Gelatin Use

[brew703]

I have a 3 gallon APA batch that I would like to try using gelatin to clear. Problem is I can't cold crash (only have one fermentation chamber) and just brewed a batch yesterday.

I've read several posts about using gelatin. Some cold crash and some don't.
My fermentation chamber stays in the lower 60's. The lows for this coming weekend will be in the upper 40's to low 50's with the highs in the low 60's so I could place my carboy in the garage for a few days if necessary.

Is it really necessary to cold crash before using gelatin? This coming Friday would make 3 weeks in primary at which point I would like to add the gelatin. If I leave my fermentation chamber temps at 63 how much longer should I expect to leave in primary before bottling?

 

[alane1]

If you can maintain temps in the mid 60's you may want to consider using isinglass instead.

 

[55x11]

I have a 3 gallon APA batch that I would like to try using gelatin to clear. Problem is I can't cold crash (only have one fermentation chamber) and just brewed a batch yesterday.

I've read several posts about using gelatin. Some cold crash and some don't.
My fermentation chamber stays in the lower 60's. The lows for this coming weekend will be in the upper 40's to low 50's with the highs in the low 60's so I could place my carboy in the garage for a few days if necessary.

Is it really necessary to cold crash before using gelatin? This coming Friday would make 3 weeks in primary at which point I would like to add the gelatin. If I leave my fermentation chamber temps at 63 how much longer should I expect to leave in primary before bottling?

my understanding is that you don't need to cold crash - you precipitate some large particles/solids/yeast/proteins etc. by cold-crashing, and then gelatin takes care of the remaining stuff still in suspension. Gelatin would work without cold-crashing, just needs to do more remaining "work" to get to the same clarity.

 

[beskone]

Cold crashing brings out chill haze, the gelatin then binds to those proteins and drops them out.

If you can't cold crash, your beer won't form chill haze, and you can't strip out what doesn't exist yet.

The gelatin will help clear proteins that form at higher temps, so it's still worth doing, but your beer will still get chill haze when cold. I had a few batches like this, crystal clear at 45º but chill hazy at serving temps. Now that I have the ability to cold crash to ~35º no more chill haze after fining with gelatin

 

[JimRausch]

My understanding is different than 55x11 so perhaps we need a referee. I thought that temps below 45 starts a precipitation that would go back into solution if temps were raised(cold haze). Gelatin grabs those proteins and settles them out quicker. It also grabs some yeast and other particles and precipitates them.
If I'm right, then using a swamp cooler bucket and some ice bottles in your cold garage would get you where you need to be. If I'm wrong, I hope someone corrects me. If I don't need to chill before using gelatin, then that's one step I could skip. One day quicker to the end product.

 

[CGVT]

Don't know if you need to cold crash for gelatin or not (I cold crash, haven't tried warmer temps)

Just wait another week or so until your second batch is mosly finished fermenting then move it out of the chamber into the house since warmer temp won't matter then and bring you ferm chamber temp down to cold crash?

 

[brew703]

i could use a swamp cooler and try that. I also could wait until next sunday and move my newer brew and drop the ferm chamber temps. Just depends when fermentation kicks off.
I may go the swamp cooler route this time as I can probably keep the temps between 42-45 degrees maybe a little lower.

 

[Devon]

I did the swamp cooler method on a recent batch and it worked great, so well in fact I plan to do it again this week.

 

[brew703]

I think it will be the swamp cooler. How long did it take to clear?

 

[Devon]

Only two or three days.

 

[EarthwormJim]

If you aren't able to get it close to freezing for a couple of days, just make sure you rack very slowly. First batch that I fined with gelatin I used a swamp cooler and was only able to keep the temp in the low 50's. It cleared beautifully and never even had any chill haze, but when the gelatin settled it didn't form a good solid mass at the bottom of the fermenter. It was very flakey and I must have sucked some of that up when racking to the bottling bucket. If I wasn't very careful pouring a bottle, I got what looked like a bunch of sea monkeys floating around in the glass. Was a shame because the beer was great but I was afraid to give it away because of how it looked. I assume that was from the temp not getting low enough because I have since gotten a feezer for a ferm chamber and have't had the problem since but I could have used too much gelatin.

 

[brew703]

What I can do is a day before bottling I can drop my ferm temps to 35 and let it sit there for a day or two. By that time, the other batch I have will be ready to move out of the ferm chamber.