How To - Gelatine

[jakub76]

maybe it's detergent that you're tasting

 

[weiht]

Hi there,

I keg and lagered my beer for 1mth with gelatin. Not knowing that the gelatin doesnt set at the bottom and will be suspended again, i forced carb the beer with shaking. After 4 days, i emptied 3 pints to clear the gelatin, but its still a little cloudy with gelatin sediments still floating around.

Is there any way to remedy the gelatin being suspended and causing a cloudy beer again? Will it eventually settle if left alone?

 

[michaelcocks]

Hi there,

I keg and lagered my beer for 1mth with gelatin. Not knowing that the gelatin doesnt set at the bottom and will be suspended again, i forced carb the beer with shaking. After 4 days, i emptied 3 pints to clear the gelatin, but its still a little cloudy with gelatin sediments still floating around.

Is there any way to remedy the gelatin being suspended and causing a cloudy beer again? Will it eventually settle if left alone?

leave it for another two weeks

 

[rendo]

Juz,

What brand of Gelatin did you use? Davis? Mackenzie? Please let us know! I have used both. any have opinions on them, but will wait for you to let me know what you used..

Got my fingers crossed for you mate, hoping the taste will subside.

Rendo

Don't know if this has already been covered, but can't face trawling through 167 replies.

Brewing a Mexican Lager which I racked onto a cup of gelatine as described here. I did use boiling water, however, to dissolve the gelatine. Anyway, after 3 days I added some lemon and lime juice mixed with priming sugar (sterilised), gave it an hour or so, then bottled.

Three weeks later when I cracked my first bottle, there is a distinct taste of gelatine in the brew :icon_vomit: . I've tried crash chilling etc, and the brew is nice and clear, but just has the distinct gelatine taste. Anybody else had this problem, and is there any hope to rescue my 23 litres?

Any help and advice much appreciated.

Juz

 

[Bribie G]

Hi there,

I keg and lagered my beer for 1mth with gelatin. Not knowing that the gelatin doesnt set at the bottom and will be suspended again, i forced carb the beer with shaking. After 4 days, i emptied 3 pints to clear the gelatin, but its still a little cloudy with gelatin sediments still floating around.

Is there any way to remedy the gelatin being suspended and causing a cloudy beer again? Will it eventually settle if left alone?

I may have posted this already, but for future reference I wouldn't let gelatine anywhere near your kegs or bottles, just use it at the beginning of cold crash / lagering and leave for at least a week to settle out, then transfer the clear beer to keg or bottle. After also using Polyclar if necessary.

 

[altstart]

I have been using Gelatine in the fermenter after crash chilling and am thinking of trying Agar instead. Has any one tried this and if so does it work?.
Cheers Altstart

 

[mje1980]

I may have posted this already, but for future reference I wouldn't let gelatine anywhere near your kegs or bottles, just use it at the beginning of cold crash / lagering and leave for at least a week to settle out, then transfer the clear beer to keg or bottle. After also using Polyclar if necessary.

Why not bribie?? Does it affect the keg??. I dont secondary, i just chill, then rack to the keg. I've tried gelatin and been happy with it, but im gunna try it in the keg.

 

[muckey]

Why not bribie?? Does it affect the keg??. I dont secondary, i just chill, then rack to the keg. I've tried gelatin and been happy with it, but im gunna try it in the keg.

you end up with all the crap in the bottom of the keg. first pour is, shall we say - interesting. If there is too much in there it makes cleaning your keg a very time consuming exercise after you finish drinking it. other than that, gelatine works a treat when used in the right quantities..

and in reply to another poster, I've heard lots of people talk about using agar but haven't heard of anybody's results. that said - I dont know of any reason why it wouldnt be aseffective as gelatine. Like everything, it's a matter of getting the dosage correct and unless someone can post their results, I'd start with the equivalent of gelatine and see how it goes

hope that helps

 

[RdeVjun]

Muckey & altstart, I'll put my hand up and try agar next time. It is more expensive than gelatine, at least where I've bought it (local Asian grocer), maybe that's one reason it isn't popular but I have some on hand for slanting anyway.

