Cold crashing and gelatin doubts

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gpalkar

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I'm going to rack my Pale Ale to the secondary for the first time. My previous batches have all been primary for a couple of weeks followed by bottle conditioning. Aiming for clarity in my beers now.

I've made a Cascade Pale Ale. I'm planning to dry hop it, cold crash and add gelatin to it. I just wanted to confirm these steps before I go ahead..

After primary, rack it to another carboy, add hops and let it sit for 3 days. After 3 days, cold crash it and let it sit close to 1C for a couple of days. Then make a gelatin solution and add to the beer.
I have a doubt at this point. How many days should I let it sit with the gelatin before bottling the beer?
If I've made any mistake in any of the steps, let me know.
 
There are alot of diffrent ways to do it and there is not *one way to rule them all*.

What you plan to do looks to me like a good way to do it. My guess would be that

*most people nowdays would skip the secondary in this situation and just dry hop in primary.

*some brewers would the gelatin before that beer hits 1C and then continue to cool it.

*some brewers would cold crash it to below 1C.

*most brewers would probably agree that a couple (1-3)days at that low temperature is enough to drop most out of solution.
 
About ½-1 teaspoon in ½ cup of water should do the trick.
 
In my opinion you want it good and cold before you add gelatin.

The reason is when its around 0-2C it will create a lot of protein/chill haze. When you add gelatin it will pull all them suckers to the bottom.
 
there are alot of diffrent ways to do it and there is not *one way to rule them all*.

What you plan to do looks to me like a good way to do it. My guess would be that

*most people nowdays would skip the secondary in this situation and just dry hop in primary.

*some brewers would the gelatin before that beer hits 1c and then continue to cool it.

*some brewers would cold crash it to below 1c.

*most brewers would probably agree that a couple (1-3)days at that low temperature is enough to drop most out of solution.
+1
 
Racking to secondary before dry hopping produces cleaner yeast dregs for re pitching as you have less vegetal matter.
 
I've got a DIPA crashing right now. I usually dry hop for 3-4 days then crash until it hits 36F-ish (about 24 hrs) then add gelatin for 48 hours. Turns out crystal clear. For the gelatin, I put 1/2 packet in 1/2 cup of warm water for 15 min to "bloom". Then give it a few 30 sec shots in the microwave until it hits 160F then gently stir into the fermenter. You do NOT want to boil the gelatin.
 
I've just bottled an IPA that I cleared with geletin and I'm surprised by the results. Here's what I did:

  • Ferment for 14 days to get the FG
  • Dry hopped for 3 days using a muslin bag
  • Cooled the primary fermenter to 2C
  • Boiled a cup of water and added 1 tspn plain geletin and poured straight into the primary fermenter
  • Kept the temperature to 2C for 48 hours
  • Added my priming solution to my bottling bucket and siphoned the beer into it
  • Bottled

The beer was very clear but apparently it can take longer to condition so I'll check at 2 weeks but most likely keep the bottles at room temp for 3+ weeks.
 
I've just bottled an IPA that I cleared with geletin and I'm surprised by the results. Here's what I did:

  • Ferment for 14 days to get the FG
  • Dry hopped for 3 days using a muslin bag
  • Cooled the primary fermenter to 2C
  • Boiled a cup of water and added 1 tspn plain geletin and poured straight into the primary fermenter
  • Kept the temperature to 2C for 48 hours
  • Added my priming solution to my bottling bucket and siphoned the beer into it
  • Bottled

The beer was very clear but apparently it can take longer to condition so I'll check at 2 weeks but most likely keep the bottles at room temp for 3+ weeks.

Gelatin does work very well if clear beer is important to you with relatively quick turnarounds. I use it for all my beer.
 
Does the fridge touch 2C? I have a single door refrigerator with a temperature controller. Temperature​ hasn't gone below 4C. Is it okay if I add gelatin solution at 4C?
 
Does the fridge touch 2C? I have a single door refrigerator with a temperature controller. Temperature​ hasn't gone below 4C. Is it okay if I add gelatin solution at 4C?

Luckily my fridge goes down to 0C I believe but yes 4C will be fine to cold crash, they say get the beer down to 35F - 38F before adding gelatin, I can't see an extra degree causing a problem.
 
would adding gelatin at warmer temps after fermentation, say 60- 65° for say two weeks (in the keg) and then dropping to 45° for 24 hours before serving clear the beer

I am doing that right now to see if it works.
 
I usually dryhop afterward. I cold crash in primary and add gelatin after it hits 2c. 48 hours and transfer to keg and dry hop.

I understand you are Bottling. I just use my keg as a short secondary. I haven't had a problem with hop particles after this.
 
I've got a DIPA crashing right now. I usually dry hop for 3-4 days then crash until it hits 36F-ish (about 24 hrs) then add gelatin for 48 hours. Turns out crystal clear. For the gelatin, I put 1/2 packet in 1/2 cup of warm water for 15 min to "bloom". Then give it a few 30 sec shots in the microwave until it hits 160F then gently stir into the fermenter. You do NOT want to boil the gelatin.


This is what I do, however I don't stir into the fermenter. Still works. I do make sure to pour over most of the surface of the beer.
 
What I've done with my last two was to add gelatin the day after I began cold crashing. The brulosophy guys say to add gelatin once the beer is below 50F, and by the next day it's usually around 45-46F.

I add one heaping 1/2 tsp to 1/2 cup of water and microwave it in 10 second bursts until it gets into the 150-160F range, stirring with a thermometer in between bursts. Then I just pour it in and continue cold crashing. I figure you want it to sit at the cold crashing temperature for 24-48 hours, so I allow it another day to reach 32F, then another two days of sitting at that temperature before packaging it.
 
I just did the brulosophy method yesterday for the first time, a mosaic cream ale. When I was bottling, the beer was not clear at all. Do I have to wait after bottle conditioning in order for it to clear up?
 
I just did the brulosophy method yesterday for the first time, a mosaic cream ale. When I was bottling, the beer was not clear at all. Do I have to wait after bottle conditioning in order for it to clear up?

When you say you did the brulosophy method yesterday, you mean you added the gelatin yesterday and you're bottling today? If that's the case, it probably would have been better to let it sit at cold crashing temps a day or so longer, but yes it will continue to clarify in the bottles. I don't know how much the gelatin has to do with that, because all my non-fined beers have clarified in the bottles as well. My impression is that you want to chill it for long enough that the gelatin can work on the proteins that cause chill haze before bottling and returning to room temperature.
 
When you say you did the brulosophy method yesterday, you mean you added the gelatin yesterday and you're bottling today? If that's the case, it probably would have been better to let it sit at cold crashing temps a day or so longer, but yes it will continue to clarify in the bottles. I don't know how much the gelatin has to do with that, because all my non-fined beers have clarified in the bottles as well. My impression is that you want to chill it for long enough that the gelatin can work on the proteins that cause chill haze before bottling and returning to room temperature.

I use a psuedo swamp cooler for my ferm chamber.

Day 7 dry hop 68f
Day 10 drop temp to 50f (hold)
Day 12.5 add gelatin, Drop to 45f
Day 14 bottle at 45f

Bottle condition at 60f


My other beers have cleared in the bottle, just not crystal clear. I am hope that after conditioning and chilling to serve temp that they will become clear. Not worried about the taste, because my sample while bottling pint was great, just the aesthetics.
 
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