[zymological]

First off - how much does it cost per batch to do this? (5 gal)

Second off - what is your general procedure for prepping the gelatin, mixing it in, etc.?

Third off - how long does it take to work?

[pete maz]

Cost is negligible. You only need 1/2 tsp per 5 gals. I've been working on the same $1.50 container of the stuff for probably 15 brews now.

The procedure I learned from searching on various boards. Some people do it differently, but here's what I do:
- boil up about 1 cup of water
- let cool to around 170F
- add gelatin, stir & let sit 5 mins to dissolve
- add to keg before racking

It seems to work best if you chill the beer before mixing with the gelatin. You want to create chill haze so the gelatin can remove it. The entire corny keg clears for me in around 3-4 days.

[zymological]

pete maz, on 08 February 2010 - 07:41 AM, said:

Cost is negligible. You only need 1/2 tsp per 5 gals. I've been working on the same $1.50 container of the stuff for probably 15 brews now.

The procedure I learned from searching on various boards. Some people do it differently, but here's what I do:
- boil up about 1 cup of water
- let cool to around 170F
- add gelatin, stir & let sit 5 mins to dissolve
- add to keg before racking

It seems to work best if you chill the beer before mixing with the gelatin. You want to create chill haze so the gelatin can remove it. The entire corny keg clears for me in around 3-4 days.

do you get a lot of the stuff that settled out on your first few pints with this method?

[KenLenard]

Pretty low cost. I have a large bag of it that maybe cost me $7. It will probably last me for over a year and I use gel on every batch.

I fill a small bowl (that has a fitted lid) with cold water and pour about 1 tbsp or so into the water. I don't measure it. I shake that once in awhile and leave the gel to soak in that cool water for maybe 10-15 minutes. This is supposed to allow the gel to "bloom". Then get a small pot and put a little more water in it, pour the gel solution into the pot and slowly heat it. I don't really care about the temp except I don't want it to boil. I stir it and watch to see if the granules have dissolved. Once the solution is warm/hot and the granules are no longer visible, I turn off the heat, cover the pot and allow it to cool a little. Pour that into your sanitized secondary and rack the beer on top. By the next day, you'll see that the beer is visibly clearer and a good layer of Schputz™ has formed on the bottom. Your first few pints will be much clearer if you do this, but I think it also depends on what you have done up to the point of using the gel. I use Whirfloc or Supermoss and I rack from brewpot to primary so there is very little particulate in the primary aside from yeast. I guess I'm thinking about clarity from the beginning, not just from the point of adding the gel solution. The beer going from secondary to keg is usually CRYSTAL clear and the first pint from the keg has minimal cloudiness. Cheers.

[zymological]

KenLenard, on 08 February 2010 - 08:57 AM, said:

Pretty low cost. I have a large bag of it that maybe cost me $7. It will probably last me for over a year and I use gel on every batch.

I fill a small bowl (that has a fitted lid) with cold water and pour about 1 tbsp or so into the water. I don't measure it. I shake that once in awhile and leave the gel to soak in that cool water for maybe 10-15 minutes. This is supposed to allow the gel to "bloom". Then get a small pot and put a little more water in it, pour the gel solution into the pot and slowly heat it. I don't really care about the temp except I don't want it to boil. I stir it and watch to see if the granules have dissolved. Once the solution is warm/hot and the granules are no longer visible, I turn off the heat, cover the pot and allow it to cool a little. Pour that into your sanitized secondary and rack the beer on top. By the next day, you'll see that the beer is visibly clearer and a good layer of Schputz™ has formed on the bottom. Your first few pints will be much clearer if you do this, but I think it also depends on what you have done up to the point of using the gel. I use Whirfloc or Supermoss and I rack from brewpot to primary so there is very little particulate in the primary aside from yeast. I guess I'm thinking about clarity from the beginning, not just from the point of adding the gel solution. The beer going from secondary to keg is usually CRYSTAL clear and the first pint from the keg has minimal cloudiness. Cheers.

So you don't do anything to sanitize/sterilize the water that you are dissolving the gelatin into?

How cold is beer you are racking into secondary on top of the gelatin?

ETA: as a general question - do you guys dry hop after adding gelatin? is there any reason not to do this?

[KenLenard]

zymological, on 08 February 2010 - 08:51 AM, said:

So you don't do anything to sanitize/sterilize the water that you are dissolving the gelatin into?

How cold is beer you are racking into secondary on top of the gelatin?

