Adding Gelatin at Bottling?

[Oktober]

Ass Hats,

This past Sunday, Vinnie talked about his homebrewing days and mentioned adding gelatin to his beer when he racked it into his bottling bucket as a way to fine the beer in the bottle. Anyone ever tried this? I have been considering adding the same into my process to help clear my beers a little better. Here's a couple questions that are bouncing around in my noggin...

1. How much gelatin to add?
2. Will the gelatin be counter-productive with the bottle-conditioning yeast?
3. Are there any negative impacts of ingesting gelatin? Does it have a flavor contribution if it gets stirred back into the beer?

Thanks in advance.

-Okt

[gbob]

Count me in as being curious about this.

Clarity in my bottles has never really been an issue before, so I'm not sure if I would use this technique, but color me curious.

Also, if you're using gelatin when kegging, most of what I read said to cool down the keg for a few days in the fridge. I normally keep my kegs in the basement for a few weeks before I tap into them. Would I still get clarity from the kegged beers if I use gelatin and keep my beer at a warmer temp?

[andy77]

Count me in as being curious about this.

Clarity in my bottles has never really been an issue before, so I'm not sure if I would use this technique, but color me curious.

Also, if you're using gelatin when kegging, most of what I read said to cool down the keg for a few days in the fridge. I normally keep my kegs in the basement for a few weeks before I tap into them. Would I still get clarity from the kegged beers if I use gelatin and keep my beer at a warmer temp?

Me three. Gbob, I'm curious about the potential of clarifying in the fermentor as well. My next batch, I intend to add gelatin to the primary at the point at which I would normally rack to the keg. If it falls clear in a couple days, what a discovery! If not, I'll rack to keg and let it settle out there.

[ipaisay]

Not to really answer the Gelatin question, But I have found a way to clear your beer after kegging. I always see the beer turn a lot more clear after about 2 weeks at cold temps and I have been pulling pints off of the keg. I assume that I have dropped the yeast out and consumed them (yeasts) making the beer clear.

Vinny said to warm up the gelatin to 150 degrees but did not say if you should cool the gelatin before you pitch it to the beer.

[IndianBeerGeek]

After listening to Vinny, I too wanted to use gelatin during bottling because I have had to wait for at least 4 weeks for the beer to clear in the bottle after refrigeration. Here is what I did:

I used 1 tspn of gelatin (ID Clarkson) and dissolved it in water that had been heated to 150 F. It did take a bit of stirring to dissolve the gelatin. After that, i mixed 1/2 the quantity with priming sugar and bottled as usual.

I placed 2 bottles, right away, in the fridge to allow for clarification first. Then I will move these into a cabinet for carbonation. Any thoughts on whether this will work?

Remaining bottles are sitting in the cabinet for carbonation to kick in. Then I will move to fridge & see what happens to the clarity. Will post update on 8th Feb.

Cheers!

[LocalBrewer]

When you are ready to keg or bottle your beer put a 1/2 tsp of gelatin in a 1/2 cup of water and let it sit for about a half hour, longer is fine. When you are ready boil it, usually I do it for about 30 seconds to a minute, Don't want to boil it to long or it will start to get thick like jello. When you boil it it will smell pretty bad but don't let that scare you. Take it off the heat and throw it into your keg or botteling bucket and then rack on top if that. I put it in first to insure a good mix. Let it sit in the bottles or keg and the beer will clear through time. Usually you will start seeing results within a couple weeks.

[Nyakavt]

Gelatin at bottling can make for a yeast 'loogie' at the bottom of the bottles. Just be aware of it and be careful when you decant, it looks pretty gross floating on top of your pint glass

I've read that you do not want to boil gelatin as it looses its effectiveness. Adding it to an already warm liquid can cause it to clump. You want to sprinkle on top of cold liquid and let it bloom (soak up water). Blooming does not take any longer than 10 minutes, but longer does not hurt. Just look at it, if you don't see any dry gelatin grains then you are good to go. Next you heat it up (I shoot for between 150 and 170, more or less probably doesn't hurt) until it looks clear, then add it to your fining vessel.

[IndianBeerGeek]

Update....

I placed 2 bottles, right away, in the fridge to allow for clarification first. Then I will move these into a cabinet for carbonation. Any thoughts on whether this will work?
Cheers!

The beer in these bottles has really cleared. What took 3 - 4 weeks in the past, has taken all of 72 hrs. However, now the test: when I move them out to the cabinet to get carbonation, will they carbonate? And then, when they are chilled before drinking, will the haze return?