Second use of gelatin

In a moment of laziness, I transferred some finished beer into a keg that just kicked without cleaning and sanitizing the keg.  All is good.  I have no fear of contamination and the beer that was in the keg was from the same batch as the one going in.  There was some trub in the empty keg from the first beer and I siphoned a little more from the fermenter in the process, but it was fairly clear beer.
I carbonated the keg by shaking under fairly high pressure, which is my normal method.

I had used gelatin to clear the first beer in the keg.
Do you think that the remaining gelatin in the keg from the first beer will clear the second beer?
I guess time will tell, but it seems to me that this should work.

I normally put the warm gelatin into the bottom of an empty keg and siphon on top to get good mixing. So I think it could work except that you might have pumped a good bit of it out in the first pint or two . Maybe not. Maybe use a lesser amount ?

I’d think that the gelatin from the first keg would be jello by now.  If it doesn’t mix in with the beer, it’s not going to do anything.

Interesting dilemma.  Please report back with your findings.  I hope it works for you.

Several days and several pints later I’d have to say it didn’t work.  The beer is still fairly hazy.  My guess is that enough of the the gelatin got pulled from the bottom of the first keg’s use that there wasn’t enough to clear the second beer.  Or maybe Narvin’s theory about jello, but I’m not sure that’s how it develops.

  • 1 on Narvin’s Theory of Jellotivity…

I’ve been fining with 2 tsp Gelatin in 8 oz of beer at 150 F. with good results…
I don’t like the idea of adding water to my beer…

Anyone else doing this?

I use a fraction of that amount of water and get good results. This blog has a good procedure  :

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/search/?q=gelatin

That’s the procedure that got me started doing the gelatin fining…

I figure any gelatin gets pumped out with the first few pints so a little extra shouldn’t hurt…

on the commercial side we’d use 180 F water from our HLT and add it at around that temp to cold crashed beer to give it one last clearing. We always had good results. I can’t remember what our h2o - gelatin ratio was but something like maybe 1/2 lb to 1 lb for a 15 bbl batch

I’ve had good results with this procedure, which someone on this forum provided but I’ve forgotten who:

  • Cool beer to 32-33ºF let rest a day or two (ideally in the fermenter).
  • Prepare gelatin: 1-2 tsp dissolved in 1 cup of water.
  • Let rest 30-45 minutes; you should not see any gelatin granules anymore.
  • Heat in microwave until mixture gets to 170ºF.
  • Stir just until everything is homogeneous.
  • Add to beer, stir gently, and do not disturb trub at the bottom.
  • Pull sample 2-3 days later to confirm clarity, rack to keg, carbonate.