Agreed. Something is weird about that, like the gelatin wasn’t fully dissolved when it was put into the fermenter. I’ve had beers clear super fast and brite with a tablespoon in 200mL of water heated to 165F to dissolve.
I know gelatine gets all the love and I attest it works well and is cheaper, I prefer the effects of polyclar over gelatine. Dare I say it is super-gelatine, as in, if you like gelatine you will love polyclar. The effect it has on polyphenols cannot be understated. A gelatine vs polyclar would be an interesting shootout.
Effects on polyphenols? Can you elaborate on that?
Pulls out hop proteins and tannins perhaps that can be percieved as astringent?
Do you feel that the polyclar strips away malt/hop character more so than gelatin (assuming not)? It’s been years ago but I used polyclar a couple times at the dose recommended on the package and felt that it stripped away some body from the beer. It was a recipe I had brewed before and knew what to expect. What amount do you use, out of curiosity?
Strip is a strong word, but yes, polyclar affects beer flavor more than gelatin IMO. However, I like what it does. It is one more thing that takes my homebrew to another level. In my beers, it tends to actually bring the malt character forward by getting rid of some roughness of the hops. Dosing varies as it depends on gravity and hop bill but on average I am at 4g for 5G on typical stuff. Higher for higher gravity/IPA.
Cool, thanks for the info. I haven’t used it in 15 yrs or so, but I used the amount called for on the label and definitely felt it stripped flavor. BUT I suspect that the amount was a good bit more than you used. If I can find the old brewing journal with my notes, I’ll post what I used. I use Biofine Clear now on occasion (aside from gelatin), and it works on the principle that you use as little as possible to get good results, because at higher levels there can be some loss of flavor. I’m betting the same would apply to Polyclar and that I just didn’t realize it back then.
If I read the posts correctly, in the first experiment the gelatin was added when the beer was 50 degrees f, and in the second, the beer was 32 degrees f. Could the lower temperature have played a role in creating the blob of coagulated gelatin shown on the side of the carboy?
Not relevant to these two experiments, but I would wager that gelatin would perform less satisfactorily as a fining aid when fresh (unboiled) fruit puree from figs, kiwi fruit, papaya, pineapple and prickly pears is used, as “These enzymes have a softening effect on gelatine and prevent it from gelling properly” ( Knox Unflavoured Gelatine - The Basics ).
Good experiments!
I believe lower temps help gelatin fining. I get mine to ~34*F before I add the finings and it works every time. …but I’ve not used it with a bunch of fruit and stuff in the beer – just yeast.
+1