ETA: as a general question - do you guys dry hop after adding gelatin? is there any reason not to do this?

Well, the water is going to be heated and I usually see steam rising from the water in the pot so my assumption (safe to assume?) is that the water is heated enough to sanitize it. I should also say (against my better judgement) that I use straight tap water to fill my racking cane & tubing for siphoning so my water is clearly "safe". It's pretty well-chlorinated which is why I run my brewing water through a carbon block filter. The temp of the beer being racked is probably somewhere in the 50s. The beer would've just been picked up off the cool concrete floor of my basement so it's pretty cool, but not ultra-cold. I don't do a lot of dry-hopping and when I do, it's usually in the keg. But I don't think you have to worry much about this. I suppose you could dry hop for 1-2 weeks and add the gel later to drag down any hop dust that would be in suspension... I think you could do that and not lose any of the hop aroma you're trying to bring to the beer. Cheers.

[zymological]

KenLenard, on 08 February 2010 - 10:10 AM, said:

Well, the water is going to be heated and I usually see steam rising from the water in the pot so my assumption (safe to assume?) is that the water is heated enough to sanitize it. I should also say (against my better judgement) that I use straight tap water to fill my racking cane & tubing for siphoning so my water is clearly "safe". It's pretty well-chlorinated which is why I run my brewing water through a carbon block filter. The temp of the beer being racked is probably somewhere in the 50s. The beer would've just been picked up off the cool concrete floor of my basement so it's pretty cool, but not ultra-cold. I don't do a lot of dry-hopping and when I do, it's usually in the keg. But I don't think you have to worry much about this. I suppose you could dry hop for 1-2 weeks and add the gel later to drag down any hop dust that would be in suspension... I think you could do that and not lose any of the hop aroma you're trying to bring to the beer. Cheers.

So you don't think there is anything inherently wrong with adding gelatin after racking the beer to secondary? No swirly or anything is required?

[chadm75]

Does anyone ever get any gel "gunk" in their beer? I'm just envisioning that if you put gel in the keg and pull that tap a few days later, you're going to get gel "gunk" in your pint glass. Does this not happen?

[dj in kc]

I heat about 1C of water to the start of a boil in the microwave. Stir in one pack of gelatin until it's dissolved. Pour it into the keg and get the lid back on as fast as I can. Let it set 2 - 3 days. The first pint or so will have some gelatin in it. After that it's fine.

[KenLenard]

zymological, on 08 February 2010 - 09:16 AM, said:

So you don't think there is anything inherently wrong with adding gelatin after racking the beer to secondary? No swirly or anything is required?

I prefer to add the gel first and rack on top, but I have added it after the beer was already in secondary and it seemed to work okay. I don't think a swirly is necessary.

chadm75, on 08 February 2010 - 10:04 AM, said:

Does anyone ever get any gel "gunk" in their beer? I'm just envisioning that if you put gel in the keg and pull that tap a few days later, you're going to get gel "gunk" in your pint glass. Does this not happen?

Once the gel granules are heated on the stove, there isn't any real "gel gunk". The gel solution is thin, not thick and there are no solids once the gel has been heated. I did overheat the gel one time (long time ago) and got actual "gel". I added it anyway and every bottle had bits of gunk in the yeast sediment in the bottle. But this will not happen as long as you don't boil the gel solution. Cheers.

[Joe]

I've used the method of pouring the gelatin into the secondary and also racking the beer onto the gelatin and both methods seemed to have worked equally fine. I've also done the cold bloom vs. hot add and both seems to work. I accidentally boiled the gelatin solution on my first batch I gelled and it seemed to have worked fine too.

Somewhat off topic, I tried an experiment where I racked crystal clear wort into one 6 gallon carboy and then just dumped everything else (trub, hop particulate, and all) into the second 6 gallon fermenter (brewing 10 gallon batches). After adding gelatin in secondary both carboys look perfectly clear. Based on this experiment, I'm not convinced that racking off of trub contributes to clarity.

[zymological]

KenLenard, on 08 February 2010 - 11:26 AM, said:

I prefer to add the gel first and rack on top, but I have added it after the beer was already in secondary and it seemed to work okay. I don't think a swirly is necessary.


Once the gel granules are heated on the stove, there isn't any real "gel gunk". The gel solution is thin, not thick and there are no solids once the gel has been heated. I did overheat the gel one time (long time ago) and got actual "gel". I added it anyway and every bottle had bits of gunk in the yeast sediment in the bottle. But this will not happen as long as you don't boil the gel solution. Cheers.

