Finings question

[Alimacoz]

Hi all,

I made my first ever BIAB last weekend, it was the Dr Smurtos Golden Ale, the fermentation was great with lots of krausen which has dissipated over the last couple of days but the beer still looks very murky.

I'm going to leave it another week before bottling but during the boil I added half a whirfloc tablet as per the recipe, I've never used any clearing or finings before in my beer but would it be acceptable to use some gelatin a couple of days before bottling or should I not use any other type of finings if I have already added whirfloc during the boil?

 

[djar007]

At what stage of the boil did you add the tablet? 15 mins? Did you crush it up and make a paste of it in sterile water? Do you plan to crash chill the wort toward the end of ferment? How is the gravity of your wort? It will clear a lot more when the yeast finishes doing its job and you are closer to your final gravity. Cloudy will often mean that the yeast is still in suspension and working away. Take a reading and see how far off you are.

 

[Alimacoz]

Hi djar,

Yes I added the whirfloc tablet 15 minutes from the end of the boil, I didn't make a paste with it but I did crush it up and then added it dry to the wort.

I won't be crash chilling the wort as I don't have a brew fridge at the moment so I'll wait for the fermentation to finish and then bottle it.

The SG was 1.056 and it's down to 1.016 so far, ill take another reading tomorrow and see if it's still fermenting.

Just out of Interest, is it ok to use both whirfloc and another fining agent such as gelatine or should you only use one or the other?

 

[mwd]

Gelatine is fine, It attaches to the yeast and helps it floc out. A couple of days before bottling should be O.K. four even better.
Have a look for the sticky on gelatine finnings.

 

[jc64]

At what stage of the boil did you add the tablet? 15 mins? Did you crush it up and make a paste of it in sterile water? Do you plan to crash chill the wort toward the end of ferment? How is the gravity of your wort? It will clear a lot more when the yeast finishes doing its job and you are closer to your final gravity. Cloudy will often mean that the yeast is still in suspension and working away. Take a reading and see how far off you are.

Do you crush your half tab of whirfloc and make paste? I just use a half tab per 21 litre batch put in at 10 minutes, seems to dissolve and act very quickly.

 

[Alimacoz]

Do you crush your half tab of whirfloc and make paste? I just use a half tab per 21 litre batch put in at 10 minutes, seems to dissolve and act very quickly.

I sure do, I cut it in half then crush it under the blade of a kitchen knife into a powder, then add it to the wort 15 minutes before the end of the boil.

 

[djar007]

I do make a paste. To my thinking it will dilute into the wort more effectively.

 

[Alimacoz]

I do make a paste. To my thinking it will dilute into the wort more effectively.

I like your thinking, I'll have to try this next time I use whirfloc.