I want to use gelatin in my secondary a few days before bottling, but my concern is that I might not have enough yeast left to bottle condition. What does everyone think?
I want to use gelatin because I do not have access to a kegerator to cold crash.
I would try to get it as cool as possible and add the gelatin (this will help it clear better). You will still have PLENTY of yeast to bottle condition.
+1. There will be enough yeast, unless your beer has been sitting in secondary for like 4 months or something. I don’t think temperature matters that much. Gelatin is really amazing stuff, I know of nothing that works better.
Yeah, if the beer sat for a very long time or the beer was a very high ABV, you might have issues. But I have lagered beers at 35° for 6 weeks and still had enough active yeast to prime bottles.
Just suck a little yeast off the bottom or stir up a little in the secondary when you rack to the bottling bucket. The yeast should settle to the bottom of the bottle quickly but will still work enough to carbonate.
I mean no disrespect guys, you obviously have been brewing longer than I but I was told by a few guys at my LHBS that if using gelatin and bottle conditioning that you would have to add some yeast while bottling. Now I am confused…I just don’t want to do up a 5 gal batch and not be able to carb it right.
It’s not true. You don’t need to add yeast. It will take longer to carbonate than normal – maybe up to 4 weeks? – but there’s plenty of viable yeast in there. The gelatin just slows them down a while.
