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finings in the fermenter

Post #1 made 12 years ago
by 2trout
Its my brew season again here in Colorado, and one of my goals this season is to improve the clarity of my beer. I just did my first brew of the season.

I'm a simple brewer. I mash, squeeze, boil, whirlfoc at 5 min, cool overnight (with a lid on my pot and plastic wrap wrapped around the pot/lid joint), siphon carefully into bucket, pitch and wait 2 weeks, bottle. Sometimes I rack to secondary bucket. I try to practice good to excellent cleaning and sanitation, and try to use yeast that floculates well, usually US-05. I have funky alkaline water with ph of 7.8-8.25.

I do get some haze that does improve somewhat over time. I don't have space to cold crash a fermenter unless it is cold outside(which it will be soon.)

I really want to know about adding finings to the fermenter. Im curious about gelatin as it is readily available, and have heard good things about polyclar.

Does anyone here do this with regularity? What is your process?

Trout
"All I know is that the beer is good and people clamor for it. OK, it's free and that has something to do with it."
Bobbrews
    • BME Brewer With Over 5 Brews From United States of America

Post #2 made 12 years ago
by Yeasty
Good post 2t.

I've only used polyclar and that was when lagering a Helles. Its funny stuff as it doesn't dissolve with it just been fine plastic but it is good. I mixed it with warm water and gave it a good whisk before adding to the secondary, as the beer in secondary was cold (in the loft) the warm polyclar settled in a layer on the top then slowly sank as it cooled. Well that was the theory. I got a good result with it anyway.

As to gelatin I have only considered using it when barreling/kegging so as to set the yeast cake. I think this could be an option when bottling.
Why is everyone talking about "Cheese"
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Great Britain

Post #3 made 12 years ago
by 2trout
Thanks Yeasty,

Do you remember what clarity issues you were having at the time you used polyclar? Chill related haze?

trout
"All I know is that the beer is good and people clamor for it. OK, it's free and that has something to do with it."
Bobbrews
    • BME Brewer With Over 5 Brews From United States of America

Post #4 made 12 years ago
by Yeasty
It was an insurance policy against chill haze. I get haze in my bitters but only if I chill them too cold for my taste so its not a worry. As the brew in question was a Helles and to be served cooler I wanted to make sure it looked its best. I think it was supposed to have been for a "club" comp that never happened. The only down side to polyclar is that you can only do it in bulk as you have to rack off the sediment once its done.
Why is everyone talking about "Cheese"
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Great Britain

Post #5 made 12 years ago
by 2trout
The only down side to polyclar is that you can only do it in bulk as you have to rack off the sediment once its done
So once the polyclar has done its work, you need to siphon the now clear beer off of the sediment correct?
Last edited by 2trout on 05 Nov 2012, 11:07, edited 2 times in total.
"All I know is that the beer is good and people clamor for it. OK, it's free and that has something to do with it."
Bobbrews
    • BME Brewer With Over 5 Brews From United States of America

Post #7 made 12 years ago
by 2trout
I thought I should post my results on using Gelatin in the secondary.

I generally get some haze in my beer that does become less notable over a long time (but never really goes away), and my beer is never "clear" at bottling. So I asked around and yeasty gave me some ideas, and I did some net searching as well and decided to try using gelatin in the secondary. I bought regular unflavored gelatin at the Grocery.


I recently brewed an APA that I forgot to add Whirlflok to. :idiot: A perfect time to try gelatin!

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By far my best clarity ever! I followed the process below.I found it herehttp://bertusbrewery.blogspot.com/2012/ ... latin.html

1.Cold Crash the secondary(I can only do this in the cold months of the year in the garage/outside.)
2.Get a microwave-safe glass cup. Measure out 2/3 cup cold water.
3.Add one teaspoon of gelatin, and stir the solution.
4.Place the water/gelatin mixture in the microwave, and begin to heat it 15-30 seconds at a time,
5.The goal is to heat the gelatin to 150F-170F,
6.Stir, and dump it straight into your beer.
7.Gently swirl the fermenter or keg, and return it to your fridge.(or the garage/outside.)

I will continue to use gelatin as a fining agent.
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Last edited by 2trout on 14 Nov 2012, 12:23, edited 2 times in total.
"All I know is that the beer is good and people clamor for it. OK, it's free and that has something to do with it."
Bobbrews
    • BME Brewer With Over 5 Brews From United States of America

Post #8 made 12 years ago
by Aces high
I've always used geletin in my kegs. It definitely clears the beer up nicely when put in a cold keg fridge. The only issue is that if i even sliglty move or bump the keg its swirls up very easily. It will drop again in a day of two, but if you're using it for a secondry you want to make sure you dont have to move the secondry before bottling or you might undo all your good work.

Also not sure how it clears when not chilled. My kegs get filled, sealed, gassed up and then straight into a 3 degrees C keg fridge

Post #9 made 12 years ago
by 2trout
Hey Aces,

I did find a bit of sediment movement when I transferred to the bottling bucket, but it was fairly minimal for me. In fact I was really rushed for time when bottling so instead of siphoning carefully as usual, I poured from the secondary into my bottling bucket :o . That move cost me about a 1/2 gallon of beer initially (I stopped pouring when I noticed sediment just begin to hit the rim of the secondary)

I tried an experiment and later poured the now settled out 1/2 gallon of wort onto 1/4tsp sugar in a growler. I got some sediment in there, but maybe the yeast sediment will settle over the top of all band keep the growler clear. :)
Last edited by 2trout on 15 Nov 2012, 00:35, edited 2 times in total.
"All I know is that the beer is good and people clamor for it. OK, it's free and that has something to do with it."
Bobbrews
    • BME Brewer With Over 5 Brews From United States of America
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