For those of us who bottle carb/condition - could we expect too see issues with carbonation (i.e. longer carbing times or a lower final level of carbonation) by cold crashing at ~35* for 3 days or so? Just curious to know if this would be safer for those who keg or if it is a non-issue…
Very nice, Ken. Is that unfiltered?
An unfiltered German Lager and I just took that picture this afternoon. That beer is cold too. That was accomplished by watching mash and sparge pH, a good boil, Whirfloc in the last 5-10 mins of the boil, good quick chill, 15-20 min ice bath to allow things to settle, racking from brewpot to primary (about 4 gals of crystal clear wort and 1 gallon of schputzy wort), allowing the beer to fully ferment without rushing it (3-4 weeks), gel solution in the secondary, some amount of lager time (you can call it cold conditioning for an ale 
) and some additional cold time in the keg before it hits the taps. Yes, clear beer is a sickness of mine. Cheers!
For those of us who bottle carb/condition - could we expect too see issues with carbonation (i.e. longer carbing times or a lower final level of carbonation) by cold crashing at ~35* for 3 days or so? Just curious to know if this would be safer for those who keg or if it is a non-issue…[/quote]
Are you talking about getting the beer cold before you bottle and are you concerned that there wouldn’t be enough yeast left to naturally carb? If so, that is no problem at all. Even beer that looks very clear still has enough yeast in it to naturally carb bottles. The only real exceptions would be beer that sat for an ungodly amount of time (and the yeast was expired) or maybe a beer of very high alcohol and the yeast was spent. I have left lagers at 35° for 6 weeks and there was still enough yeast left for priming… no worries.
Ken, I’m sitting hrere at work in the middle of the night looking at that beer, and getting thirtier by the minute. Wishing I had one of those in my hand right now. Thanks for sharing.
Paul
I do have a spare fridge thinking about turning into a kegerator, I can use to cold crash. A couple of questions I have are, after a good 60 min boil, then chill to around 65 into primary for about 10 days, in my basement which is around 61-64 now, then rack to secondary, cold crash in fridge at about low 40’s for 3 days, and this should help clear the Beer? THANKS, Jim
[quote=“paultuttle”]Ken, I’m sitting hrere at work in the middle of the night looking at that beer, and getting thirtier by the minute. Wishing I had one of those in my hand right now. Thanks for sharing.
Paul[/quote]
Oops. Maybe I should have tagged it NSFW. 
Cheers.
For those of us who bottle carb/condition - could we expect too see issues with carbonation (i.e. longer carbing times or a lower final level of carbonation) by cold crashing at ~35* for 3 days or so? Just curious to know if this would be safer for those who keg or if it is a non-issue…[/quote]
Are you talking about getting the beer cold before you bottle and are you concerned that there wouldn’t be enough yeast left to naturally carb? If so, that is no problem at all. Even beer that looks very clear still has enough yeast in it to naturally carb bottles. The only real exceptions would be beer that sat for an ungodly amount of time (and the yeast was expired) or maybe a beer of very high alcohol and the yeast was spent. I have left lagers at 35° for 6 weeks and there was still enough yeast left for priming… no worries.[/quote]
Thanks, Ken - that was exactly the basis of my question. I too have lagered for 6-8 weeks and then carbed naturally without any problems when using lager yeast, but was wondering about how ale yeasts do under those cooler circumstances before bottling.
Do I understand correctly that using gelatin to clear beer is a bad idea when carbing with sugar? I think I remember reading somewhere that too much yeast is knocked out of suspension for natural carbonation when using that technique.
Are you talking about getting the beer cold before you bottle and are you concerned that there wouldn’t be enough yeast left to naturally carb? If so, that is no problem at all. Even beer that looks very clear still has enough yeast in it to naturally carb bottles. The only real exceptions would be beer that sat for an ungodly amount of time (and the yeast was expired) or maybe a beer of very high alcohol and the yeast was spent. I have left lagers at 35° for 6 weeks and there was still enough yeast left for priming… no worries.[/quote]
Thanks, Ken - that was exactly the basis of my question. I too have lagered for 6-8 weeks and then carbed naturally without any problems when using lager yeast, but was wondering about how ale yeasts do under those cooler circumstances before bottling.
Do I understand correctly that using gelatin to clear beer is a bad idea when carbing with sugar? I think I remember reading somewhere that too much yeast is knocked out of suspension for natural carbonation when using that technique.[/quote]
It should not be a problem if you use gel and then carb with priming sugar. Gel works relatively quickly so the timeline should be fine and even though the beer may look noticeably clearer, there should still be A LOT of yeast in suspension. If you’re squeamish about it, you could always kick up a little cloud of yeast when you transfer from the source vessel to the bottling bucket. I have been kegging for 10+ years now but I happen to have a lot of beer in secondary and thought it would be nice to have some bottled beer so coming up here shortly I plan to bottle and naturally carb a Czech Lager of sorts. That beer is already ultra-clear looking but I’m confident that there will be enough yeast for carb to form. I used gel solution on that beer too… no worries. Cheers Beerheads!
