Should I add fining Gelatin to a stout?

So, it occurred to me that I may not want to or need to add fining gelatin to my Dark Belgian Stout, but I can't decide. Does it have any benefit in a dark beer? I usually add some Irish moss to the boil, but forgot this time (too many beers in my system). Does anyone else clear dark beer, or is it overkill or problematic in some way?

 

I added Irish Moss to mine...but with these darker beers...I truly believe it is of no value to use finings. My beliefs are what it sounds yours to be...the stuff is pretty dark and is not really goona be noticable anyways...

 

I skip the gelatin for my wheat ales and dark beers (stouts, porters).

 

I use gelatin in all of my beers, excluding wheat beers.

I think it adds a "sparkle" to the beer, even stouts.

 

yep...me too. go for it.

 

I never bother, I just cold-crash for a couple of days, and then into the keg.

 

With stouts and dark brown ales I don't bother.

 

You don't ever "need" to add them. It's personal preference. That said, a stout will look much nicer if it's clear, unless it's ridiculously dark.

 

We're making "craft beer", right? Why not put some effort in to make it just as "crafty" as it can be. Every little extra bit of effort you make will produce a "just that much better" result.

 

I don't really like the taste of yeast. Gelatin helps pull them out of suspension and gets the beer trading better (imho) a little sooner. Plus I think there is a slight visual difference even in very dark beers. But all in all this is a pretty minor issue. Nothing wrong with skipping it.

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Thanks everyone.

I think I will add gelatin. I quite enjoy the art of it all, so adding another step is fine by me! I just didn't want to "ruin" it being a NOOB.


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I understand there's a potential issue with gelatin stripping out hop flavor and aroma; is there a potential for gelatin to strip out malt flavor in something like a stout, or even yeast esters in a Belgian?

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The jury is still out on the "gelatine removes hop flavor" camp, so to each his/own liking. I will say be careful on how cold your beer is when adding gelatine, I put gelatine into a cold crashed beer once (34* F) and I got gelatine snot on the bottom of my fermenter and still had cloudy beer... Gelatine starts to set at 40* F, so being a little warmer than that, and then cold crashing, will probably give you the results you seek.

 

Interesting. I just added gelatin to an already cold crashed cream ale. I got the snot you mention and was thinking it could have been clearer. I will add it to warm brew, then cold crash it before bottling.


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That IS interesting. Most of what I've read has suggested cold crashing in order to develop the chill haze before adding the gelatin. That way, the gelatin has larger particles to cling to. I've done that five times and haven't noticed the "snot." It worked fantastic once, pretty good three times, and not at all once.

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Is it possible you overheated the gelatin before adding it?

 

I must have gotten off point, I wasn't discussing chill haze, I just wanted all the floaties out.