Gelatin. What's the best way to use it?

[gwapogorilla]

I am planning on using it this week....have not used it before. Since I bottle my beers, whats the best way to go about using it?

 

[cswest]

Here's what I do when I keg. I'm not sure gelatin is a good idea for bottling because you want the beer to be cold which does not work well if you are also naturally carbonating your beer. Hopefully someone who has used gelatin in bottles will reply.

Use a glass jar, and fill it with a cup or cup-and-a-half of water. Not hot or warm or cold.... just cool. About 70-80 degrees. Put 1-3 teaspoons of gelatin in there and let it sit for 20 minutes. Swirl it up good (it will be cloudy) and pop it into the microwave. Set it for about a minute, but you need to watch it and take it out as soon as it's clear. The glass will be warm.

Add to cold keg of beer and shake to mix.




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[dgez]

Best way to use it...? I say don't


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[JINKS]

Cold crashed 5 gallon carboy to 35° added 1 pack of knox gelatin (1/2 hr bloom heat to 180°)
Poured straight into the carboy cause 1.5 cups hot is not going to really effect 5 gallons of cold beer. Left at 35° for 5 days, siphoned into bottling bucket while still cold. Primed and bottled at 35°. Let bottles warm up naturally to 70° or so and waited 3 weeks. Placed a few bottles back into the fridge to cool to drinking temp and BAM! my clearest beer ever.
American Cream Ale.

 

[gwapogorilla]

Okay...but I don't have a spare fridge to cold crash...or lager.
Situation.....I made an IPA with pilsen malt and used "European Ale..White Labs WLP011" . While is said to have "medium Flocculation".... it actually has LOW flocculation. I even had the starter in the fridge for over a week, and yeast were still in suspension.
So, I am looking at gelatin to help the yeast drop out.
So...just looking for a little guidance is all.

 

[DocScott]

Gelatin really works best when you add it to cold beer. It will work if you add it to warm, but just not as well.

With the limited resources you have, I'd recommend trying the gelatin method and adding it to the warm beer. Give it 3 days or so to try to clear and bottle. Let the bottles carbonate at room temp. Then get them cold and keep them cold for as long as possible before drinking. That will help the yeast and proteins to drop

Cloudy beer still tastes the same! And yeast is good for you


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[redgum]

So, I am looking at gelatin to help the yeast drop out.
So...just looking for a little guidance is all.

There was quite a comprehensive thread on gelatine which, if I remember correctly, some people were in the same boat as you and got ok success anyway. In short, YMMV. There's going to be no substitute for experience/trial & error.

If you're bottling, you'll find the yeast slug at the bottom of the bottle compacts down really well and helps stick a bit better to the base of the bottle so there's less in the glass.

Get cozy and have a read of this thread.

Reading material: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/gelatin-finings-53912/

cheers
Simon

 

[Paradigm]

Cold crash your beer to as close to 32F as possible. Put a teaspoon of gelatin into 1/2 - 2/3 cup water. Microwave at 10 second bursts until it gets to 150F, don't go above 165. Stir it a bit until it's clear (it should be mostly clear at this point). While it's still hot just dump it into the cold beer. Wait 24-48 hours at cold-crash temps (24 works but 48 is best). Putting it in hot prevents clumping when it hits the cold beer.

Rack into your bottles, there is still plenty of yeast to bottle carb.

 

[JimRausch]

I second the microwave method outlined by paradigm. Although I let it sit for 1/2 hour to 'bloom' before microwaving in 10 second bursts until it's clear. Usually 3 bursts is good.
When the environmental temp. is too warm, I drop the beer temp. by using the swamp cooler method with lots of ice bottles. It works, and you really only need to get it down there for overnight before adding the gelatin. The cold temp starts the settling, the gelatin drops it good.

 

[WayFrae]

I have added it to warm beer and "cool crashed" with the wet tshirt and ice water (swamp cooler) method. I was able to cool the beer to 50°F and held it there for 4 days. It was a pain in the neck replacing the ice over 4 days but it did work. I recently found a full size fridge at a yard sale for $30 so now I can actually cold crash. Gelatin works WAY better when it actually gets cold but it does help clear warmer beer.

 

[gwapogorilla]

There was quite a comprehensive thread on gelatine which, if I remember correctly, some people were in the same boat as you and got ok success anyway. In short, YMMV. There's going to be no substitute for experience/trial & error.

If you're bottling, you'll find the yeast slug at the bottom of the bottle compacts down really well and helps stick a bit better to the base of the bottle so there's less in the glass.

Get cozy and have a read of this thread.

Reading material: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/gelatin-finings-53912/

cheers
Simon

Thanks for the link. I'm going to try BierMuncher's method. Seems to have worked for others. :rockin:

 

[redgum]

Yeah, the BierMuncher method works well. Also, this was the original method I tried via Don Osborne. Both have worked for me.

Don Osborne Gelatin

 

[seph]

Yeah, the BierMuncher method works well. Also, this was the original method I tried via Don Osborne. Both have worked for me.

Don Osborne Gelatin

This is what do. I pull up Don O's video and grab my box of gelatin. It has worked great for me on a batch that would NOT clear up.

 

[ubnserved]

Title said "Gelatin. What's the best way to use it?
My first thought was.... Add some cherries and a couple of hot chicks in bikinis. ..

I'm sorry that was politically incorrect. .... make that ladies.

 

[ubnserved]

Feed people in hospitals. ...?