Clarity Ferm vs. Gelatin | exBEERiment Results!

[Brulosopher]

There are a few methods to assist homebrewers in producing clear beer, one of the more popular involves adding a gelatin solutions post-fermentation, which has the added appeal of being pretty cheap. However, there are other options, one of these is Clarity Ferm, a product produced by White Labs that is purported to do more than just aid in clarity. Curious how this product stacked up to gelatin, contributor Ray Found put it to the test. Results are in!!!

http://brulosophy.com/2015/07/27/clarity-ferm-vs-gelatin-exbeeriment-results/

 

[j1n]

Very nice! Im going to keep using gelatin since its cheaper and has better results.

 

[Brulosopher]

Very nice! Im going to keep using gelatin since its cheaper and has better results.

Me too! Mainly because it's cheaper, I admit

 

[AK7007]

FYI guys, clarity ferm is ONLY for chill haze. It does nothing for flocculation/sedimentation. Ray's experiment mainly looks at floc/sediment. This comment thread discusses the issue further.

 

[Homercidal]

I have tried Gelatin once and it did nothing. I'm planning on doing it again, simply due to being short on time for this batch. It would be a handy step to get to know well. So far lately my beers have been going pretty clear on their own, given a few weeks to carb up.

This other stuff look decent, but not nearly as effective as gelatin.

 

[Psylocide]

I always fine with gelatin... it's floccing cheap and even my super-fine BIAB crush and no chill brewing results in near-commercial quality clarity. This brew has been kegged for less than a week.

 

[GotPushrods]

This is when I made the first interesting observation– the Clarity Ferm batch appeared to have attenuated 0.001 SG more than the gelatin batch. Huh. I did a little digging and couldn’t find any good explanation as to why this would be the case.

This is exactly what I've seen every time I've used Clarity-Ferm. I split every 10 gallon batch and the CF (my half) finishes 1 point lower. I use this quite effectively to combat my wheat-specific (gliadin) migraine-inducing intolerance. I don't brew with wheat, but it's cheap insurance since barley can be contaminated.

[soap box]
To all the breweries out there who love to add 5% wheat for head retention.... do you KNOW how difficult this makes it for me to research your website every time I want to try a beer?!?? If it's not a wheat beer, for &^%$'s sake, use flaked barley or CaraPils!!!!
[/soap box]

It is apparently not as discriminate at targeting only gliadin/hordein/secalin prolamins as we might think.

And yes, I would also use gelatin if I needed more clarity. I believe CF is marketed as a clarifier for legal reasons, but the intended market is gluten-reducing. The slight bump in clarity might be nice, but I wouldn't call it a great clarifier.