Should I use gelatin, transporting kegs!

[tomroeder]

Hello all. When I brew, I brew 10 gallons at a time, and I get 5 gallons and my dad gets five gallons. We are both now kegging, and I am using a converted chest freezer for cold conditioning/carbonating. The problem is, even when the keg is pouring crystal clear, as soon as I move the keg into my kegerator, for 2 or 3 days I am pouring off pints to get rid of chunky floaters.

I have considered gelatin, but was wondering if you can treat with gelatin in the primary at about 63 deg (the temp of my house), or does the treated beer have to be cold?

I have also considered treating with gelatin in the keg and then cold crashing, but after it has cleared and carbed, how dense of a slug is in the bottom of the keg? If I am lifting the keg out of the freezer and into my truck, driving it over to my dads house and putting it into his kegerator, is he still going to have to give the keg a few days to sit before he can pour a clear pint?

Thanks in advance

 

[tomije87]

you don't need to use gelatin to get clear beer. If you simply cold crash for 24-48 hours before you transfer into the keg, I'm guessing you'll notice substantially less trub in the keg.

 

[rocketman768]

Use "Super Moss" in the boil. Everything will compact on the bottom of the fermenter when it's done, so you can avoid this issue. With gelatin, no, you don't need to get it cold. Just bloom 1 tsp in cold water for 15 min, bring to 180F (do NOT boil), pour into keg while still hot, wait 1 day.

 

[KJohnson]

Use a keg as a priming tank. cut the dip tube a inch or two from bottom then cold crash for a day or two and transfer to another keg leaving behind yeast and hops. Cheaper easier and more effective than gelatin.

 

[jeffmeh]

Use a keg as a priming tank. cut the dip tube a inch or two from bottom then cold crash for a day or two and transfer to another keg leaving behind yeast and hops. Cheaper easier and more effective than gelatin.

Or leave the dip tube intact. After the beer in the keg has cleared, pour off the first couple of pints (or whatever is not clear) and then transfer to another keg. Or do the same thing but add gelatin to the first keg when cold-conditioning.

 

[ksbrain]

^^ Do This.

Transfer to a new keg.

 

[tomroeder]

I really want to keep transferring to different vessels down to a minimum, because of oxidation, contamination, work....What I would like to do is treat with gelatin in the primary, but I have heard that gelatin will only work if the beer is cold, and I have no way of chilling the primary fermenter. How dense of a cake does the gelatin form at the bottom of a keg?

 

[jeffmeh]

I really want to keep transferring to different vessels down to a minimum, because of oxidation, contamination, work....What I would like to do is treat with gelatin in the primary, but I have heard that gelatin will only work if the beer is cold, and I have no way of chilling the primary fermenter. How dense of a cake does the gelatin form at the bottom of a keg?

The gelatin should work without the cold crash, but it will take longer.

Regarding transferring from corny to corny, you should be able to do it closed with CO2, with no risk of oxidation. Build a jumper, i.e., a length of beverage tube with liquid disconnects at each end. Fill your target keg with CO2 and purge. Attach your jumper from source keg to target keg. Attach CO2 to source keg. Pull the relief valve on the target keg as needed, and watch the beer flow. Remember to pull off the cloudy stuff first, with say a picnic tap.

 

[emjay]

Do you use any finings in the boil? I used gelatin at first but I seem to accomplish much the same with whirfloc tablets (super moss as previously suggested would be good too, and even just plain-old Irish moss for the cost-conscious is probably almost, if not equally, good - but whirfloc is cheap enough for me and stupidly simple), and I vastly prefer it to fermenter-based finings. Though I use polyclar on the very rare occassion with certain beers, but that isn't really the same thing.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Unless the beer is very very clear going into the keg, moving it will result in cloudy beer. I have learned this lesson a few times the hard way. Unless you cold crash the heck out of the fermenter (better w/ gelatin) there will likely be sediment in the keg that will be resuspended when moved. Now I transfer to a clean keg if i want to transport and serve.