Finings for hop debris - Magicol or Gelatine?

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marshbrewer

Out on the marshes, wailing at the moon.
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My last brew day was a bit of a calamity. It was the first run out for my stainless mash tun made from a thermopot. That went well. What didn't go so well was the replacement tap on my burco boiler - a 1/2" ball valve from my old cool box mash tun, combined with a 100g hop stand whole hop addition. Constant blocking when I tried to drain it (even after being left to settle for several hours). Note to self, fit the bazooka filter from old mash tun.

Anyway, long story short, I ended up tipping whole shebang through a sieve (that kept falling off into the FV) and ended up with bright green wort.

It's been in the FV about a week, and looks to have finished. However, while I would expect it to be cloudy at this stage, this stuff is positively luminous - the photo doesn't do it justice. It looks just like a NEIPA.

Now I do not want to wake up with a silly beard and an urge to move to Shoreditch, so finings are in order to try and clear it. However, I'm assuming this haze is hop haze rather than yeast, so what do people recommend, something Isinglass based like Magicol, or something like gelatine?

Tastes smashing, surprisingly.

IMG_20220409_134357.jpg
 
Do you have the facilities to cold crash it? As cold as you can for a good few days should take quite a lot out of it. If you have had hops in the fermenter during active fermentation you will get biotransformation and that tends to keep the haze in solution. Another option is filtering.

If it tastes great then maybe don’t do anything and enjoy it as it is!
 
What am going to tell you will get plenty of NO!!!
Use a hop bag or hop spider even on a whirlpool hop stand. If you have no way of pumping thw ort just stir occasionally to provide some agitation. I am in a position where I put my hops in a spider and have a re-circ pump that is aimed at the side of the spider and not in it but not everybody has a all in one system or pump to do that so stir it now and again and the hops in the spider too.
You will get people saying you have to let the hops be free in the wort and yes this maybe slightly better but I have always got my hoppy beers with my method and do not rely on it dropping out as it blocks my filter too.
At the worst just add a few more hops if you believe that you are losing some hop transfer but if you use a large bag i.e a BIAB bag the hops are free enough but I will stick with my spider method.
Ps I sometimes whirlpool @ 70c so as I get very little IBU's from the Hopstand/Whirlpool and do not use any bittering hops at all when doing a large hopped IPA.
Hope this gives you some food for thought
 
i had a similar issue when I tried keg hopping on a recent beer using one of those keg hopper tubes.

the first beer came out looking like pea soup. I added gelatine and a few days later it was crystal clear. Not tried magicalso can’t comment on that.
 
It will if you use a BIAB bag and remove the hops before transfer, also after removing the hops give the kettle a stir fast to whirlpool all the debris to the middle and let it stand for 20 mins then transfer.
I use a bazooka filter and it is ok with this method also use gelatine as suggested if you are worried whilst cold crashing that should get you a reasonably clear beer athumb..
 
Ok folks, I think I'll give gelatine and cold crashing a go.
I discovered after a session on the beer that the American beer “Schlitz”, is very aptly named: and legend has it that they use gelatine as a clearing agent.

Personally, I have never used a clearing agent for a beer; cold crashing, gravity and time seem to work okay. (In brewing, patience is a virtue indeed!)

However, I have used “Quick Clear” for wine and cider.
 

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