Good Hot/Cold Break For Clearing Beer Question

[Akneebreeated]

I did a quick search and found a general consensus leaning mostly towards a good hot and cold break for final beer clarity. I've been home brewing for about 5 years now and have used fining agents in the past with mixed results. I always get a good hot and cold break on brew day. So my question to you fellow Brewers is do you rack off the cold break after you chill your wort? I pretty much always just throw everything in the fermenter. Been trying to hone in on a blonde recipe and have been struggling with the haze.

90% 2 row and about 10% character grains using American ale yeast 1056

 

[mongoose33]

Why not try either Whirlfloc during the boil or gelatin as a fining agent in the fermenter? Are you cold crashing your beer after fermentation? For many, that helps all by itself, adding the other two should get you clear beer.

I use the bigmouthbubbler as my fermentor, and have spigots on the bottom (no racking cane needed). I rack the completed beer right into the keg--and I don't want any of the trub coming along for the ride. I've been straining the beer from kettle into fermentor, to reduce trub as much as possible.

That's not because I fear the trub--I don't. Rather, I want to make sure my spigot ends up above whatever trub is settled.

Now, it's possible the additional trub might add very little to the resulting yeast cake on the bottom, but I haven't had the desire yet to test that theory. Brulosopher has at least one exbeeriment showing that straining or not straining the trub as it the wort goes into the fermentor makes little difference.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I stop draining into the fermentor once it nears the cold break. I also use gelatin to help clear a beer if I really need it to be quickly. It probably depends on your system/needs though as I have 5 beers on tap and 3 kegs on backup so nothing ever needs to be tapped right away. Time is usually your friend in that situation.

 

[Akneebreeated]

I have some whirlfloc tablets on hand, I'll use some today when I brew. I do normally cold crash my fermenter before kegging. I take my ferment chamber down to around 37 degrees for 24 to 48 hours. Wondering if a solid 72 hours might make a huge difference... Also I entirely skip racking to secondary. Just ferment 2 weeks or so in primary then cold crash for keg.

 

[jayway]

Bio-Fine works great for me and is easier to use than gelatin. There's no dissolving/blooming in hot water and it's a vegan product.