Gelatin Addition

I have a Speckled Heifer AG in the primary 2 weeks now. I was thiniing instead of racking to secondary, just put my gelatin in the primary for the 3rd week then rack to bottling bucket. is this a sound approach? What would you do?

Paul

I plan on my use of gelatin by putting it in my corny keg at kegging time. Never done this but have read where this helps clear the beer (which I really don’t care about) and doesn’t affect the flavor. However, I’m trying it in case I ever want to enter my beers to see how well it works.

I can’t tell you if, at 2 weeks, it’s ok to use it in the primary.

I normally put it in the secondary, but I’ve read so many posts and articles saying it’s best just to leave it in the primary longer. That’s why I was thinking of putting it in the primary a week before bottling.

I usually don’t use secondary anymore, 2-3 weeks in primary then I rack into a keg, cold crash the keg for 4-5 days then pour the gelatin into the keg then back into the freezer.

I’ve got Speckled Heifer in the keg at the moment. Just put it in there about 3-4 weeks ago. I cold crashed for a few days and then added gelatin straight to the keg prior to racking using this method:

viewtopic.php?t=64190

I see that you’re bottling, though. I did rack a small amount, “leftovers” that wouldn’t fit in the keg, from the primary to two 22oz bottles, and added two coopers carb drops, each. They sat undisturbed for the same amount of time (3-4 weeks) I tried one last night, and the first 8oz pour was almost as clear as the keg. The second pour was cloudy; the first pour may have disturbed & re-suspended some of the sediment. Tasted slightly sweeter and had more body than the kegged beer, imo.

That’s just info for you to make your own decision. Still, if clarity is a concern, I’d definitely recommend racking to secondary on top of prepared-gelatin, and letting that sit for a few days, then cold crashing, then bottle per usual. You’ll certainly get some gelatin benefit from adding it to primary, but again, if clarity is really a concern, I wouldn’t take that shortcut.

[quote=“Silentknyght”]

That’s just info for you to make your own decision. Still, if clarity is a concern, I’d definitely recommend racking to secondary on top of prepared-gelatin, and letting that sit for a few days, then cold crashing, then bottle per usual. You’ll certainly get some gelatin benefit from adding it to primary, but again, if clarity is really a concern, I wouldn’t take that shortcut.[/quote]

I’m not following why you feel it would be better to rack to a second vessel verses doing all the same procedures in the 1st vessel?

Pros: No cleaning and sanitizing of additional carboy, racking cane, tubing.

Con: More trub in the primary. But will be the same amount as the primary and secondary. So you will leave the same if not more beer behind when racking.

I had to make my decision yesterday, so I just went ahead and racked it to secondary with the gelatin. But, after reading Nighthawk’s reply, next time I will try it right in the primary, a week before bottling.

Thanks for the input.

[quote=“Silentknyght”]I’ve got Speckled Heifer in the keg at the moment. Just put it in there about 3-4 weeks ago. I cold crashed for a few days and then added gelatin straight to the keg prior to racking using this method:

viewtopic.php?t=64190

I see that you’re bottling, though. I did rack a small amount, “leftovers” that wouldn’t fit in the keg, from the primary to two 22oz bottles, and added two coopers carb drops, each. They sat undisturbed for the same amount of time (3-4 weeks) I tried one last night, and the first 8oz pour was almost as clear as the keg. The second pour was cloudy; the first pour may have disturbed & re-suspended some of the sediment. Tasted slightly sweeter and had more body than the kegged beer, imo.

That’s just info for you to make your own decision. Still, if clarity is a concern, I’d definitely recommend racking to secondary on top of prepared-gelatin, and letting that sit for a few days, then cold crashing, then bottle per usual. You’ll certainly get some gelatin benefit from adding it to primary, but again, if clarity is really a concern, I wouldn’t take that shortcut.[/quote]

A little over 3 weeks ago I brewed a 10 gallon batch of a modified Speckled Heifer. It was all grain and my first 10 gallon batch. As an experiment I went straight to the keg for 5 gallons after a little over 2 weeks in primary. The other I put in a carboy for secondary.

FWIW, I am really disappointed in how cloudy the keg batch is. Normally my first couple pints are cloudy and then it starts to clear up. This has remained cloudy for at least a gallon or so. It is my first time NOT doing a secondary. The 5 gallons in secondary appears to be clearing up fairly well. In fact, it looks more clear than what is cold and in the keg and this is warm and about 74 degrees. I was kind of in a hurry to get the first 5 gallons kegged, so I did not cold crash so that might have helped. More time clearly would have made a difference, even in primary. But this is so cloudy that it looks like a wheat beer.

…let it set, as is, in fridge for a few weeks. If you don’t wobble the keg around, and you keep it at a pretty cold temp, it probably will clear nicely.

Chill that carboy and see how clear it is. I’ll bet it will be as cloudy as what’s in the keg. You’re probably looking at chill haze, not yeast haze.

I’ve had great success with a half pack of knox gelatin into my secondary resulting in very clear beer and even a crystal clear wheat. I’ve had mild success with a half a pack in the keg as it seemed to partially clog my pic nic pours.

One question to those: if I were to add gelatin directly to the primary, would it be best to use an entire envelop of knox due to the amount of trub?

You would use the same amount of gelatin in primary. It’s not the trub at the bottom you are worried about, but the particles still in solution.

Cool, thank you. Although wouldn’t the gelatin also help coagulate some of the trub?

Gelatin takes tiny suspended particles and helps them to drop to the bottom faster. With or without gelatin, if you disturb your trub it will get swirled up and require time to settle.

It has been in secondary since July 19th, with gelatin in it. It is very clear right now. I’ll be bottling it this Monday. I have a Texas Blonde in primary for a week, and already it is starting to clear. I’m going to try gelatin after 3 weeks in the primary, and cold crash the 4th week. Mostly, this is an experiment.

You will get much better results if you add the gelatin to beer that is as cold as possible. The gelatin doesn’t have any effect on proteins and tannins that are dissolved. As the beer gets colder they form tiny clumps that show as haze, which the gelatin can join with and drop out.

I hadn’t considered that. I’ll try that.