I guess agar needs a brief boil though to dissolve it properly, gelatine seems to be best dissolved in water just off the boil but that doesn't seem to work as well with agar- I tried that for slants before pouring them, much of it remained undissolved.

 

[altstart]

Muckey & altstart, I'll put my hand up and try agar next time. It is more expensive than gelatine, at least where I've bought it (local Asian grocer), maybe that's one reason it isn't popular but I have some on hand for slanting anyway.

I guess agar needs a brief boil though to dissolve it properly, gelatine seems to be best dissolved in water just off the boil but that doesn't seem to work as well with agar- I tried that for slants before pouring them, much of it remained undissolved.

I have used Agar for slants and I agree it needs to be boiled to get it to dissolve properly. Boiling Agar Does not seem to denature it unlike Gelatin which is pretty useless after being boiled. I cant see why it wont work and the thought of useing a vegatable protein based product instead of animal hooves to clear my beer is more appealing to me. I have a beer in the fermenter and I think I will also give it a go

Cheers Altstart

 

[mwd]

Does Gelatine have any effect on fermenting yeast.?

My latest Toucan is still fermenting very slowly US05 S.G. 1.020 yesterday.
It is a bit of a Peasouper with all the hop boilings and dryhops in the Primary.

I was hoping to add gelatine to help clear it up some just before it reaches FG so that it will be fairly clean and clear come bottling time.

 

[Wolfy]

Does Gelatine have any effect on fermenting yeast.?
...
I was hoping to add gelatine to help clear it up some just before it reaches FG so that it will be fairly clean and clear come bottling time.

Yes, but don't use it before you reach the FG.
Add the gelatine (and if possible crash-chill) AFTER you reach the final gravity, let the yeast settle out, and then after a few more days bottle it.

 

[manticle]

Something I'd like to question in the original article and that people have often mentioned.

People/the article talk/s about denaturing gelatin and how this will defstroy the fining ability. Gelatin, much like any other protein, will denature much aboe 40 degrees. Denaturing is in fact responsible for its ability to dissolve in water which is necessary for use. I regularly dd boiling water to my gelatin (dissolves easier when water added to gelatin rather than other way around) - no blooming, no cooling of the water. I get the same results I used to get when I let the water cool before adding. Add too cold or let cool too much and you get Jelly.

Where does the 75 degrees idea come from? Is there a reference for this or is it a perpetuated HB myth?

 

[Brewman_]

Manticle,
I don't know where the temperatures come from, maybe they are best practice.

I know I used to prepare Isinglass in hot water 70 Deg.C, it worked absoluely fantastic, dropped everything including chill haze when the fermenter was at 0 Deg.C. I since found out it is supposed to be prepared cool or even cold.

All I can say is that it worked well prepared hot. In fact I could not say that there was any obvious room for improvement on what results I was getting.

Fear_n_loath

 

[Screwtop]

Where does the 75 degrees idea come from? Is there a reference for this or is it a perpetuated HB myth?

Maybe from some cranky old bastards method of using it. I add gelatine to beer in a pyrex jug, leave to hydrate for 5 min, stir to mix then wait another 5 min. Stir then place in microwave at power setting 2 for 10 min which heats it and holds the temp at around 85 (using my microwave on 20% power setting). The reason I do this is to pasteurise the gelatine/beer solution before adding it to the keg, beer is then racked from fermenter to keg.

Screwy

 

[manticle]

I tend to listen to cranky old bastards although in this case I might continue with current practice.

 

[Acasta]

will it be ok to add the gelatine when racking but not finished fermenting? Its in the 1.020 and will finish 1.015-1.010 and im going to rack it soon.

 

[bum]

Gelatine knocks the yeast out of suspension, Acasta.

 

[manticle]

will it be ok to add the gelatine when racking but not finished fermenting? Its in the 1.020 and will finish 1.015-1.010 and im going to rack it soon.

As bum suggests you will be working against yourself. Wait until primary has finished, then wait a bit more then chill the brew then add the gelatin.

 

[Acasta]

ahh kk, if i don't chill the brew will it still work? Im currently getting together some temp stuff.