Had a cloudy APA last week and decided to try fining with galatin. 1/2Tsp. In 1/4cup cold water for an hour, then topped up to 1 cup boiling water and added to a corney-keg of gently stirred 33deg beer and force-carbed to 2.5 volumes.
After a week or so I poured a couple pints but beer was still cloudy. Killed the keg yesterday and was cloudy the whole way through. I dont really care what my ales look like; just wanted bright beer for my friends. But is there something I am doing wrong?
This is the procedure I use. It’s easy and foolproof :
Just read this, and the only thing i think i did wrong is maybe it was too hot?
Yeah most likely. Going too hot can sometimes actually give you little ‘jello bits’ in your beer aside from your problem. This one works really well every time for me.
Cool, Thanks Jon.
I’ll give it another go.
I notice a tremendous difference when using gelatin with the beer cold as opposed to warm.
I don’t even bother with my IPA’s anymore…seems like every IPA coming out today is cloudy by design
For sure. Beer needs to be really cold first.
I know the answer to this question will start off with a well it depends but for those using gelatin while we are on the subject have you noticed a decreased hop character? Is it enough that someone should compensate with more hops? Maybe its similar to using a highly floccing yeast? With those tyoes of yeast I do tend to notice a slightly reduced hop character. Just curious what all of you have experienced.
I notice a reduction in late hop character. Some here don’t. It depends on the beer- sometimes I do up the late hops a tad to compensate.
I think it depends on what you want to knock out. IME suspended yeast will drop with gelatin at room temp (room temp for my non-chilled beers is low 60s).
For chill haze, you need the beer cold so the haze forms and can then be knocked out with the gelatin.
It’s possible it all works better with cold beer, but I’ve had good success with cool beer (at least for dropping the yeast).
I do the same even if there is no reduction noted… 
It can destroy hop character, in my experience.
I recently did a northeast style apa (oats, wyeast 1318, loads of whirlpool and dry hops) that I split into two fermentors. I crashed and gelatin fined one and did nothing with the other and bottled. I took the resulting beers to a homebrew meeting and everyone was amazed at the dramatic reduction in hop flavor and aroma. The mouthfeel was noticeably thinner as well.
From that experience it is unlikely I will fine hoppy beers again.
It may be possible that certain yeasts, like Chico, don’t grab onto as much of those precious hop oils, and thus would suffer less from fining, but I have no experience.
I gelatin fine in the fermenter as I am cold crashing and then rack the beer to a keg. Once in the keg I will dry hop with this Dry Hopping Tube for Carboy (400 Micron)
I tie dental floss to the end of it and the keg lid, once I am satisfied with the dry hop character I will pull it out. It preserves the crystal clear character of my beer and I get some amazing hop flavor and aroma. Heck sometimes I will dry hop 2-3 different times to keep the pungent dank loveliness alive
Keg hopping, CO2 purging… kegging sure seems great. Soon, soon. 
For a while I’ve been fining with gelatin to drop the yeast out first, then dry hopping. I feel that it gives the dry hop character a longer life since there is much less yeast to bind hop oils to (then settle out). I agree that fining after dry hopping causes a noticeable drop off in hop aromas and character.
Great idea, thanks I’ll try it
^^^This is what I have found works best for me as well.
Glad I came across this. Definetly gonna try this. THANKS
I used gelatin again last night on an Amber Ale in the fermenter that has been cold crashing. I have used it in the past with mixed results. Using the procedure in the link posted above Im hoping to see some better results. You guys make you beers look so nice in the forum pictueres it made me want to try it again. I added it to the fermenter becaise this is actually going into a friends kegerator. So I wanted to have clear and ready beer to transfer to the fermenter and start carbonating it to have ready to hand off.
On Friday night I added gelatin to a Kolsch that I had in the keg for a week. I added it, purged the keg, and just tilted it around twice. The yeast is Giga 021, and doesn’t clear easily. After about a pint, the beer is crystal clear.