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Author Topic: agar as fining agent  (Read 876 times)

Offline morticaixavier

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agar as fining agent
« on: November 06, 2011, 05:12:21 PM »
So here is the idea.

I like making British beer styles and for the most part I am not to particular on perfect clarity. However, as I understand it much of the British real ale is fined with isinglass or gelatin and I am a vegetarian. So I was cleaning out my pantry and I came across a little packet of agar agar flakes. These are the raw version of agar that is used in plating yeast etc. It is widely used in vegan cooking to provide thickening and body as gelatin or eggs might be used in non-vegan cooking. On the package the product is described as a vegetarian gelatin.

So I am thinking I could mix it up, more or less to the levels/amounts used for gelatin (adjusted for the ratio of gelatin to agar suggested, whatever that is) in  beer to clarify.

thoughts? Am I crazy? anyone ever tried it?
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Online tschmidlin

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Re: agar as fining agent
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2011, 10:29:38 PM »
Might work.  Haven't tried it.  Let us know ;)
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Offline tonyp

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Re: agar as fining agent
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2011, 10:14:50 AM »
Sounds like an interesting experiment, let us know how it turns out. any reason you aren't using irish moss?
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: agar as fining agent
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2011, 10:33:08 AM »
Quote from: tonyp on November 07, 2011, 10:14:50 AM
Sounds like an interesting experiment, let us know how it turns out. any reason you aren't using irish moss?

I have been using irish moss and it works quite well. I will continue to do so but If I enter a bitter into a comp I want it to be as perfectly clear as possible and it seems like, short of filtering, a gelatin type fining agent is the way to go. isinglass being traditional. Plus at some point I want to try cask conditioning and it seems that with the added sediment from that stage of fermentation would make it harder to get really clear without some fining.

I have a batch of basil ale in primary now and a pack of agar agar flakes so perhaps I will try it next weekend! I will report back the results although to be really useful I will have to make a 10 gallon batch of bitter at some point and fine 5 gallons and not fine the other to get a side by side.
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"Creativity is the residue of wasted time" - A. Einstein
"Is that a sssssstraight jacket?" - That weird guy on Oddities
On Tap:
2 Beers 1 recipe:
  American Pale Ale (WLP001)
  Belgian Pale Ale (WLP545)
In Bottles:
Tipsy Santa stout
2011 Sweet William BW
2011 Rumble Fish - Rumble barrel aged BW
2012 Belgian Wheat Wine with coconut sugar
2012 Sweet William maple BW
2012 All Munich BW

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: agar as fining agent
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2011, 09:07:46 PM »
If your experiment does not work Biofine Clear is vegan friendly finding.

I am still interested in results.
More for curiosity sake.
Do it  8)
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