Anyone used this before…?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/biof ... -1-oz.htmlAny commentary on the results?
I bought some not long ago after hearing and seeing it mentioned favorably over the BN. I dropped (in the keg prior to cold storage) in the lower end of the suggested amount (1/4tbsp) and used 1/2 tbsp on an AG Inkeeper kit that used wyeast 1469, which is pretty flocculant on its own… The biofine did nothing… I was actually not impressed at all. The beer cleared up on its later, but didn’t seem any faster - most reported clear beer in 2 days - that didn’t happen.
That said, I have a few more ounces of the stuff so I’m going to give it another shot but maybe this time dose even higher, maybe a full tbsp or tbsp and a half or so. I’d still say its cheap enough to pick up the small bottle IF you’re already paying for shipping anyway, and try it for yourself.
Try using 16mls per 5 gallons. Be sure to as evenly distribute the Biofine Clear as possible within your beer. For instance, just adding it to the top surface of the beer is probably not going to cut it unless you increase the dosage. You may want to try and rack the beer into a new vessel while adding the finning, this is a good practice for any beer finning. For dry-hopped and/or lightly colored and/or low flocculating beers, you may need to increase the dosage to 30 mls per 5 gallons, however for beers using a highly flocculating yeast you could probably get away with using 10 mls or less.
Here’s some info:
Chris German
Brewers Supply Group
Seems like it has worked pretty well for me, I’ve added it to a few of my batches and even pretty heavily dry hopped beers are clearing fairly quickly where as previously they’d stay cloudy for quite awhile. It is cheap enough that I’ll keep using it on beers that tend to take longer to clear.
Thanks for the input.
sounds like adding it to a secondary and then racking on top of it would work out pretty well for best results, eh?
[quote=“HaleBrewer”]Thanks for the input.
sounds like adding it to a secondary and then racking on top of it would work out pretty well for best results, eh?[/quote]
That’s right. For fun, take an eye-dropper and fill a hydrometer tube with green beer over a drop or two of BF-Clear and watch it turn bright in an afternoon or so. Compare the results to adding a drop or two on the surface of an already filled hydrometer tube. I think that you’ll find that the well mixed sample performs better.
One more thing, never freeze Biofine Clear otherwise it may gel and never go back to a liquid solution. This is important to keep in mind during our Minnesota winters.
[quote=“Germ”][quote=“HaleBrewer”]Thanks for the input.
sounds like adding it to a secondary and then racking on top of it would work out pretty well for best results, eh?[/quote]
That’s right. For fun, take an eye-dropper and fill a hydrometer tube with green beer over a drop or two of BF-Clear and watch it turn bright in an afternoon or so. Compare the results to adding a drop or two on the surface of an already filled hydrometer tube. I think that you’ll find that the well mixed sample performs better.[/quote]
Thanks for the in depth reply and info, very helpful. I should have been more clear, as I did in fact rack the beer into the keg with the bio fine already dropped in the bottom.
No matter, 16ml on the next go round will be about twice what used last time, and I can’t wait to see what happens.
Reporting back, as I’ve used this stuff again, and I can’t for the life of me get it to work. I used it on a blonde ale, which was 80 % pale, 15% Munich and 5% carapils mashed at 146 OG of 1.047 for 5.5 gal, only 2.5oz of colombus in the batch. Fermented with 300ml of wlp002 slurry at 63 allowed to free rise to 68 and held for 3 days then let rise to room temp and kegged after a week. This time, I flushed keg with co2, poured in 2 tblsp of biofine (mega dose) and racked warm beer into keg. I flushed the headspace with co2 and then shook keg (which I never do, and hated the thought of it) in hopes of really mixing the biofine. I then put the keg into the keezer (which I normally can’t do, but due to a slot being open I could this time). Gave it 2 days on the gas at 30psi, 2 days later… Poured the usual murky beer I normally get without biofine that generally will clear on its own in a week or two… WTF?
Am I screwing this up by not cold crashing first? Will biofine not work in warm beer? I really would like this stuff to work, and I have some left, but thus far, I’m having issues.
I’ve tried using Biofine three different ways so far. First, just poured into the carboy and let it sit for a few days before bottling. Second, poured into the bottling bucket and racked on top of it. In both scenarios, I didn’t notice a difference in clarity vs. not using it.
I kegged a batch for the first time the weekend before last. I meant to add it to the keg and rack on top, but forgot to add it. So a couple days after the keg had been in my keezer, I bled off the CO2, poured in 15ml, rocked the keg for maybe 30 seconds to mix it in and then reconnected the gas. When I checked three days later, very clear beer.
