So I picked up a box of the Knox unflavored gelatin and was thinking of using it with my pale ale in effort to get clearer beer. I’ve done some searches and figured out the when and how, but there’s a few things I’m unclear on.
Do I understand correctly, that gelatin percipitates out the protiens that cause chill haze? I have read a few things that say it doesn’t combat chill haze at all and i’m confused.
Does it adversely affect bottle conditioning?
Thanks.
Chill haze occurs when the beer is chilled and proteins in the beer bond with polyphenols (tannins). Finings like gelatin will grab these protein particles as well as yeast and drop them out of solution. Permanent haze is another condition that gelatin won’t remedy.
If you are going to bottle, make sure to add the gelatin prior to bottling and rack off the trub after fining then bottle.
Here is a good source:
http://www.practicalbrewing.co.uk/fining/page6.html
Make sure the beer is a cold as possile when adding gelatin. The more chill haze you form the more can be fined out!
My wife and I add gelatin along with priming sugar (usually extra light DME) when we bottle, have done so since I taught her to brew in 1983; null probleme.
I use polyclar and never looked back…it gets both + and - charged particles…
your body cannot process it…just goes on thru…can you say clear beer?
I use an opaque mug, and skip the finings. ;D
Gelatin works best when the beer is somewhere between 30-48 degrees F or so, but I have had a problem with the gelatin solution freezing to the side of the carboy when I have tried it on 30-degree beer. So I would recommend a temperature of 34-38 degrees F. If you get the beer very cold and you give it 4-5 days before you rack off it, then you rack very carefully, you will get very clear beer going into the keg. Also, while knocking out chill haze is an important part in making beautiful beer, keeping the suspended yeast out of your glass is most important because it will not only make your beer clearer, but will make your beer taste MUCH better, IMO. I hate the muddy flavor of yeast in a beer - particularly a hoppy one or a delicate style (like Kölsch).
See also: Red Solo Cup.
I have used polyclar in light lagers too. What’s your procedure?
I was using it to experiment and see how it performed against chill haze that my beers
were having. I have since found that conditioning** time** may be my #1 method. It has
been some time since I have used polyclar. I believe I sanitized a glass measuring cup
to about a quarter cup added water or so…then microwaved it to superheated state.
I then stirred in the polyclar with a sanitized spoon. I added that mix to the top of a
keg that I was secondarying in…after conditioning time then I pushed the beer off
the sediment into another serving keg. I am no longer that picky or critical of my beer…
not entering them into competition…so…shrug
That’s a classic. 