Gelatine, Dry Hopping And Cold Conditioning

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Filby

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Ok so Im up over 50 AG brews now and have been using a variety of methods to clear the final beer with good results (filter, extended cold conditioning etc) but now I would like to try gelatine as it seems to be a cheap method with good results.
My question relates to when to do the gelatine addition in a beer that is going to be dry hopped. I know people add it to the secondary but isnt the yeast going to be dropped out as well and this kinda defeats the purpose of doing a secondary? Also, what impact is the gelatine going to have on the absorption of flavour from the dry hopping? If I add the gelatine to a secondary vessel post dry hopping and post ferment completion and then let sit and cold condition for a week will I not run the risk of oxidisation due to there being no CO2 generated by the ferment?

Oh and I dont want to add it to the keg as the kegs will be moved around a bit. I want clear beer going into the keg.



Cheers

Fil
 
Going to add some stuff as I read more about this subject.

It does appear that gelatine strips hop aroma from beer so I think I have a plan.

Ferment Complete
Cold crash
Add Gelatine
Sit for a couple of days
Transfer to secondary (hopefully leaving all the yeast and haze behind)
Add dry hops.
Let warm to ambient temps and sit for 5 days
Cold Condition
Keg and Carbonate.


Seems like a PITA.
 
To be honest, i'm not sure that adding gelatine, then doing all the other steps is worth while. You'll stir it up a litte (even if being careful) when transfering etc.

I would go with the following order:

complete the ferment
then adding dry hops (or near end of ferment)
then cold condition
add gelatine whilst cold conditioning
Transfer to keg

You may get some flavour/aroma stripped from the beer, but i'd say you've probably just got to chose between that and no gelatine. I also am not convinced that the stripping of flavour and aroma is perceptable.

If you are super worried about clarity, why not filter then hop in the keg?
 
Yer was thinking keg hopping but dont want hop floaties in beer. I mainly only use pellets. Once again its that compromise. Maybe I should do extended cold conditioning like Ive done in the past...
 
I reckon you can't go past chucking some dissolved gelatine in the bottom of the keg and racking your beer onto it.
I didn't realize how well it worked until I forgot to do it with my last keg- it was nowhere as clear right to the end.
 
I reckon you can't go past chucking some dissolved gelatine in the bottom of the keg and racking your beer onto it.
I didn't realize how well it worked until I forgot to do it with my last keg- it was nowhere as clear right to the end.

how much beer do you need to pour to get it out of the keg ?

edit: just searched around = couple of pints

gonna try it next keg...
 
I reckon you can't go past chucking some dissolved gelatine in the bottom of the keg and racking your beer onto it.
I didn't realize how well it worked until I forgot to do it with my last keg- it was nowhere as clear right to the end.

If you add gelatine will there be enough yeast left to carbonate bottled brew
 
I reckon you can't go past chucking some dissolved gelatine in the bottom of the keg and racking your beer onto it.
I didn't realize how well it worked until I forgot to do it with my last keg- it was nowhere as clear right to the end.

Agreed 100%, and i remembered the hard way last brew also haha...
 
I reckon you can't go past chucking some dissolved gelatine in the bottom of the keg and racking your beer onto it.
I didn't realize how well it worked until I forgot to do it with my last keg- it was nowhere as clear right to the end.

I do this all the time with great results. I don't even bother throwing the first couple of pints. However, I don't like wasting beer either!
 
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