Max Beer Temp For Gelatine Addition

[MeLoveBeer]

Even in what appears to be super clear beer there are going to be millions and millions of yeast cells.

Thirsty, would racking on to gelatine then kegging after a week greatly effect the time required to condition the beer (would it be slower given the lower yeast cells present?). Forgive the ignorance, but the brew that triggered this topic was literally my first time using gelatine.

Thanks for your input Thirsty, you've certainly shone light on a few processes in my brewing that I've been taking for granted...

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Thats a big - "it depends"

Is what you are trying to achieve during your conditioning something that is a result of yeast activity?

Actually... Do you mean conditioning as in carbonation?

I really do mean it when I say that the common practise is probably the best way. Racking from primary onto gelatin in secondary... Giving it a week or so to clear up ... Racking to keg. It's pretty tried and true stuff. That or something similar is pretty much going to give you the result you are looking for... Like I said before, changing it up is for when you have some specific reason to do so. Then you need to know what and how things can be changed.

 

[corcatraz]

Cheers TB

Appreciate the info.

I've been leaving beer in primary for 3 to 4 weeks then fining for the last few days. I think I might try fining a little longer like f or the last week in primary. See if it'll get any clearer.

Cheers.

 

[basement_brewer]

Ummm not really, in fact, what I've been saying is almost exactly the opposite of that.

1st - As I said earlier... Cold does NOT encourage yeast to drop. Cold inactivates yeast, inactive yeast drop. If your yeast is already inactive because fermentation has finished, then cold has no effect on the rate at which the yeast drops. Gelatin on the other hand does effect the rate at which yeast drops, By speeding it up, it does this whether things are cold or not. So, if your fermentation is finished and you want to remove the yeast... You add gelatin and give to some time to work. 3-4 days would probably do the trick, but I'd give it a week. Warm or cold, no difference really.

2nd - when you say cold break, I am going to assume you mean chill haze. And what you describe is not the way polyclar stops chill haze. Polyclar is not a finings agent like isinglass or gelatin. It does not cause chill haze to precipitate and fall to the bottom... It stops it forming at all in the first place, by absorbing one of the key components of chill haze formation. If you polyclar, chill haze will simply not form at all. Common wisdom has it that polyclar needs to be added to cold beer to work, but this is not actually true, polyclar does it's job at any temperature up to and including boiling. Polyclar VT itself will need a day or so to settle out if you aren't filtering... But after that CCing will do nothing to help you with haze stability in your beer... That's what the polyclar was for and it's already done it's job in the first few hours.

So your plan and technique would work just as well if you did it all at 16 degrees as at 1 degree. Mind you, if you are able to do so with little trouble... I think you should do it all at 1 degree. And further... Remember I have only been talking about the clarification steps.. In response to an original question about effective temperatures for gelatin.... I am not talking about the flavor effects that a period of cold conditioning can have on your beer due to micro activity from the yeast subtly changing the balance of flavor active components in the beer. Just about clarity.

Make it as cold as you can, add your finings and/or stabilizing agents to the cold beer, CC it for as long as you can stand.... That technique will and does work. We know that for sure. BUT - if you know how the individual components work and why, then if you find a situation where for some reason the full CCing routine is impossible or impractical, you also know when and where you are able to do it differently and still get good results.

TB

Thanks again for the thoughts Thirsty.
It really helps with process design when you know exactly what processes perform what function.
Basement