How To - Gelatine

[Mickcr250]

Gentle stir it is, thanks mate

 

[Mickcr250]

So I just boiled the kettle a few times, then poured 400 ml of water into a sanitised jug and when it cooled to 75c added two packets of brigalow finings which I am pretty sure is just gelatin and mixed it up and added 200ml to each of my two fermenters. All seemed to go well except when cleaning up I noticed some jello stuff stuck to my thermometer, have I stuffed up?

 

[MastersBrewery]

My normal regime is to rack to secondary then gelatine, so I can wash the yeast cake and reuse, I then dry hop if necessary, and crash to 2c half way through the dry hop, I do this for both kegged and bottled beers.
The sediment at the bottom of a bottle is minimal and still has full carbonation.

MB

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I'm not sure what is in the Brigalow packs, but you can buy food grade gelatin at IGA, for not very much and use 1 teaspoon per batch. Add it to 75c, pre boiled water like you did and stir until completely dissolved. It does have a stickyness to it unless you make sure it's fully dissolved.

I'm not sure why your thermometer was anywhere near the gelatin though.

 

[Mickcr250]

I was going to get just unflavoured gelatine but then I saw they had brigalow sachets for a dollar so thought I would try it. I used my thermometer to mix it up.

 

[Mickcr250]

This works great! Its amazing what a spoon full of gelatin can do.

 

[Moad]

Have just started using Gelatine....WOW!

I had a real cloudy beer which is why I looked for finings, it cleared it up into the clearest beer I have ever seen. No exaggeration...

I will be using this on most of my beers from now on

 

[Black n Tan]

I'd be interested to know from you guys that have just started using gelatine if you notice an adverse effect on head retention. I use gelatine most of the time but recently noticed that the clearer my beers are, the poorer the head retention. I suspect my problems with head retention started when I changed from using pig/cow gelatine to fish gelatine (as I read the pKa may be more optimised for use as a fining agent). Anyway I have just switched back and see if that improves head retention. Anyone had a similar experience?

EDIT: typo

 

[Moad]

I can't really answer as I added some one way valves on my lines recently and it has basically ruined my pouring pressure. I don't really get much head...from the taps.

 

[NewtownClown]

turn your valves around the other way?

 

[Moad]

hahaha they are definitely on the right way, they are the keg king valves...

It builds the pressure back up eventually it is just noticably slower than without them. I have to set my pressure to 16 where before it was 12.

Temp 4 degrees and line 3m of 5mm ID

edit: I thought I'd have a quick read and it appears I am now at the correct psi. Not sure why it was pouring properly before the valves were put in. I was also freezing glasses which I will no longer be doing.

 

[barabool]

Don't fear the cloud

 

[philmud]

Does anyone have any tips on avoiding/minimizing fluffy bottoms (yes, I know, wear velvet boxers). Is it inevitable? Does it improve with more time before bottling? If so, how long is optimum?

 

[Blind Dog]

I've found a few days is all I need before kegging or bottling to avoid the fluffy bottom in the keg or bottles

That said I often put the gelatine in the keg anyway and haven't yet had a problem so long as the keg is rested for a fair few hours after last moving it

 

[philmud]

That could be the issue, I can't rack from inside the fridge, so might need to move the fermenter & let it sit for a few hours before racking.

 

[Bogan333]

There have been a number of brewers getting great results with gelatine as a fining lately so here is a tutorial on how to prepare and add it.

Start with 200ml of room temp water. You can choose to boil this first and cool if you wish but Ive found this unnecessary since it will be pasteurised later on. But if you must then a tip is to use the micro wave to quickly boil and then chuck it in the freezer. Now add 2 level tea spoons of unflavoured gelatine and allow to stand for 10 min. This lets the gelatine �bloom� which is much like rehydrating dried yeast and will now look fluffy.

Gel_Gear.JPG

Gel_Bloom.JPG

Give it a swirl to mix in the gelatine and gently heat on the stove/microwave to 75C. Heating the gelatine too hot or even boiling will denature it and it will loose the fining ability making it useless.

Gel_Stove.JPG

Gel_temp.JPG

Hold the solution at 75C for 15 min to pasteurise then add to secondary/keg when rack to mix it well, you do not have to wait for it to cool before adding it to the beer. You should also only add it to beer that has been chilled. If added to the keg then give it a bit of a shake if you�re unsure of it being mixing correctly and allow to sit cold for 3 days. The first pour from a keg will also be cloudy with yeast, just the same as if you had left a keg to sit for a number of weeks to clear.

Gelatine does not 'set' on the bottom of the keg, so if you move it after clearing it will once again become cloudy just like a keg without gelatine. Gelatine works by clumping together yeast and increasing the particle size which allows it to fall out of suspension faster.

Thats its� start enjoying your clear beer. . This is what I was told and have been doing this way for over 20 years
Add 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin to a cup of hot, but not boiling water and gently mix it into your fermenter. Again, wait a few days before bottling or racking to allow the gelatin to clear the beer.

 

[hooper80]

Hi fellas, I have never used gelatine before. I have 2 x 20 lt fermentors with beer. When and where do I add gelatine. Can I add straight to my fermentors a day or two before I keg? I like to have my beer totally in a closed circuit straight from my boil on brew day until it hits the glass a few weeks later. Anyway, some advise would be awesome.

 

[RobW]

I prefer to cold condition in the fermenter for a week or so, then rack straight to the keg onto a teaspoon of gelatine that's been dissolved in a cup of boiling water.
By the time you have carbed the keg (unless you crash carb) it will be good to go.

 

[Black n Tan]

I have used the keg method with success, but I prefer to add it to the primary before I rack to the keg to leave as much behind as possible (especially for lagers). I first chill the beer before adding the gelatine (it tends to work better this way) and then leave it for at least 2 days, preferably more (5 or so). Most references indicate not to add gelatine to boiling water or to boil gelatine as it denatures it and suggest a temp of about 70C to dissolve and pasteurise. Both work in my opinion, but I tend to try to allow the water to cool a little before adding the gelatine to be on the safe side.

EDIT: I have always been curious as to what people mean when they talk about 'denaturing' gelatine. I understand the term denature especially when it come to proteins/enzymes such as alpha-amylase etc, but not sure what happens to gelatine when it is heated. Gelatine has a net positive charge in wort and thus attracts negatively charged yeast, and this forms aggregates that are denser than the wort and thus fall to the bottom. What i can't quite understand is why unravelling (denaturing) the gelatine would make it less effective: it still has the same charge properties which is the important thing in relation to its fining capacity. If on the other hand heat causes the gelatine to be cleaved into smaller fragments, I could understand that at some point this could affect its ability to fine. Anyway a bit of a ramble, but something I am yet to get a good answer to. Anyone?

 

[RobW]

I've tried both as well and not seen any difference.
However in practice by the time I add the gelatine to the boiled water it's cooled a bit anyway.

As I understand it the denaturing by boiling water is an issue in food applications because the gelling property is destroyed.
For fining we just want the dissolved gelatine to disperse through the beer and then drop out, taking the suspended yeast with it, so not really an issue.