Hey all,
Are there any clarifiers i can add to the secondary fermenter? I forgot to add my irish moss during the boil.
If you are doing a secondary stage you don’t typically need anything to clear the beer. However, one could use gelatin or maybe isinglass.
Most of us have found secondary fermentation, unless adding fruit or the like a waste of time.
Gelatin will work, works best if you can chill the beer.
Gelatin will work on yeast hazes but if you have a protein haze it will not work on that. If you are an all grain brewer and your pH is off you may end up with a permanent protein haze.
As for the gelatin, .5 tsp dissolved in 170 degree water (don’t boil!) Try to distribute it on the top of the beer and let it drop through, it should pull the yeast down with it.
Agree what had been said about gelatine.
For the best results chill your beer down to 34-is.
This will also remove chill haze.
Would putting the sanitized (170F) gelatin in a sanitized (i.e., StarSan) spray bottle and spraying the top of the fermentation bucket work? I’ve never done this, but it would seem like the logical step to distribute the gelatin evenly across the surface of the beer and pull down the maximum amount of yeast.
This actually sounds like a great idea. IIRC you drizzle it on the surface of the brew while hot so that it stays on the surface momentarily then sinks. I can only imagine it spreads out some. Maybe sprayed hot… Let us know if it’s a PITA
Depending on the style of beer you’re brewing you might not need to add fining agents.
Kettle finings like Irish moss are used to help the “hot break” - proteins and fatty acids - formed during wort boil drop out of solution. If left in the beer, those proteins can cause flavor instability down the line and might cause the yeast to produce certain minor off-flavors during fermentation.
If you’re producing an ale which is designed to be consumed young and you don’t mind a bit of protein “chewiness” or haze in your beer, then don’t bother adding finings in secondary. Chances are, most of the hot break will drop out at the end of primary fermentation anyway. The chances of screwing things up with finings probably are greater than the problems with hot break in your beer.
If it really matters, the simplest way is to use finings such as Polyclar, isinglass or brewers gelatin. Buy the appropriate stuff at your friendly local HB store and follow the directions on the package. Let the finings work for a couple of weeks, then carefully rack the beer again so that you pick up as little trub as possible.
If it really matters, and money is no object, you can do what the pros do: chill your beer to 32-35 degrees for a while, then run your beer through a filter.
This seems like an unnecessary step. The hot gelatin mixture will evenly distribute itself on the surface because of the temperature difference (the colder the beer the better) and then slowly drop as it equalizes temperature, taking the haze with it. You can almost watch it happen in a glass carboy, but I usually do this in the keg and let it clear overnight.
Oh, i didn’t know you were supposed to take out the irish moss after the boil. Would it just filter out by running the wort through a grain bag?
In 378 batches, I’ve never bothered. I just don’t think it matters.
+1
…don’t waste your time removing it.
Use whirlflock if you have any concerns. Same thing, only processed. Works better (IMO) and dissolves completely so there is nothing to filter. 