I know it's supposed to be totally kosher to do this when bottling but I'm just too paranoid. I am thinking of trying it out on my AIPA though just to see how much of a difference it will make AND see if I can get it kegged up a little sooner.

[zymological]

So I bought a packet of 4 unflavored packets today at the grocery store. I noticed in the responses the amount ranges from 1/2 teaspoon to a full on table spoon. What is the right amount? Can I buy this stuff in bulk at the big box stores?

[stellarbrew]

zymological, on 14 February 2010 - 11:56 AM, said:

So I bought a packet of 4 unflavored packets today at the grocery store. I noticed in the responses the amount ranges from 1/2 teaspoon to a full on table spoon. What is the right amount? Can I buy this stuff in bulk at the big box stores?

I find that one of those 1/4 oz. envelopes with a cup of water, works wonderfully for a 5-gallon batch.

[Fatman]

zymological, on 14 February 2010 - 11:56 AM, said:

So I bought a packet of 4 unflavored packets today at the grocery store. I noticed in the responses the amount ranges from 1/2 teaspoon to a full on table spoon. What is the right amount? Can I buy this stuff in bulk at the big box stores?

I couldn't find it at Sam's Club, but I got a pound from Northern Brewer for like $12. I use a half-tablespoon (1/4 oz.) in 4 oz. of water.

[KenLenard]

I can't tell if using a small amount works well, so I think you just have to play with it. I don't bother measuring but I would say that I probably use around 1 tbsp (maybe a little more or less) on 5 gallons. I bought a big bag of this stuff for something like $9 and I may be using a little more than necessary... even still, this bag will last me for a VERY long time. I wouldn't lose sleep over how much to use.

[DaBearSox]

I chill the beer down >40...let 1/2 packet bloom for 10-15 min, warm it up till the crystals disappear, pour into carboy, rack on top... within a day or two it gets nice and clear even with low floccers like 1056.

Pretty much took these directions straight from Ken.

[KenLenard]

DaBearSox, on 14 February 2010 - 02:23 PM, said:

I chill the beer down >40...let 1/2 packet bloom for 10-15 min, warm it up till the crystals disappear, pour into carboy, rack on top... within a day or two it gets nice and clear even with low floccers like 1056.

Pretty much took these directions straight from Ken.

I know you guys were talking about how the gel solution works better when added to beer that is cooler, but I seem to be adding it to beer that is probably closer to 50 or 60°. It seems to work well at that temp but I wonder if there is some sort of magic that occurs at the lower temp. This would mean that I would have to get the beer that is sitting in primary cool first (after primary fermentation is done) and then rack it onto the gel solution.

[zymological]

KenLenard, on 14 February 2010 - 03:37 PM, said:

I know you guys were talking about how the gel solution works better when added to beer that is cooler, but I seem to be adding it to beer that is probably closer to 50 or 60°. It seems to work well at that temp but I wonder if there is some sort of magic that occurs at the lower temp. This would mean that I would have to get the beer that is sitting in primary cool first (after primary fermentation is done) and then rack it onto the gel solution.

yeah - I could easily get my primary down to 45-50F this time of year but in the spring and fall no way (summmer - forget about it!). Ken - do you chill the beer immediately upon transferring it to 2ndary?

[KenLenard]

zymological, on 14 February 2010 - 02:41 PM, said:

yeah - I could easily get my primary down to 45-50F this time of year but in the spring and fall no way (summmer - forget about it!). Ken - do you chill the beer immediately upon transferring it to 2ndary?

No. My secondaries sit on my cool basement floor and in the winter that equates to about 50°. Eventually the beer gets racked out of secondary and end up in a keg where it gets chilled to about 35° and force-carbed. I used to put secondaries in the cold garage but my kids & wife kept knocking the stoppers & airlocks out so I stopped that practice. Generally after racking to secondary with gel solution, I see visible improvement (clarity-wise) in a day or 2. After a week or so, it looks ultra clear, but we're talking about 50° beer here... so it's not surprising that it's clear. But I think it works pretty well because after the first glass (or so) of beer from the keg, the beer runs pretty damn clear. I could attempt to crash my next beer before secondary (I have my Mexican Amber Lager in primary now and it's done, but it's warmer... maybe 60°) and then add the gel solution to it when it was colder and see if it makes a difference. Cheers.