Gelatin.....

[kieran90]

Hi guys :hat:

Ok so I had never used gelatin before but keep hearing about it giving crystal clear beer.

So I used it Sunday I mixed everything the proper way like the way everybody recommends you should etc then I poured it into the demijohn I had been cold crashing for 24 hours beforehand.

As you can guess its been floating around in there for over 48 hours now and it seems more cloudy now than ever! I am starting to regret ever putting the stuff in there! Have I done something wrong? should it be clearing by now?

Thanks for your help! :pray:

 

[SANGER_A2]

Hi guys :hat:

Ok so I had never used gelatin before but keep hearing about it giving crystal clear beer.

So I used it Sunday I mixed everything the proper way like the way everybody recommends you should etc then I poured it into the demijohn I had been cold crashing for 24 hours beforehand.

As you can guess its been floating around in there for over 48 hours now and it seems more cloudy now than ever! I am starting to regret ever putting the stuff in there! Have I done something wrong? should it be clearing by now?

Thanks for your help! [emoji14]ray:

You need to mix the gelatin with warm water or some of the brew (in a sterilised jug or something) to let it bloom before adding it. Lots of guides I researched when looking into it below:-
http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/06/how-to-clear-your-beer-with-gelatin.html
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/how-to-use-gelatin-finings.129713/
http://brulosophy.com/2015/01/05/the-gelatin-effect-exbeeriment-results/
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4828
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=543966&postcount=6
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/brewingfaq.php#f6

 

[markm1878]

If it helps, I boil some water and half fill a sanitised mug. I wait for the temp to drop to about 80c, then put a sheet of gelatin in. It starts to melt into it, then I give it a stir with a sanitised spoon. if it doesn't look fully disolved, I'll give it a few seconds in the microwave and stir again.

Then just pour into the chilled beer and leave for a 2-3 days before bottling. It's been great each time i've used it.

 

[kieran90]

If it helps, I boil some water and half fill a sanitised mug. I wait for the temp to drop to about 80c, then put a sheet of gelatin in. It starts to melt into it, then I give it a stir with a sanitised spoon. if it doesn't look fully disolved, I'll give it a few seconds in the microwave and stir again.

Then just pour into the chilled beer and leave for a 2-3 days before bottling. It's been great each time i've used it.

It still hasn't cleared. i have another batch and i might try your tried and tested way on it.
Its only a 1 gal batch so was my last one. i mixed one tea spoon with 100ml water. how does this sound to you? too much? too little?

 

[SANGER_A2]

It still hasn't cleared. i have another batch and i might try your tried and tested way on it.
Its only a 1 gal batch so was my last one. i mixed one tea spoon with 100ml water. how does this sound to you? too much? too little?

Different gelatin has different bloom strengths. I can't remember where I read it, but when I was researching I saw that it's common to use a sachet of Knox gelatin per 5 gallons, which has a bloom of 225 and holds two and a half tea-spoons of gelatin. I bought 240 bloom gelatine from Ebay and used 2 teaspoons and it worked great. Of course I gave it lots of time to bloom first in warm water. The beer was only lowered to about 15c too.

 

[markm1878]

I've never used powder gelatin i'm sorry. If i was doing 1 gallon, it'd make room in the fridge and leave it in there for 2 weeks. Id imagine that would clear it.

Best way to get clear beer is with good brewing practices. I only tend to use it if ive not got the time for chilling so use the no chill cube.

Cooling quick is an obvious one. If your doing 1 gallon then an ice bath should be okay. You could even stand some sanitised bottles of ice water in to speed things up.

Then make sure your boil is vigerous enough and theres enough calcium in your water for a decent break.

I'd use a little irish moss and rack off the trub.

If you do this, you probably won't need any gelatin.

 

[kieran90]

Different gelatin has different bloom strengths. I can't remember where I read it, but when I was researching I saw that it's common to use a sachet of Knox gelatin per 5 gallons, which has a bloom of 225 and holds two and a half tea-spoons of gelatin. I bought 240 bloom gelatine from Ebay and used 2 teaspoons and it worked great. Of course I gave it lots of time to bloom first in warm water. The beer was only lowered to about 15c too.

