[Frankenbrew]

 I recently purchased some brewtan b to try out. On my schedule for brewing are, among others, a witbier and a NEIPA. Since brewtan b is a clarifier, will it spoil the cloudy character inherent in these styles?

[BrewBama]

I recently brewed a weizen and used Brewtan B in the process as usual. It did not affect the cloudiness for my beer.


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[narcout]

One of the things I was hoping for Brewtan B was that it would reduce the time it takes to drop chill haze; however, I haven't found that it has any effect on that (at least anecdotally; I haven't done a side by side comparison).

[Robert]

There is Brewtan A and Brewtan B, two different molecular weight versions of gallotannin.   They say A will set a permanent haze in hazy styles, and B is said to prevent haze in other styles.  My experience aligns with narcout's.
 I've given up on it as a clarifier.

[brewinhard]

From what I understand, Brewtan B is simply a gallotannin used to help chelate metal ions and prevent Fenton reactions from occurring downstream in the brewing process which can lead to premature staling. If you have any copper, brass, or aluminum in your setup than BTB can help with those metals leaching into your wort allowing them to precipitate out prior to fermentation (if racking clear wort over into the fermenter).

It has nothing to do with clarifying wort like gelatin, isinglass, or polyclar.

[narcout]

According to the spec sheet, it is effective at flocculating proline containing proteins (the kind that can bind with polyphenols to produce chill haze).   

[Robert]

Commercially, BTB is being promoted for a very old use:  gallotannin added to the conditioning tank to precipitate proteins.   According to DeClerck it was at one time added in the boil for this purpose also, but the practice was abandoned.  In his time it was only used in storage, and then only in beers to be stored a long time.

[Frankenbrew]

Thanks, guys! I guess I'll give it a try. I do have a copper chiller, which is one of the reasons I'm trying it. I don't think I have a staling problem because I and my friends go through my homebrew pretty quickly. But, if it improves my beer, even a little bit, why wouldn't I try it? I have been incrementally improving my beer for 25 years now, and I'm not about to stop.