[beersk]

I've had similar concerns about oxygen pickup when adding gelatin. It makes the beer super clear, but lately I've deferred to just putting more kegs in the conditioning fridge and letting actual time do the clarifying for me instead of using gelatin as "liquid time".

Without any empirical evidence, I'm guessing it's close to a wash. In my head anyway, the beers age better if I leave them alone, but taste better young if I fine them. Since I have the fridge space now I'll trade time for more work (at least until I find a reason to reverse myself).

I'm pretty careful with O2 pickup, but I do fine many beers with gelatin. I honestly don't feel like it's caused any noticeable oxidation in my beers or I'd have stopped using it. I always assumed that with the gelatin's purpose being to drop yeast out of suspension, those yeast are able to scavenge the O2 introduced from stirring in the gelatin. Maybe not. Then again I've been kegging with ascorbic acid for a year or two now, so in theory that should be offering protection, too.

Yeah, I don't know about that... at cold enough temps for the gelatin to work the yeast are already dormant, I'd assume.

[HoosierBrew]

I've had similar concerns about oxygen pickup when adding gelatin. It makes the beer super clear, but lately I've deferred to just putting more kegs in the conditioning fridge and letting actual time do the clarifying for me instead of using gelatin as "liquid time".

Without any empirical evidence, I'm guessing it's close to a wash. In my head anyway, the beers age better if I leave them alone, but taste better young if I fine them. Since I have the fridge space now I'll trade time for more work (at least until I find a reason to reverse myself).

I'm pretty careful with O2 pickup, but I do fine many beers with gelatin. I honestly don't feel like it's caused any noticeable oxidation in my beers or I'd have stopped using it. I always assumed that with the gelatin's purpose being to drop yeast out of suspension, those yeast are able to scavenge the O2 introduced from stirring in the gelatin. Maybe not. Then again I've been kegging with ascorbic acid for a year or two now, so in theory that should be offering protection, too.

Yeah, I don't know about that... at cold enough temps for the gelatin to work the yeast are already dormant, I'd assume.

Yeah, I've thought about that, too. Regardless, I'm liking the end result.

Edit -  Like I said, hopefully the ascorbic is warding off any oxidation from the gelatin. I've entered lots of gel fined beers in comps that didn't get any oxidation dings. Who knows.

[tommymorris]

Only a triangle test can answer many of the questions in this thread. My 2 cents...

[HoosierBrew]

Only a triangle test can answer many of the questions in this thread. My 2 cents...

You're totally right. My plan is to try to do a few of those in the next year, to satisfy my curiosity.

[beersk]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

My first beer with Brewtan B today, a Munich Helles. Ditched my "low DO" process I've been using lately and did my old method of dumping the water into the mashtun, etc. The foam on top of the mash was an orange color...interesting. Wort was really clear in the second runnings, but the first runnings looked normal. I did notice a crazy amount of taige in the mash though. That isn't anything new to me though, it was maybe just a little more than I'm used to seeing. The wort tastes smoother and maybe not as bittersweet as usual. I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

[tommymorris]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

Are you actually measuring the gravity or just guessing? If guessing, what visual clue do you use to know when to transfer?

[beersk]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

Are you actually measuring the gravity or just guessing? If guessing, what visual clue do you use to know when to transfer?

At about a week, I check the gravity or if I notice there's no more airlock activity. I keep an eye on the activity everyday. When I see no more activity I know it's pretty close to being time for transferring. Also doing a FFT. Did that on my oktoberfest. FFT finished at 1.010, kegged at 1.014 after 7 days and it finished at 1.010. I'm not using a spunding valve either, so when I go to take a sample for FG, it blasts out of there. I figure if I can transfer it within 2-4 points from being done, I'm golden.

[HoosierBrew]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

Are you actually measuring the gravity or just guessing? If guessing, what visual clue do you use to know when to transfer?

At about a week, I check the gravity or if I notice there's no more airlock activity. I keep an eye on the activity everyday. When I see no more activity I know it's pretty close to being time for transferring. Also doing a FFT. Did that on my oktoberfest. FFT finished at 1.010, kegged at 1.014 after 7 days and it finished at 1.010. I'm not using a spunding valve either, so when I go to take a sample for FG, it blasts out of there. I figure if I can transfer it within 2-4 points from being done, I'm golden.

So I assume it doesn't overcarb without the spunding?

[tommymorris]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

Are you actually measuring the gravity or just guessing? If guessing, what visual clue do you use to know when to transfer?