Sorry dumb question but what is a bloom? also do you think adding more gelatin would help or should i chuck it :wha: ? Thanks Sanger

 

[kieran90]

Hi Guys

Ive just checked on it again and its turned two shades? the top half I can see my light bulb shining through ( me holding small torch behind demijohn)

Then the bottom half its literally like a straight line in how it divides and if i hold my torch behind it then its just a blurry light haha does this sound normal to any of you guys or do you think I should just chuck it? Im thinking i may have turned half of it into jelly? :electric:

 

[MyQul]

If your able to, I'd at least have a go at cold crashing it - it's never nice having to chuck a brew

 

[kieran90]

If your able to, I'd at least have a go at cold crashing it - it's never nice having to chuck a brew

Hi qul

I was already cold crashing before I used gelatin

 

[markm1878]

Keep it as cold as you can for a while, see if it drops out.

If you do decide to bin it, try and atleast save the top half and give the bottom half a taste before anything too drastic.

 

[joe 90]

Sorry dumb question but what is a bloom? also do you think adding more gelatin would help or should i chuck it :wha: ? Thanks Sanger

the bloom is where the geletine swells up,wach this video on this link

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaVaCyT2yY[/ame]

 

[SANGER_A2]

Sorry dumb question but what is a bloom? also do you think adding more gelatin would help or should i chuck it :wha: ? Thanks Sanger

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_(test)
😀

 

[kieran90]

Thanks for all your replies. At least ive learned a lot for when I want to use it in the future but i think for now ill practice on the odd bottle.

I just wanted to learn for when i do lagers because my ales are all ready clear with out because i dont cold crash them.

shame i wasted 5 litres though lol suppose its all part of the fun :drunk:

 

[Cwrw666]

I used some gelatin in 5 gallons of Brown Ale just to try it - added it to the FV a few days before bottling. It sort of worked but there were loads of floaters which I assume were gelatin mixed with proteins from the brew. So I bottled it and after a couple of weeks everything had settled out and the beer was clear enough and the floaters had sunk and were stuck in the yeast sediment. I didn't cold crash after adding the gelatin which I believe speeds all this up but isn't essential.

 

[SANGER_A2]

Here is a coopers Mexican Cerveza brew I made a month after bottling that I used a teaspoon of 240 bloom gelatin for three days at the end of fermentation. Crystal clear as a commercial brew. Unfortunately, I haven't made it before without gelatin so have nothing to compare it to. I've got a woodforde's Wherry kit that I've done before without gelatin that I can compare the effect of gelatine to when I make that. View attachment uploadfromtaptalk1440541321476.jpg

 

[DethApostle]

I've made the Coopers Cerveza and was disappointed at how cloudy it was initially. It took a good two or three months conditioning time before it was crystal clear and ready to drink.
Gelatin seems to have speeded that up for you (although if I remember rightly ours had a bigger and whiter head than your pic)

DA

 

[SANGER_A2]

I've made the Coopers Cerveza and was disappointed at how cloudy it was initially. It took a good two or three months conditioning time before it was crystal clear and ready to drink.
Gelatin seems to have speeded that up for you (although if I remember rightly ours had a bigger and whiter head than your pic)

DA

Yup. I fermented it for 2 weeks and bottled for 3 before drinking. Really pleased with how clear it is. Later I'm gonna make it again with the same recommended brew enhancer, but probably short brew to 20 litres to make it stronger/have more flavour. I should point out that that glass started out full and I drunk some before posting the pic so the head did go down! :drink:

 

[kieran90]

Here is a coopers Mexican Cerveza brew I made a month after bottling that I used a teaspoon of 240 bloom gelatin for three days at the end of fermentation. Crystal clear as a commercial brew. Unfortunately, I haven't made it before without gelatin so have nothing to compare it to. I've got a woodforde's Wherry kit that I've done before without gelatin that I can compare the effect of gelatine to when I make that. View attachment 2552

Hi Sanger

Did you add the gelatin at room temperature? also did you add straight to fermenter?

Thanks mate

 

[SANGER_A2]

Hi Sanger

Did you add the gelatin at room temperature? also did you add straight to fermenter?

Thanks mate

I don't have a proper fermentation fridge yet unfortunately - otherwise I would have chilled it as much as possible first. I made do with a homemade fermentation chiller using a peltier, brew-belt and cylinder heating jacket with an ST-1000 as documented here. Fermentation was done after ten days easily so I turned down the temp on the ST-1000 to 5c a couple of days before adding the gelatin. It only reduced the temperature to 15c before I added the gelatin into the fermenter and stirred for 30 seconds or so. The gelatin was left in warm filtered water in a sterilised jug for about 30 minutes to bloom. I kept it warm by blasting it for 10 seconds or so in the microwave whenever it started to cool. Most important thing is to sterilise everything that comes into contact with the brew. Some people use some of the actual beer instead of water, but I don't really want to get that interacting with o2. 250ml of water won't dilute the brew much!