Brewers Best Holiday ale and Whirfloc Tablets or gelatin

[TsunamiMike]

Looking to brew the Holiday ale and haven't used Whirfloc Tablets which were offered to me when checking out. I have used gelatin when kegging but wondered if I should do either or both with this kit?

Anyone tried this kit? I am looking to brew it this weekend, give it 10 days in the primary fermentor and then toss it in the secondary for 2 weeks then force carb it, thoughts?

 

[VikeMan]

Whirlfloc removes (mostly) proteins. Gelatin removes (mostly) yeast. So I would consider using either one or both, depending on your goals and on the yeast strain being used (in the case of gelatin). Gelatin can be a useful substitute for time with very low flocculating yeast strains.

Are you adding anything special (like fruit or oak, e.g.) in your secondary? If not, you might want to consider whether or not you actually need to do a secondary.

 

[TsunamiMike]

Whirlfloc removes (mostly) proteins. Gelatin removes (mostly) yeast. So I would consider using either one or both, depending on your goals and on the yeast strain being used (in the case of gelatin). Gelatin can be a useful substitute for time with very low flocculating yeast strains.

Are you adding anything special (like fruit or oak, e.g.) in your secondary? If not, you might want to consider whether or not you actually need to do a secondary.

I'm actually picking up the kit tomorrow as I was hoping to see if I needed to grab the Whirfloc Tablets at the same time so i do not know what type of yeast is in the kit. I assumed that the "spice kit" <orange peel, cinnamon, cardamom and other spices> was added in to the secondary to sit in it but I am reading the instructions and nowhere in them does it say what to do with it.... thoughts???

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/assets/1049_holidayale_recipe.pdf

 

[VikeMan]

Your kit recipe says they should be added to the boil, and I concur. See the "Brew Day Schedule" at the bottom of the first page.

 

[TsunamiMike]

Your kit recipe says they should be added to the boil, and I concur. See the "Brew Day Schedule" at the bottom of the first page.

Its been a long day...

Thank you for pointing it out.. with that information would you use whirfloc tablets or gelatin for this?

 

[VikeMan]

with that information would you use whirfloc tablets or gelatin for this?

Gelatin can be particularly useful if the yeast strain is a low flocculating one. I think most yeast manufacturers classify their strains as High, Medium, or Low Flocculators, or words to that effect. The nice thing about gelatin is that you can wait and see how the beer looks before deciding if you need it. I've only used it as a last resort.

I like to use whirlfloc for beers where I do not want any haze.