste much cleaner/crisper after they clear. Then again they weren't fined either so there's that.

 

[Positronic_Matrix]

The purpose of lagering is to continue the clarification process and to allow certain compounds, like sulphur, dead yeast, protein chains and other less desirable components to drop out of solution. It makes the beer brighter, cleaner and smoother.

https://onbeer.org/2012/05/the-importance-of-lagering/

A cold crash with gelatin is a quick lager that gets you part of the way but not all the way. Does it really make a difference? Brülosophy had some interesting results.

On another subject, when making lagers using refrigeration, be sure to do a diacetyl rest by bringing the wort/beer up to room temperature right before it finishes fermenting. Buttery beer is a bummer after waiting weeks for a lager.

Edit: Brülosophy has a process for accelerated lagering that compresses 2-3 months down to a few weeks.