How To - Gelatine

[sponge]

Gelatin in, wait a week, suck out a glass or so of murk and then pour clear beer.

Just curious about this comment TB. I'm not sure where I read this, but I've always been of the understanding that leaving gelatine in for such a long period of time can introduce unwanted flavours?

I've always added the gelatine and let it sit for 48hrs at around 1'C, but can't think of where I might have read that prolonged periods of gelatine was not good practice..

If a brewer as experienced as TB leaves his brew with gelatine for a week, I think I may just have to do the same. There have been some occasions where I haven't added gelatine as I might have been away for work during the week and didn't want to leave it the 5 days (since I've had to start fermenting a new beer on the weekend I get back), but it's sounding like I may have been worrying about nothing..

 

[Roosterboy]

Just thought I would add this.....many years ago i worked at Davis Gelatine at Botany, i left a year before they went broke. They put in a new process, spent millions on it and it produced lower quality gelatin ! Anyway we made a product called Liquifine, a highly concentrated solution of non-gelling hydrolyzed gelatin preserved with SO2 , allowed in wine and sold to the wine industry. This is a liquid gelatin .There is a paper on it by C.G.B.Cole" The use of gelatin in wine fining."
He found it was great for clarification of wines but had been shown possibly to lead to protein instability. I don't know if anyone used it in beer brewing.

Remember that gelatin comes from beef hide and is a an excellent nutrient for most forms of microbiological life. I don't know if this could promote bacterial growth in
beers. I don't known if breweries use it, if they do they would then pasteurize the beer I guess. That's about all I remember from my time there in regard to brewing beer.
Roosterboy

 

[stakka82]

Re: leaving gelatine on beers for a while - my process is while kegging add gelatine to the keg, you can force carb and drink straight away, or wait a week... either way the gunk comes out, over a greater or lesser number of glasses is the only difference.

Traces of gelatine would presumably linger in the keg for the beer's lifespan, but I've not noticed any ill effects over months of a gelatined keg.

 

[Piggy]

Do we have a method for adding GELATINE? I'm gonna put it in my keg, comments anyone?

 

[Bribie G]

Yup 12 pages of it.

Gelatine works well in the keg provided you don't rock or disturb the keg afterwards, as gelatine tends to produce a "fluffy bottom" in the keg or bottle that rises up as soon as you look at it.

 

[ivars]

I don't have much brewing experience and have used gelatin for the first time in a dubbel. I thought the beer had fermented out, had no bubbles in the airlock so chilled to 9 deg C and added gelatin. I started to get bubbles in the airlock again and that was 8 days ago - the beer is still in the primary. The SG is not changing. Does anyone have any ideas about what is going on? I understand that it is not a good idea to leave the beer on the gelatin for much time but I don't know what to do. Should I rack it off the trub/gelatin, bottle, drop the temperature or leave it alone until the bubbles stop? :huh:

 

[manticle]

Bubbles just mean carbon dioxide is coming out of solution. There can be residual co2 following fermentation. Gravity is really what you should be going on - if it isn't changing and you're confident it's within the expected region, you should be safe to bottle.

What was the gravity at finish and what were you expecting it to be? Expectation should be based on ingredients, mash schedule (if mashing) yeast type, yeast amount and yeast health and fermentation schedule.

 

[ivars]

According to BeerSmith the estimated FG was 1.012 and mine is 1.011 which is what it has been on the two previous occasions when I have done this recipe more or less the same way.

 

[manticle]

I'd say you're pretty safe.

 

[ivars]

Cheers manticle really appreciate the advice. Bottling tomorrow.

 

[waggastew]

Anyone else had problems with gelatine stripping out hop aroma? There are some mentions about the topic but most have not noticed a drop?

My latest tweak of my AIPA is lacking its usual aroma. Have been thinking extra dry hop, more late additions etc but then had a brain flash. This is the first time I have gelatined this beer. Will not gelatine the next batch to see if this is the culprit.

 

[Pogierob]

I used gelatine for the first time in my kegs and had two awesomely clear beers in day two.

Very happy, thanks Weizgei for the tip, and thanks for this thread!!!

 

[rglnz]

Most of the advice here is for guys that are kegging their beer. Im a bit of an amateur, and just ferment, then rack into a bottling bucket to bulk prime, then bottle. I have never used anything for clearing my beer, but I want to give it a go for my next brew. Is it necessary to use a secondary fermenter to use gelatine? or can I simply add it in at a certain stage to my primary, then when its time to bottle, rack to bottling bucket for bulk priming and then bottle straight away. Open to other suggestions, I just havent experiemented much as I dont want to screw up my brews!

Cheers

 

[Black n Tan]

It is perfectly fine to add gelatine to the primary and that is exactly what I do. I first cool my wort to 0C then add gelain and leave for 2-3 days before kegging. Same would apply to bottling.

 

[professional_drunk]

Wish I could gelatin my beer. I've got Hindus drinking it.

 

[wereprawn]

Wish I could gelatin my beer. I've got Hindus drinking it.

Just don't tell em P D. Cant be reincarnated as a tape worm or a louse on gillards vadge if they don't know ay?

 

[manticle]

Most of the advice here is for guys that are kegging their beer. Im a bit of an amateur, and just ferment, then rack into a bottling bucket to bulk prime, then bottle. I have never used anything for clearing my beer, but I want to give it a go for my next brew. Is it necessary to use a secondary fermenter to use gelatine? or can I simply add it in at a certain stage to my primary, then when its time to bottle, rack to bottling bucket for bulk priming and then bottle straight away. Open to other suggestions, I just havent experiemented much as I dont want to screw up my brews!

Cheers

Gelatine is to help drop out the yeast which you want to leave behind when transferring to your bottling bucket anyway so you are better off fining the primary.

 

[rglnz]

Cool, cheers for that. I dont have temp control for my fermenter besides a damp towel or wrapping it in a blanket. Does it matter if I just add the gelatine to my fermenter at my normal room temp fermenting temp? also, at what stage do I add it? a day before racking to bottling? how long does it need to work?

 

[Mickcr250]

When adding gelatine in primary do I need to stir? Or just pour it over the surface ?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I give mine a very gentle stir.