Gelatin = opaque beer?

[Roz762]

Ok, so weird thing happening to me here.

I brewed a Irish red ale and kegged it about a month ago. As part of my process, I racked to secondary, chilled to 34 degrees and fined with gelatin. What I do is add 1 tsp of gelatin to a cup of water, let it bloom for about 30 mins at room temp, then hit it with about 15 second bursts in the microwave until it gets to about 150 degrees, stir to make sure it's blended and clear, then add to secondary. I let it sit in secondary for about 2 days before kegging.

The gelatin worked great. Clearest beer I've ever made, but...

Now the keg is about to kick. I went and pulled a beer tonight and to my shock and amazement, it's opaque! I'm not talking hazy or even cloudy, I'm talking chocolate milk, no-see-through, opaque.

So, from the time I've kegged it until now, the beer was fine. Now that is down to about the last 1/3 gallon or so this has started. The logical answer is that some of the gelatin must have coagulated and floated to the top.

Has anyone ever had this happen? What do you think I did wrong here to cause this?

 

[Roz762]

So funny enough, my buddy and I just talked. He too just tried gelatin for the first time on a beer. Same process as I described above except he does not rack to secondary.

He too has milky, opaque beer!

One thing I'll mention too is that the beer does not taste in any way different, nor does it change the mouthfeel in any way. In fact, I drank half the pint before looking over at the glass and noticing this...anomaly...

Feedback please!

 

[dmtaylor]

Gelatin can indeed float and form a layer at the surface of the beer. So maybe that is what you are seeing. Most of it sinks, but some can float too, or dry up at the surface and form a jelly-like skin.