Best temp for beer to add Knox gelatine

[bigken462]

I know this has been beat down many times, but I can't seem to get a consensus. For every thread that says cold, another says warm.

I have 10 gallons cold crashing now in their primarys. (Reissdorf Kolsch and Abita Amber) Both were all grain 1.050 beers using WLP029 made with a starter and brewed about 18 days ago which have not cleared as much as I would like for some reason. They both had a very nice standard fermentation period, but unlike my past brews these two had tons of tiny particles - about the size of small gas bubbles suspended all throughout in the beer for the past 3-4 days. Not moving, not doing anything, just sitting there. Usually after 2 weeks most everything has flocked out. I have kept the temp at 65* for the first week, and raised to 68* for the second. I should note that these are the first two batches that I have been able to use a chest freezer from start to finish. All my others have been fermented out at room temps. Not sure if the controlled reduced temps has played a roll in it.

Starting yesterday, I begin stepping the temps down till I reached about 33-34*. Most of the particulate matter has now settled, but it's still cloudy as heck, so I thought I would use Knox gelatine for the first time. I plan on transferring both of these to a secondary (Save me the speech please) tomorrow and was wondering if I could put the gelatine on top of the beer that cold, or would I need to let the temps raise before adding the Knox? I plan on letting them sit in the 2nd for about a week before kegging - which also will be the first time for me to do

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[brew_ny]

a couple of days at 33 degree it will be clear

all the best

S_M

 

[solbes]

Keep it cold! Gelatin works best when the beer is already cold. Go ahead and hydrate the gelatin per the instructions on this site. Add it to an empty & sanitized carboy. Then rack on your beer on top. A lot of yeast will settle out because of the racking, and the gelatin should start working on the rest of it.

It might take 1-2 weeks for the yeast to clear (lager that baby between 32 and 35F). But Kolsch's taste better when lagered for 3+ weeks anyway. Its not your technique, the Kolsch yeast strains are very stubborn to flocculate. The only thing I dislike about the strain.

 

[scottibones]

I have used 150 degree gelatin on 66 and 35 degree beer with no noticeable difference.

 

[Cider123]

If you want to remove CO2 gas from an aqueous solution, one of things you could do is raise the temp. This causes more molecular motion and increases the rate that a gas would "come out of solution" or exit the liquid. That is one reason why you keep soda in the fridge rather than out on a countertop after opening the bottle and releasing pressure (which also helps keep CO2 gas in solution). Of course, the pressure in a keg might keep the CO2 in solution regardless of temp, so the overall effect might not change. But the rate of absorption would be greater at colder temps.

Knowing this, it would usually be more beneficial to introduce or keep CO2 gas into a liquid when it is colder than warmer. Some might choose to start carbing when the beer is warm, and maybe in their process it is easier or necessary. But if given a choice, it makes sense to keep it cold.

 

[dadshomebrew]

I have used 150 degree gelatin on 66 and 35 degree beer with no noticeable difference.

This

I have had it work perfectly at room temperature and cold crash temps.

You will be happy with the results

 

[kcmobrewer]

Agreed. I've used it warm and cold, never noticed a difference. Comes out crystal clear.

 

[krahm]

I ran across an interesting post recently that suggests gelatin doesn't have anything to do with chill haze. It only removes yeast. As a consequence, temperature has no impact on its effectiveness. I've been adding it to my fermentation-temp. beer at kegging ever since (before putting the keg in the fridge), and I've noticed no difference whatsoever. 'Beer still goes from cloudy to crystal clear with a week in the fridge.

I'd add then when I DID have horrible chill haze on a batch that I made last fall, I hit it with gelatin twice (both times after chilling), and saw no benefit whatsoever. I ended up dumping the keg with 2 gallons remaining.

'Found that post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/chill-haze-realz-280603/

 

[solbes]

Jeez, chill haze caused you to dump 2 gallons of beer? Granted a pilsner or Golden Strong ale are best displayed when crystal clear, but you can't taste haze can you?

 

[bigken462]

I added the Knox yesterday to the two batches I had going in the freezer. I can tell they are slowly clearing up, maybe not as well as I would have hoped for, but still better than they were. I'm still learning the ropes of AG brewing, so my techniques could be the problems for clouding.

One of the batches; an Abita Amber, I overdone my sparge and rather than boiling off, I just filled the 6.5 gallon carboy up as far as I thought I could get away with and called it done. I was at my target gravity so I didn't fret over it.

I racked off the brew yesterday to a 5 gallon carboy to clear up for a week and was briefly teetering on dumping the other one and a half gallons, or running into the house to sanitize some bottles. I was not feeling good and just wanted to get the tasks over and get back to bed.

After a brief thought to if I wanted to even fool with it for a few minutes, I looked over at the two kegs that were bristling new which had yet to be used. Without even sanitizing a thing, I dumped the water I had in one that I had been playing around with to check for leaks and siphoned the remaining beer into the keg and hit it with 30PSI of C02. Sloshed it around for 2 minutes, reduced the C02 down to 10PSI and let it sit for 24 hours.

Obviously this being my first beer to pull from my kegerator, it was mostly foam and way over-carbed, but I tell ya, it was still nice COLD beer that I was able to enjoy while watching the charcoal get ready for my steaks. Hard to believe I almost poured out a gallon and half of perfectly good beer. Lol

I hope I can learn to balance out the carbonation stuff. At least this gave me something to play around with while I wait for the main batch to clear out. Even foamy, cloudy beer is still good cold. Lol

 

[krahm]

Jeez, chill haze caused you to dump 2 gallons of beer? Granted a pilsner or Golden Strong ale are best displayed when crystal clear, but you can't taste haze can you?

Well, there's chill haze and then there's chill haze. The beer was seriously murky, and that was bugging me. Besides, I needed the keg, as well as an excuse to brew again. It was also my lone attempt at using WY1450, and I didn't care for the flavor. I had better beer waiting in line.