OK, Ken… that brought up a question for me. I just bought a bottle of gelatin at my LHBS. When is the best time to apply it?
Paul
I do appreciate your knowledge sharing here.
^^^ Ditto - thanks very much for your help, Ken!
Guys: You are welcome. That’s the whole point of the boards. I had a lot of great brewers helping me when I was a new brewer and I love to give back if I can.
I always use gel on my beers when I transfer them from primary to secondary. I know that a lot of people don’t want to use secondary because it’s a hassle, you could pick up an infection or introduce oxidation. All good points. But I like secondaries for storing and clearing beer. I pour a small amount of the gel into a bowl of cold water (the bowl has a fitted lid) and then I shake it every so often and allow the gel to “bloom” for about 10 or 15 mins. Then put that into a pot and gently heat it until you can no longer make out the granules. I have accidentally got it to boiling with no ill-effects. Allow it to cool, drop it into the secondary and rack the beer on top. I do not make beers that are supposed to be cloudy like hefes or wits so I do this on every beer. Also, if the beer is pale-colored, I might do that exact same thing when I move the beer from secondary to keg. This is just to give the gold beers that polished look. This can also be very good if the beer is cold and flat because chill haze can form and the second shot of gel solution can drag that haze to the bottom of the keg and clear up the beer. I know it’s working because the first pint will be heavily sedimented but the rest of the keg will flow crystal clear. If you choose to bypass the secondary, you could also allow the beer to fully ferment in the primary and then let it go longer so that everything has the chance to settle. Then carefully open the primary and add the gel solution to the primary. I personally don’t like this because I like to reuse my yeast and I wouldn’t want the gel in the slurry but I wouldn’t hesitate to do this if I were retiring the yeast. Then carefully transfer to keg or bottling bucket and package the beer. Cheers guys.
Kudos! It looks amazing!
Just to keep this ball rolling - could you offer any advice on the amounts of gelatin (any specific kind?) and water that would work for helping to clear up a 5 gallon recipe?
Also, thanks to the OP for staring this thread – I’ve found it very informative.
Just to keep this ball rolling - could you offer any advice on the amounts of gelatin (any specific kind?) and water that would work for helping to clear up a 5 gallon recipe?
Also, thanks to the OP for staring this thread – I’ve found it very informative.[/quote]
I’ll guess that I use 1 tsp to 1 tbsp. I’ll be honest… I don’t measure, I just pour some into the water. I do use water that comes from an Ice Mountain dispenser that we have in our kitchen but it’s probably not necessary. I’d say that I use around 1 cup of water. Ish. Again, not an exact science. I just know that it works. Here are a couple others…
Cheers!
Thanks again, Ken – your advice will be put to good use next weekend…
Same here. Thanks, Ken!
Hi All,
As I’ve understood it through reading different posts, there’s no issue to adding gelatin to the keg but maybe I can get a couple “clarifications…”
- Would I pour the gelatin into the keg and rack on top?
- Would swishing the keg be necessary?
- In the first couple of pours, would all the gelatin be extracted or would it solidify on the bottom and leave the area around the dip tube free from gelatin?
Thank you, Mike
[quote=“Steppedonapoptop”]Hi All,
As I’ve understood it through reading different posts, there’s no issue to adding gelatin to the keg but maybe I can get a couple “clarifications…”
- Would I pour the gelatin into the keg and rack on top?
- Would swishing the keg be necessary?
- In the first couple of pours, would all the gelatin be extracted or would it solidify on the bottom and leave the area around the dip tube free from gelatin?
Thank you, Mike[/quote]
You could add the gel to the keg and rack on top but I have also racked the beer to the keg, allowed it to get cold and THEN add the gel. Either way can work. Swishing should not be necessary. The gel will end up at the bottom of the keg along with the crud that it brought down and yeast that was going to end up there anyway. In my experiece, the gel and yeast form a sort of pancake that is going to get semi-stuck in place. In the first couple of pints you will get a lot of crud. This just shows you that the gel really worked. Eventually the beer will run clear and what is stuck to the bottom typically stays there. Let’s just say that I’ve never gotten a blob of gel or yeast in the middle of a keg, no sir. Also, someone asked about where to get the gel. I always get it at brewing supply houses but many people say that unflavored gelatin that you get at the grocery store works too. I don’t know if there’s a difference but I’m at the LHBS anyway so I just grab it there. Hey, grab the strawberry gelatin and make a Strawberry Blonde! :lol: Cheers.
Thank you Brother Ken.
