Help! Gelatin - Never had this happen before.

[JonK331]

So I boiled a pint or so of water, let cool to 170F, added gelatin, and let sit for about 20 mins. THen I cooled in a water bath and added to my fermenter. As I was cleaning out my pan I noticed that the bottom was covered with a sheet of gelatin so I don't think any actually made it into the fermenter. I forgot to stir this time but that's the only difference. I'm heating some more water now and going to add at least another half a pack of knox. Do you guys think any gelatin from the first run actually made it into the fermenter? Should I NOT add some more???

 

[EdWort]

Sounds like you added the gelatin to water that was too hot.

Let 1 cup of water come up to room temp in a small sauce pan, then sprinkle 1 Tbl. of gelatin on top and let it hydrate. Come back 10 minutes later and gently heat to 160-170 while stirring to make sure it is all dissolved.

Stir again before adding it to your beer. It won't clump up this way.

 

[greggor]

Importandt to add Gelatine to cool water and let it rest in the cool water before heating. used to let it rest 10 minutes but I have read that resting up to an hour is best then stir heat and stir again. I add it while it is still warm and shake the keg up a bit. I had a horribly cloudy beer and that gelatine clears it up.

 

[JonK331]

Ah okay, I thought it was important to boil it first in order to get any dissolved O2 out of the water first. I guess I just need to let it cool down more before I add the gelatin, and then warm it back up to dissolve. Thanks guys, lesson learned.

 

[BigEd]

So I boiled a pint or so of water, let cool to 170F, added gelatin, and let sit for about 20 mins. THen I cooled in a water bath and added to my fermenter. As I was cleaning out my pan I noticed that the bottom was covered with a sheet of gelatin so I don't think any actually made it into the fermenter. I forgot to stir this time but that's the only difference. I'm heating some more water now and going to add at least another half a pack of knox. Do you guys think any gelatin from the first run actually made it into the fermenter? Should I NOT add some more???

Gelatin should be added to cold water to let dissolve and then heated.