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Author Topic: kieselsol for clearing  (Read 3242 times)

Offline homoeccentricus

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kieselsol for clearing
« on: November 13, 2015, 03:12:16 am »
Has anyone used pure kieselsol for clearing beer? Does it work well? How clear does the beer get? I'd prefer to keep my beers strictly vegetarian if possible. No meat, no fish.
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2015, 05:43:23 am »
Time and cold temp will do the trick or you could filter it. 

There is also BioFine clear. This is silica based.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2015, 05:49:51 am by Thirsty_Monk »
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Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2015, 05:53:50 am »
Time and cold temp will do the trick or you could filter it. 

There is also BioFine clear. This is silica based.

Biofine IS kieselsol, no?
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2015, 07:00:13 am »
Time and cold temp will do the trick or you could filter it. 

There is also BioFine clear. This is silica based.

Biofine IS kieselsol, no?
Biofine-clear is Si-O2, so that appears to be the same.
Biofine is a an isinglass powder.
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Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2015, 07:22:53 am »
Time and cold temp will do the trick or you could filter it. 

There is also BioFine clear. This is silica based.

Biofine IS kieselsol, no?
Biofine-clear is Si-O2, so that appears to be the same.
Biofine is a an isinglass powder.
OK, let's call it siliciumdioxide. Anyone good or bad experience with it? I know it's often used in combination with gelatin, but that's not what I'm looking after here...
Frank P.

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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2015, 07:34:34 am »
Time and cold temp will do the trick or you could filter it. 

There is also BioFine clear. This is silica based.

Biofine IS kieselsol, no?
Biofine-clear is Si-O2, so that appears to be the same.
Biofine is a an isinglass powder.
OK, let's call it siliciumdioxide. Anyone good or bad experience with it? I know it's often used in combination with gelatin, but that's not what I'm looking after here...

I too make vegetarian friendly beer at all times. I've had pretty good luck with good old Irish moss in the kettle and appropriate temp and time. I've tried the gluten reducing stuff and it was fine but not significantly better than IM and time. My biggest improvement came when I got a handle on mash chemistry.

I think it's important to know what you are trying to accomplish with the fining. Is it yeast haze? protein? starch? it's always better to deal with the underlying cause than just filtering out the result.
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Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2015, 07:42:44 am »
Time and cold temp will do the trick or you could filter it. 

There is also BioFine clear. This is silica based.

Biofine IS kieselsol, no?
Biofine-clear is Si-O2, so that appears to be the same.
Biofine is a an isinglass powder.
OK, let's call it siliciumdioxide. Anyone good or bad experience with it? I know it's often used in combination with gelatin, but that's not what I'm looking after here...

I too make vegetarian friendly beer at all times. I've had pretty good luck with good old Irish moss in the kettle and appropriate temp and time. I've tried the gluten reducing stuff and it was fine but not significantly better than IM and time. My biggest improvement came when I got a handle on mash chemistry.

I think it's important to know what you are trying to accomplish with the fining. Is it yeast haze? protein? starch? it's always better to deal with the underlying cause than just filtering out the result.
Getting my first lager out of the door asap, using Marshall's forced lager fermentation method  :D
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Offline a10t2

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2015, 08:12:41 am »
OK, let's call it siliciumdioxide. Anyone good or bad experience with it? I know it's often used in combination with gelatin, but that's not what I'm looking after here...

Terrific stuff. 50-100 mL/bbl, depending on level of haze (which essentially just means gravity in a lager) and desired clarity, seems to be the sweet spot in my beers. Like Jonathan said, the cause of haze is also relevant - SiO2 is very effective against polyphenol (chill) haze but only minimally effective against yeast. I personally don't find that to be an issue following an effective cold crash, but strain selection comes into play there as well.

I posted a photo in another thread recently of a 13-day old APA (more to the point, 48 hours after kegging): https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=24900.msg318812#msg318812 This was 50 mL/bbl (0.4 mL/L) BioFine A3 along with Whirfloc in the kettle.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2015, 08:23:58 am by a10t2 »
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2015, 08:14:58 am »
OK, let's call it siliciumdioxide. Anyone good or bad experience with it? I know it's often used in combination with gelatin, but that's not what I'm looking after here...

Terrific stuff. 50-100 mL/bbl, depending on level of haze (which essentially just means gravity in a lager) and desired clarity, seems to be the sweet spot in my beers. Like Jonathan said, the cause of haze is also relevant - SiO2 is very effective against polyphenol (chill) haze but only minimally effective against yeast. I personally don't find that to be an issue following an effective cold crash, but strain selection comes into play there as well.

I posted a photo in another thread recently of a 13-day old APA (more to the point, 48 hours after kegging): https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=24900.msg318812#msg318812 This was 50 mL/bbl BioFine A3 along with Whirfloc in the kettle.

I assume you have to chill the beer down pretty cold to cause the chill haze to form for best results correct?
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Offline a10t2

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Re: kieselsol for clearing
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2015, 08:25:46 am »
I assume you have to chill the beer down pretty cold to cause the chill haze to form for best results correct?

Correct. I don't know exactly where the cutoff is but serving temperature at ~4°C is plenty cold.
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