Adding Gelatin in Primary.

[CarlosHernandez]

Thinking about using gelatin for the first time and I would like you guys to overlook my process and help me out if I'm doing things wrong.

I normally do primary fermentation completely in plastic buckets (no racking to secondary).
I plan on cold crashing vessel for a couple of days once fermentation is done.
Then, add my gelatin to my primary vessel (which will be cold). Let is sit for a few days 3-5.
Then, rack to a bottling bucket. Bottle condition.

Am I missing something? Will the beer carbonate in bottles even after cold crashing and adding gelatin?
Will the gelatin work in the primary fermentation vessel?

Thanks in advance.

[beltbuckle]

yes it will work just fine. i use gelatin both in the primary and in the keg depending on schedules. it works fine in the fermenter.

[CRBrewHound]

If cold crashing then transferring to bottle bucket. I would suggest adding new champaine yeast and sugar to the bottling bucket, as most of the yeast will be left in the primary due to the cold crash.

Note: If using dehydrated yeast, make sure to rehydrate it prior to adding to bottling bucket.

[CarlosHernandez]

Shouldn't the yeast that I re-hydrate and add before bottling, be the same as the yeast in the beer? And how much yeast should I add to a 5 gal. batch?

[CRBrewHound]

Shouldn't the yeast that I re-hydrate and add before bottling, be the same as the yeast in the beer? And how much yeast should I add to a 5 gal. batch?

No, it doesn't have to be the same (many commerical breweries use one feremenation strain then a different highly attenuative stain for bottling), the flavor profile from the yeast was developed during your fermentation. The bottling yeast is just used to provide carbonation and with the small amout of sugar you are providing to the yeast for the carbonation will not be enough to develop yeast esters.

Amount depends on the style of the beer and the alcohol content If it is a big beer then I would use 2 packets of dry champain yeast or 1 packet, rehydrate, and get the yeast going by producing a small starter. If it is a lower gravity beer then I would just use 1 packet and rehydrate it, for a 5 gal batch. Note: the more yeast cells you add the more setiment that will be produced. But for bottle conditioning my philosopy is better saft then sorry and having to start again. When bottle conditioning I use Red Star Champagne yeast or Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast.

[CarlosHernandez]

Thanks for the great insight CR!

[spiderwrangler]

Although, JZ and CW mention that the brewery claims of using a separate yeast may not be true and more just to prevent people from trying to reculture their particular strain. It is generally less about adding in a more attenuative strain, and more about putting in an appropriate amount of healthy yeast for carbonation. If it has been sitting for a long time in the fermentor or you've filtered it out, adding back enough to carbonate becomes useful. The practice of using champagne yeast is typically because it may be better able to handle higher alcohol levels than beer yeast, but pitching actively fermenting beer yeast should do much the same thing. If you are trying to dry your beer out further, an active pitch of lager yeast may do more for you (according to stuff JZ has said) than pitching the same yeast you used for fermentation (assuming you did an ale), as lager yeast are able to break down a bit more sugar than ale yeast can.