Bottlers using gelatine and polyclar

[supertonio]

As the title suggest I am specifically looking for information or opinions from people who have used polyclar or gelatine before bottling their beer whether it was successful or not.

I have noticed that alot of my beers have had a fair amount of sediment in them and even by cold crashing alone prior to bottling I have not really minimised this and when pouring they tend to be cloudy probably due to yeast and chill haze.

Does polyclar have any negative effect on your beer when bottling?

Also any pictures of bottled beer after treating would be appreciated to see how much brighter I can possibly make my beer.

 

[Mardoo]

I've used both, singly and in combination in fining/clarifying bottled beers. I have not noticed any negative effects of polyclar, however I have not done re-brews with subtracting it as the sole difference, so can't compare accurately. After some uncertainty about possible odd far-background flavors from gelatine I've switched to isinglass, but thousands of homebrewers who do use it can't be totally wrong. (Insert gelatine thread flame war here.) Polyclar is really mostly for chill-haze though. That said, the beers I've used both plyclar and gelatine on have been. Crystal. Effin'. Clear. Sorry, I don't have photos as they all got drunk very, very quickly. We're talking commercial clear. Clear aaaaas bru'.

However, I might hesitate to use some of these finintgs on heavily hopped IPA's, you know, the ones that go cloudy from hop oils. I would imagine the gelatine and/or polyclar might strip out some flavors. Again, I don't know this for sure from making comparative batches. Pure speculation and maybe someone knowledgeable can offer some experience.

Have you tried Brewbrite, a mixture of polyclar and irish moss used in the kettle instead of whirlfloc? Since I've started using Brewbrite (making it into a slurry with water before adding it to the kettle - otherwise it clumps up somethin awful), further fining seems pretty unnecessary. I'd suggest give that a go first. I DID go ahead with isinglass after Brewbrite on a particularly cloudy 60% oatmeal brew I did, but that was a special case. I'm going to experiment with just Brewbrite for my next few brews.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

My experience with gelatin and polyclar when bottling is good. I use both for most of my beers now, in conjunction with 1 or 2 weeks of cold conditioning.

Haven't got any pics but my beers are very clear and it's so easy to do, I'm keen to keep on doing it.

My procedure is to chill the beer (22 - 23 litres) to 1 -2 deg c after fermentation is complete, as per normal c/c procedure. Then after a few days, dissolve 1 teaspoon of gelatin in 100 - 150 mls of boiled, 75 deg c water.

Once fully dissolved, I gently pour the liquid into the beer and give it a gentle stir with sanitised spoon.

Leave it for at least 2 days and then repeat the procedure exactly, but use polyclar instead. (Always use gelatin first)

Make sure everything is properly sanitised and don't cause any splashing.

Very clear beer.

 

[supertonio]

I have read about brewbrite but I have been unable to find it in the UK.

I have read posts about and the general consensus is that it is is PVPP and irish moss. Can you use normal polyclar alongside whirlfloc instead of using the polyclar later?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

No, whirfloc is used at the end of the boil, where it helps to get the solids drop during whirlpool, whereas polyclar is used to prevent chill haze and it needs to be done cold, preferably after using gelatin.

 

[supertonio]

Sorry after re-reading post it makes me look dumb!!!

I have been using whirlfoc at the end of the boil as instructed and this has been helping the break coagulate.

Am I right in thinking that brewbrite is polyclar/pvpp and irish moss? If this is correct is there a reason why you cant use polyclar/pvpp in the boil with whirlfloc like a homemade brewbrite ( as i cannot source it here). If not is there something special in brewbrite which means it can be used as a kettle addition?

 

[menoetes]

My Brewbite packet instructs me to add it to the boil 10 minutes before flameout. I'm an extract brewer but use it anyway, it's amazing how fast sediment drops to the my FV when I use it. After 2 weeks at 18'c in the brew fridge I drop the temp to 2'c and after 48 hours move the beer to my secondary FV with the dissolved finings (gelatin) already in it. Then it is cold crashed for another 5 days.

I know it sounds like a lot of effort but by the time I've moved it to my bottling bucket it is crystal clear. I get a little bit yeast forming in the bottle during conditioning but that's a symptom of bottle priming that is impossible to get around as far as I know. However it is so little that tipping the chilled beer off of it cleanly is a real breeze.

 

[marksy]

I tried cold crashing on a brew awhile ago, while it was effective it, I found it just added more steps to the process, most my beers are clear enough and the sediment is fine, I just leave the bottles in fridge for a few days and it all clumps together anyhow.

 

[supertonio]

Got some polyclar so will be trying it at the end of the week.

Quick question do any if you guys who bottle filter your beer or is this not needed when using polyclar and bottling?

 

[supertonio]

Just used gelatine for the first time and just realised that it smells like ass.

The things we do for beer.

 

[Mardoo]

I haven't had to filter at bottling. I always carefully rack off the gelatin and polyclar to whatever vessel I use for bulk priming (an old fermenter at the moment.) If you give the beer a couple weeks cold conditioning after the gelatine and polyclar additions everything will settle out quite well. I've never had problems with them getting into the bottling bucket.

BTW Black Devil Dog's process mentioned earlier is what I do too. There are good gelatin and polyclar how-to threads on here if you do a search, but if you use his process all will be well.

Yes Brewbrite is Irish moss and polyclar combined. Whether you could just add polyclar to the kettle with your irish moss I couldn't say. Be interesting to find out.

 

[supertonio]

Have now just used polyclar and the instructions advised 5 gm in 200 ml of just boiled water until dissolved.

This equated to around 2-3 teaspoons but it didn't dissolve. Just seemed to fluff up a bit

Is this normal and similar to when others have used it?

 

[Flaminghedgehog]

I crash chill and gelatin. Pretty happy with the clarity of my beers.

 

[supertonio]

Thanks for the pic. Take it you bottle too?

 

[Flaminghedgehog]

Thanks for the pic. Take it you bottle too?

Now that you mention it I can't swear that the pic was taken from a bottle pour as I both keg and bottle (most likely a keg pour). A careful pour from a well aged bottle gives me a very good clear result anyways. I used to get "urgh, it's cloudy" comments from my fussy ******* megaswilling mates so I decided to try gelatin/cold crashing as I am too lazy to bother with filtering. Never looked back.

Used pvpp only once and the resulting clarity was nothing short of amazing (Looked like commercial beer). Didn't take a pic tho.

I should note also that I generally cellar my bottled beer 6+ months to allow the yeast to compact nicely before consumption. No doubt helps a lot.

 

[supertonio]

At the moment I can only bottle due to space and refrigeration restraints.

For me the main issues has been chill haze and a fair amount of yeast that's isn't compacting and is getting into the glass.

Have just gelatined and polyclared my first batch so I'll be really interested in the clarity that I can possibly achieve with two simple steps.

 

[HalfWit]

Hey peoples, I added polyclar 24 hours ago and I want to bottle now instead of tomorrow. I should wait 48 hours as per destructions. The beer is at 2C. Any problems with that?