total newbie at beer making...

[bernardsmith]

I have a few years experience in wine, cider and mead making but I just lost my beer making virginity last night (made one braggot but that does not count and have used hops in cider and meads but that is not the issue either). My question. I started an all-grain BIAB English IPA last night (one gallon experiment) but completely forgot to add the Whirlfloc tab during the boil. In wine making wines generally clear by themselves over time (and time is measured in years), but we have clays and proteins and the like that we might add well into the aging process. Is there something I can add when I rack the beer in about 10 days Is this beer going to be cloudy? Is there anything I can do or add to clear the beer before I bottle it?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Don't worry about it. It will clear in the bottle. Also, if you can refrigerate for a few days (aka "cold crash") before you bottle, that will help as well.

 

[kevron]

It should clear out in the fridge in a couple weeks. Assuming you will be bottle carbing since its 1gal. After 2-3 weeks carb/conditioning put it in the fridge for a week or 2 and it should clear.

You can use gelatin. Since its a 1gal you can easily fit that in the fridge to cold crash a couple days. Add the Gelatin and put it back in the fridge for a couple days. Then you can bottle it. There should be enough yeast still in suspension to be able to bottle carb. It may take longer to carb though. I have only used gelatin once, and it was on one of my first brews. The cloudiness doesn't really bother me. I am not entering any competitions anytime soon. And only me and my wife drink the beer.

 

[bernardsmith]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I will use cold crashing as gelatin is a problem for me as I am a vegetarian. When I wash my yeast and so chill the lees in my fridge that certainly helps drop all the solids out of suspension.

My working assumption is that I prime the beer in the bottling bucket, bottle, allow to age two weeks or more to carbonate and only then cold crash. This, to allow the the yeast to stay in suspension rather than to have it all flocculate to the bottom of the bottles before I add the carbing sugar. Or are you saying that it may be better to cold crash BEFORE I add the carbing sugar?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Yes, it's usually a good idea, but certainly not necessary, to cold crash your beer for a few days before racking to the bottling bucket. The result will be less sediment in your bottles and there will still be plenty of yeast left in suspension to carbonate.