Is gelatine a bad idea with wheat beers?

[Brew_Meister_General]

Being a naturally cloudy beer, would clearing with gelatine have an adverse effect?

Would it take away from the favour profile or would it simply change it so it was more malty like a kristall? Although not being a fan of kristall, would it be better to keep the proteins and yeast in suspension?

It's currently in my secondary having bulk conditioned for almost 5 weeks, I then intend to bottle condition for 3 weeks.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I think it is a personal preference on how clear you would like the beer to be?

Gelatin only helps the beer clear faster once cold. With the amount of time you have on this beer, I doubt you need gelatin. I only use gelatin when I'm looking to set records for grain to glass....

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have never seen the need to use any finings on a any beer. I let my tongue and nose decide what's good, not my eyes.

 

[GHBWNY]

Being a naturally cloudy beer, would clearing with gelatine have an adverse effect?

Would it take away from the favour profile or would it simply change it so it was more malty like a kristall? Although not being a fan of kristall, would it be better to keep the proteins and yeast in suspension?

It's currently in my secondary having bulk conditioned for almost 5 weeks, I then intend to bottle condition for 3 weeks.

Not sure what fining a wheat beer would do to taste, but since the cloudiness is yeast in suspension and in a wheat beer, the yeast is critical for taste, I personally wouldn't/haven't. In fact, in pouring my hefe, I get down to about an inch left in the bottle, swirl the yeast and dump it right in the glass. It's the best!

 

[MVKTR2]

Since you said wheat beer and not hefe or hefeweizen I'm guessing this is an Am Wheat or just a brew with a hefty % of wheat. I bring this up to say I would never fine a hefe unless I were specifically looking to create a Krystalweizen (clear German hefeweizen). I've listened to several tastings and know from experience of swirl vs non-swirl when drinking hefe, the presence of the yeast impacts the flavor in a positive manner.

As for your beer, assuming it's not a hefe, fine till your heart is content! I just kegged a beer yesterday that I had added gelatin to the cold-crashed primary last Thursday. It was clear as can be and the yeast cake didn't budge when racking! Grain to glass in 18 days, would have been 16 if I hadn't been delayed but no worries ... I'm not a commercial brewery!

 

[RmikeVT]

I wouldn't fine the beer if you used a wheat ale yeast. So much of the flavor profile in a wheat ale comes from the yeast in suspension. On the other hand if you used chico or a clean american ale yeast I don't think it would do any harm and might actually improve the beer.

I can tell you when I brew my hefes and american wheats, I prefer the flavor they have in the first few weeks they are in the keg, as the yeast settles out over time and beer clears I can taste the yeast character dissipating. While the beer is still good, I prefer the fresher yeasty character it has when first kegged.

All that said, it is about preference, if you don't like Krystalweizen then don't fine.

 

[Brew_Meister_General]

I wouldn't fine the beer if you used a wheat ale yeast. So much of the flavor profile in a wheat ale comes from the yeast in suspension. On the other hand if you used chico or a clean american ale yeast I don't think it would do any harm and might actually improve the beer.

I can tell you when I brew my hefes and american wheats, I prefer the flavor they have in the first few weeks they are in the keg, as the yeast settles out over time and beer clears I can taste the yeast character dissipating. While the beer is still good, I prefer the fresher yeasty character it has when first kegged.

All that said, it is about preference, if you don't like Krystalweizen then don't fine.

Haha! Exactly what I was hoping to hear, it's an American wheat that used the Safbrew WB-06 wheat ale yeast so leaving it in suspension just seems to make more sense, especially having already bulk conditioned it for 5 weeks, which I presume is a fairly long time?

But according to your taste testing, the peak flavour must be pretty early on then, for how long do you bulk/bottle/keg condition for? What would you recommend?

 

[RmikeVT]

Haha! Exactly what I was hoping to hear, it's an American wheat that used the Safbrew WB-06 wheat ale yeast so leaving it in suspension just seems to make more sense, especially having already bulk conditioned it for 5 weeks, which I presume is a fairly long time?

But according to your taste testing, the peak flavour must be pretty early on then, for how long do you bulk/bottle/keg condition for? What would you recommend?

Not to take anything away from WB-06, but you should give some of the liquid wheat ale strains a try, in my opinion they are superior to the dry wheat yeasts.