[brulosopher]

While hazy beer has become a trend of late, some homebrewers still take steps to ensure their homebrew is brite. Many have found great success fining with gelatin, but our friends of the herbivorous persuasion are forced to used other options, one of which is Biofine Clear. In this xBmt, we investigate the differences in clarity and character between the same beer fined with either gelatin or Biofine. Results are in!

http://brulosophy.com/2016/05/23/the-gelatin-effect-pt-5-gelatin-vs-biofine-clear-exbeeriment-results/

[homoeccentricus]

There's an annoying spelling error in the doc: "A gelatin solution of 1/4 teaspoon combined in 1/4 cup hot water was added to one carboy while approximately 1/t teaspoon BioFine was added to the other carboy"

How much is 1/t?

[narcout]

“[Biofine] is a form of auxiliary finings made by Kerry. It differs from [algae based finings] in that the polarity has been reversed so it will fine yeast which is negatively charged. The process by which the polarity gets reversed in the finings uses a lot of aluminium salts which leaves a high residue of aluminium in the finings, too high for the EU legislation but apparently alright for the USA.”

Interesting comment.  Anyone know if it's true?

[brewinhard]

Shouldn't this have been a test about clarity involving these two fining agents?  Serving them in an opaque cup would not allow for this observation.

[blair.streit]

Shouldn't this have been a test about clarity involving these two fining agents?  Serving them in an opaque cup would not allow for this observation.

I think he mentioned in one of the other fining experiments that they were testing whether participants could taste a difference  and intentionally leaving the visual aspect obscured.

IIRC, he started that visual distinctions were so obvious that people would then assign different characteristics to the taste based on what they saw.

[mainebrewer]

I used both, I can't taste the difference but the BioFine Clear beer is a little clearer than the gelatin fined beer. For me the extra cost of the BioFine offsets the slight advantage.

[HoosierBrew]

I used both, I can't taste the difference but the BioFine Clear beer is a little clearer than the gelatin fined beer. For me the extra cost of the BioFine offsets the slight advantage.

Having used both, I feel the same. Not having to mix and heat the Biofine like you do gelatin is a nice advantage, but the cost is a tradeoff. I like both but use gelatin for the most part lately.

[brewinhard]

I used both, I can't taste the difference but the BioFine Clear beer is a little clearer than the gelatin fined beer. For me the extra cost of the BioFine offsets the slight advantage.

Having used both, I feel the same. Not having to mix and heat the Biofine like you do gelatin is a nice advantage, but the cost is a tradeoff. I like both but use gelatin for the most part lately.

My observations have been different with regards to clarity effects. I have found that not only does gelatin clear more quickly, but it seems to me to clear more effectively even at higher biofine doses.  Once again, that is just my observations.

[a10t2]

There's an annoying spelling error in the doc: "A gelatin solution of 1/4 teaspoon combined in 1/4 cup hot water was added to one carboy while approximately 1/t teaspoon BioFine was added to the other carboy"

How much is 1/t?

It's been corrected to 1/4 tsp. Which is about half the minimum recommended dose (30 mL/bbl), assuming my math is right.