Beer Forum

Hi, first I'll apologize because I know there are some threads on this already, but please humor me.

I'm doing a rebrew of an NHC beer for second round (Scottish 70), and because of the time constraints I want to fine with gelatin for clarity. I've read some other threads where people say they simply add gelatin straight to the keg at transfer, and the gelatin is pulled off in the first few pints. I guess my question is, is this really true? Obviously I want this beer to be awesome since it is advancing, and I don't want to send any bottles out with little chunks of beer jello floating around in the bottom.

I guess there are other options... adding an extra transfer and fining in a secondary, or adding gelatin & crashing the beer in the primary.

So, what is the best way to do this? Preferably without adding an extra transfer because I'm lazy and hate oxidation. Thanks for your help.
Chups

I have been wondering this myself... would it be possible to add the gelatin directly to the primary? How would one do this without adding oxygen to the beer?

Sean.

Chupa,

I've never done it, but I know Doc mentions it in at least half-a-dozen shows. Since you need this info quickly for NHC, I would PM or e-mail him directly as he is the resident expert in gelatin additions.

Good luck soldier!

Do you normally do a primary and then straight to keg?

I've added gelatin (properly prepared) directly to the keg on the last 6 batches, and left the beers in the keg until they were gone. All of them were diamond bright after clearing until the keg blew. The trick is just not to disturb the keg. None of these beers was cold crashed prior to going into the keg, and sat in the kegerator (at 34F) at least 24 hours before adding gelatin. I then tried pulling a few oz every day or so after gelatin, and it took anywhere from 4 - 24 oz to run crystal clear. I'd say it takes at least 2 days to run really clear, and slightly better after a week. This would definitely work in the primary as well, just dump the prepared gelatin solution on top and wait.

See the pic below from an experiment I did of adding gelatin to a hydrometer sample straight from the fermenter. It was very murky before adding gelatin. Based on this pic, I think most of the stuff has settled to the bottom after about 3 days, but it continues to settle very fine stuff for some time after. This fine settling may be unrelated to the gelatin and just the natural settling that occurs in cold conditioning.



(or the link since the forum won't display wide pictures )
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w211 ... ht-1-1.jpg

Will it work to add gelatin to the keg you bottle from? Yes it will. Just make sure it is pouring clear before you bottle. I don't see a downside in your situation.

When I use gelatin I would rather get the beer off of it for medium or long term storage and so I jump to a second keg which is not much work for me especially since I have a keg and carboy cleaner. But your needs are to get the beer clear and packaged and I think you will have no problem doing that with a single keg.

It will work if you do not disturb the keg at all once it pours clear.

Thanks guys, I think I'm gonna try it right in the keg. Only one way to really find out right?