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Author Topic: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues  (Read 1806 times)

Offline Uvolnit

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Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« on: February 21, 2018, 08:27:24 am »
So I have an IPA that I dry hopped in secondary for 7 days, then put in my cold garage for the past 2.5 days to cold crash.  The outside temp has been around 0°, less at night and more during the day and the beer hasn't froze yet.  About 15 hours ago I put in a gelatin add per recommendations but I'm scared it's maybe too cold for it to fine the beer.  There's a puddle of bubbles at the top of the beer, that looks exactly the same as when I poured in the gelatin solution 15 hours ago.  Also, yesterday evening I noticed 2 odd looking features floating, that to me almost look like clumps of gelatin.  I just took some pics to post and when taking pictures with a flash I noticed that only the top few inches of the beer looks super clear where the rest below still looks like it has a ton of suspended dry hop particles or whatnot.  I was planning on bottling this evening but it to me looks like it either needs more time cold crashing or needs to warm up a bit for the gelatin to work.  I was assuming the 2.5 days of cold crashing would have dropped everything in suspension, especially at the below freezing temps.
It's also weird and kind of scary how dirty the carboy looks when taking a photo with a flash.  I cleaned it well, or what I thought was well before racking into it. 
Need help!  Thanks






Offline Andy Farke

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2018, 09:14:04 am »
Fascinating...just to confirm, you dissolved the gelatin in warm water prior to adding to the beer?

Re: the carboy cleanliness, are you using PBW or a similar cleaner? Or just scrubbing? In my experience, PBW+scrubbing seems to be the best (although I always have to pay attention to the area around the mouth of the carboy!).
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Offline bjanat

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2018, 02:34:49 pm »
Check this, isinglass works in 1-4 hours, better than gelatin. https://itunes.apple.com/no/podcast/master-brewers-podcast/id1156748005?mt=2&i=1000402038343

Offline Uvolnit

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2018, 09:04:49 pm »
Fascinating...just to confirm, you dissolved the gelatin in warm water prior to adding to the beer?

Re: the carboy cleanliness, are you using PBW or a similar cleaner? Or just scrubbing? In my experience, PBW+scrubbing seems to be the best (although I always have to pay attention to the area around the mouth of the carboy!).

Yes, I dissolved the gelatin in warm water and let it sit for a few minutes after stirring it into solution.
I have been using PBW but have not been using a brush or other physical scrubber.  After seeing this I plan on doing so in the future.  The carboy may have been clean and dirtied by this beer so unsure.  It looked crystal before and after I used PBW on it for this secondary.  And I do pay extra attention to the mouth and wipe it multiple times with PBW or Starsan. 


Check this, isinglass works in 1-4 hours, better than gelatin. https://itunes.apple.com/no/podcast/master-brewers-podcast/id1156748005?mt=2&i=1000402038343

Very interesting.  I haven't heard of Isinglass but will have to do research on it and listen to the podcast.  Thanks!

Offline Uvolnit

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2018, 09:36:15 pm »
So this morning when I was posting I did shake the carboy just a little, in the hopes of moving around the gelatin mixture (but was scared of rousing up the trub), which almost immediately got rid of the pile of bubbles on top and the odd looking coagulation I posted a pic of before.  I just took the following photos and it looks like to me that the gelatin is slowly dropping the particles out of solution.  More of the beer looks clear and there's a "white particle" layer at the bottom and also a new white layer in the trub layer, which to me shows the gelatin has been working even today. 
Looks like I have to keep watching it and can maybe bottle tomorrow if it looks like all of the gelatin and suspended particles dropped.




Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2018, 05:35:41 am »
Gelatin works wonders.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline 2CrazyDogs

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2018, 12:09:50 pm »
Do you just pour the gelatin in or gently stir?  I would like to give this a try on and APA that I forgot to put Irish Moss in.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2018, 12:58:17 pm »
I swirl the fermenter, then pour in the dissolved gelatin.  No need for a sanitized spoon if you can swirl.
Dave

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Offline jeffy

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2018, 03:21:38 pm »
No need to stir at all, really. If you gently pour the warm gelatin on top of the cold beer, the gelatin mixture will settle on top, then cool and drop to the bottom clearing as it goes.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline Uvolnit

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Re: Gelatin for clarifying and questions/potential issues
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2018, 10:25:15 pm »
So I bottled this IPA today that is in the above pics in the carboy.  The beer is as clear as can be, especially after using 3oz dry pellet hops tossed directly into the secondary fermenter. 
Overall it was cold crashed for 7 days, in my cold garage.  Gelatin was poured in at day 2, so left to work for 5 days. 
Here is the leftover in the bottom of the bottling bucket. 



My only complaint is that there was at least a beer or 2 left in the secondary but I didn't want to chance racking the gelatin and other trub.  I think this is my biggest downfall when brewing because I usually try to rack as much liquid/beer as possible into the next step but also take along the trub and sediment which ends up making an um-perfect beer in the end.