At about a week, I check the gravity or if I notice there's no more airlock activity. I keep an eye on the activity everyday. When I see no more activity I know it's pretty close to being time for transferring. Also doing a FFT. Did that on my oktoberfest. FFT finished at 1.010, kegged at 1.014 after 7 days and it finished at 1.010. I'm not using a spunding valve either, so when I go to take a sample for FG, it blasts out of there. I figure if I can transfer it within 2-4 points from being done, I'm golden.

So I assume it doesn't overcarb without the spunding?

What about diacetyl? I would be afraid to remove from the yeast in case there is diacetyl or precursor in the beer. Need the yeast to clean up.

[beersk]

Jon, not that I've noticed it doesn't seem to be over carbonating. It's definitely not a permanent change but I'm trying it out for now and it seems to be working.

Tommy, I've been carrying yeast over to the keg when I transfer and it sits in the keg for an additional week to finish out. There shouldn't be anything different about it versus leaving it in the fermenter for another week. The yeast are still active.

At some point I plan to get a SS Brewtech brew bucket so I can do closed transfers...worry a bit less about O2 pick up. But still, doing it this way is basically a surefire way to have basically zero oxidation in the finished beer.

[HoosierBrew]

Jon, not that I've noticed it doesn't seem to be over carbonating. It's definitely not a permanent change but I'm trying it out for now and it seems to be working.

I've been kegging with ascorbic acid the last few batches, to (hopefully) help reduce kegging oxidation. I may try what you're doing at some point, to see if I can see a difference.

[beersk]

Jon, not that I've noticed it doesn't seem to be over carbonating. It's definitely not a permanent change but I'm trying it out for now and it seems to be working.

I've been kegging with ascorbic acid the last few batches, to (hopefully) help reduce kegging oxidation. I may try what you're doing at some point, to see if I can see a difference.

Post your thoughts on it if you remember.

I know this way is great, but definitely takes a bit of care; you have to pay pretty close attention to fermentation.

[tommymorris]

Jon, not that I've noticed it doesn't seem to be over carbonating. It's definitely not a permanent change but I'm trying it out for now and it seems to be working.

Tommy, I've been carrying yeast over to the keg when I transfer and it sits in the keg for an additional week to finish out. There shouldn't be anything different about it versus leaving it in the fermenter for another week. The yeast are still active.

At some point I plan to get a SS Brewtech brew bucket so I can do closed transfers...worry a bit less about O2 pick up. But still, doing it this way is basically a surefire way to have basically zero oxidation in the finished beer.

Makes sense. Thanks!

[brewinhard]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

Are you actually measuring the gravity or just guessing? If guessing, what visual clue do you use to know when to transfer?

At about a week, I check the gravity or if I notice there's no more airlock activity. I keep an eye on the activity everyday. When I see no more activity I know it's pretty close to being time for transferring. Also doing a FFT. Did that on my oktoberfest. FFT finished at 1.010, kegged at 1.014 after 7 days and it finished at 1.010. I'm not using a spunding valve either, so when I go to take a sample for FG, it blasts out of there. I figure if I can transfer it within 2-4 points from being done, I'm golden.

While the beer sits for an additional week are you allowing it to warm up to room temps to further attenuate and clean up any fermentation byproducts (diacetyl?) at this point? 

This is a cool idea, and potentially well worth giving a shot in addition to my closed transfers I do. I would guess you have to be pretty familiar with the recipe and yeast to make this work effectively and repeatedly.

[beersk]

Posted this in the "What's brewing this weekend" thread:

I am planning to rack it to a keg when it's a few points from expected final gravity though. I've been noticing major improvements from doing that alone.

Are you actually measuring the gravity or just guessing? If guessing, what visual clue do you use to know when to transfer?

At about a week, I check the gravity or if I notice there's no more airlock activity. I keep an eye on the activity everyday. When I see no more activity I know it's pretty close to being time for transferring. Also doing a FFT. Did that on my oktoberfest. FFT finished at 1.010, kegged at 1.014 after 7 days and it finished at 1.010. I'm not using a spunding valve either, so when I go to take a sample for FG, it blasts out of there. I figure if I can transfer it within 2-4 points from being done, I'm golden.

While the beer sits for an additional week are you allowing it to warm up to room temps to further attenuate and clean up any fermentation byproducts (diacetyl?) at this point? 

This is a cool idea, and potentially well worth giving a shot in addition to my closed transfers I do. I would guess you have to be pretty familiar with the recipe and yeast to make this work effectively and repeatedly.

True, being familiar with the recipe and yeast definitely helps. But if you're within a couple points of your FG, than it's still fine I think. If you know when your beer is usually done, you can subtract about a day and transfer then, with some yeast. And if you do closed transfers, I think that'll ward off any O2 pickup/oxidation altogether. It's a marvelous method. I just assume, like anything else, it takes a bit of practice and attention.