Cold Crashing and Fining Experiment

[bigdave]

In which case, the back doorstep is a great place to crash cool you beer. lol

[DaveGillespie]

Forecast looks like it may be warming up - but I will work with what I have.

So - gelatin in whilst cold crashing?

[sladeywadey]

for those that fine/gelatine their beer - do you not find this affects the final taste outcome at all?

[AdyG]

In my 15 or so brews I have never used finings, and generally always get clear beer. I do use 3g of Irish Moss at 15 mins before the end of the boil, and rack to a secondary FV after fermentation has stopped. I lagered my Belgian IPA for 3 weeks at 4 degrees and it is perfectly clear, so I will be also crash cooling beers of this type again, or if dry hops have been used.

[Mr. Dripping]

for those that fine/gelatine their beer - do you not find this affects the final taste outcome at all?

I've never found this to be the case; it all settles to the bottom.
I know a lot of people rate gelatin, but I've never personally been able to get it to work.
My routine these days is as follows: 7 days in primary, drop to secondary with finings adjunct and cellabrite for a further 7 days. If I want to use dry hops I will add them to the secondary. Then I will keg, force carb and mature.

[Rick_UK]

My tuppence worth:

I usually get perfectly clear beer from kegs or bottles just by using copper finings and leaving them to condition for 3-4 weeks. I have used gelatin to speed it up but as I don't have a beer fridge I just rely on garage temps.

Chill haze shouldn't be an issue with ale's as they should be drunk above 10'C for maximum taste. Lagers obviously it can be but the lagering process should drop pretty much all the yeast out of suspension without recourse to finings.

Post fermentation finings should only be necessary if time is an issue or something has gone wrong earlier in the process. IMHO

[sweatysock]

Beer is now in the barrel with 80g of sugar to prime. It was beautiful and clear running through the syphon with a really hard yeast cake. It is now coming back up to temp in order to prime. My only worry is that priming will be slow due to lack of yeast. If that is the case it will just need to be hooked up to the pump at Christmas!

[orlando]

Beer is now in the barrel with 80g of sugar to prime. It was beautiful and clear running through the syphon with a really hard yeast cake. It is now coming back up to temp in order to prime. My only worry is that priming will be slow due to lack of yeast. If that is the case it will just need to be hooked up to the pump at Christmas!

There will be plenty of yeast, even in "crystal clear" beer there is more than enough. Don't confuse this clarity with commercially filtered/centrifuged beer though. Temperature is the key now warm for a good couple of weeks and at least one week in the cool.