Will finings affect bottle carbonation?

[Joerichardson98]

Hi,

I’m currently planning to brew a European lager.

I will be adding finings at the end of the boil but I was also considering adding finings at the end of the fermentation prior to racking. I was hoping this would achieve a clearer end product. I am worried that the finings added at the end of the fermentation could remove all yeast and result in a weak carbonation (I will be adding carbonation drops to the bottles). Does anyone have any experience with this or could provide me with some advice?

Apologies if this is a stupid question, I am relatively new to home brewing!

 

[SmallScaleOperator]

Kettle finings will certainly not. I never had issues bottle carbonating after adding clarifying agents to my fermenter, but I only did so with ales.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I've never done it. However, even with finings post fermentation, you won't remove ALL yeast. There will still be some yeast left. I would think you'd be ok to do this.

Just thinking out loud here... Why bother adding the finings post fermentation if you're going to bottle carbonate? By adding the priming sugar, you're setting off another small fermentation in the beer that you just fined which is going to get the yeast active again. Not sure the benefit here...

However, perhaps by adding the finings prior to bottle carbonation, you'll reduce the amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottles.

Question - what are you fermenting in and do you have temp control on the fermenter?

 

[KeizerBrewr]

Finings do not affect the end product of a bottle conditioned beer. What I do is add Irish Moss/Whirlfloc during the last 10 of the boil and then I add Clarity Ferm when I pitch my yeast and my beers come out wonderfully clear(style dependent). I should add that time and refrigeration helps clear beer as well. That being said, if a beer isn't crystal clear after being chilled down for a good amount of time, it's likely chill haze, which is where Clarity Ferm comes in.

 

[Joerichardson98]

I've never done it. However, even with finings post fermentation, you won't remove ALL yeast. There will still be some yeast left. I would think you'd be ok to do this.

Just thinking out loud here... Why bother adding the finings post fermentation if you're going to bottle carbonate? By adding the priming sugar, you're setting off another small fermentation in the beer that you just fined which is going to get the yeast active again. Not sure the benefit here...

However, perhaps by adding the finings prior to bottle carbonation, you'll reduce the amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottles.

Question - what are you fermenting in
and do you have temp control on the fermenter?

Didn't consider the secondary fermentation when adding carbonation drops, you’re probably right that the second finings wouldn’t be of much use. I suppose it won’t hurt to add the finings, so I will still give it a try! I’ve had prior issues with sediment, so trying to experiment with different methods to remove the sediment. Open to suggestions if you have any advice.

My current brew is in a Coppers fermentation bucket (with the Krausen Kollar) and I’m using a heating belt to control the temp. Not very accurate but seems to be doing the job. Luckily the yeast I chose requires a low temp range, very helpful seeing as I’m fighting against the snowy weather in the UK right now.

I’m now 2 days in to fermentation and all seems to be going well. This is my 3rd brew using grains.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Didn't consider the secondary fermentation when adding carbonation drops, you’re probably right that the second finings wouldn’t be of much use. I suppose it won’t hurt to add the finings, so I will still give it a try! I’ve had prior issues with sediment, so trying to experiment with different methods to remove the sediment. Open to suggestions if you have any advice.

My current brew is in a Coppers fermentation bucket (with the Krausen Kollar) and I’m using a heating belt to control the temp. Not very accurate but seems to be doing the job. Luckily the yeast I chose requires a low temp range, very helpful seeing as I’m fighting against the snowy weather in the UK right now.

I’m now 2 days in to fermentation and all seems to be going well. This is my 3rd brew using grains.

The reason I asked about temp control is typically you'd want to chill the beer before adding post fermentation finings like gelatin. So if you didn't have the ability to crash the beer in the fermenter, I was going to advise you just skip it. However, I was being very narrow minded and did not consider the other options for fining, like clarityferm that was mentioned. With clarityferm, you don't need to chill the beer.

All in all, I don't think you'll have an issue. I think it'll come out just fine.