The Gelatin Effect – Pt. 5: Gelatin vs. Biofine Clear | exBEERiment Results!

[Brulosopher]

While hazy beer has become a trend of late, some homebrewers still take steps to ensure their homebrew is brite. Many have found great success fining with gelatin, but our friends of the herbivorous persuasion are forced to used other options, one of which is Biofine Clear. In this xBmt, we investigate the differences in clarity and character between the same beer fined with either gelatin or Biofine. Results are in!

http://brulosophy.com/2016/05/23/th...gelatin-vs-biofine-clear-exbeeriment-results/

 

[DrWill]

Thank you. Great xBmt! I'd have been surprised if Biofine had introduced a flavour component but it's good to have the data. If I'm reading correctly, the Biofine took longer to clear but was as effective as gelatin. Is that accurate? The photos do seem to indicate a slight difference in clarity.

 

[BobOki]

Man I love your xbeeriments. Break all the rules and still make better beer than me. Jelly.

 

[agrazela]

Two issues:

1. No untreated control, so how can we be sure that either treatment was better / faster than no treatment?

2. If this is about clarity, why serve in opaque glasses?

 

[Brulosopher]

Thank you. Great xBmt! I'd have been surprised if Biofine had introduced a flavour component but it's good to have the data. If I'm reading correctly, the Biofine took longer to clear but was as effective as gelatin. Is that accurate? The photos do seem to indicate a slight difference in clarity.

According Matt, the Biofine beer took maybe a day longer to drop as brite as the gelatin batch. Matt lives in Florida where the humidity is off the charts, the apparent difference in clarity in those pics is simply condensation on the glasses. Hilariously, it took him 3 nights and multiple shots to get those 2, and he still struggled! Haha.

Two issues:

1. No untreated control, so how can we be sure that either treatment was better / faster than no treatment?

2. If this is about clarity, why serve in opaque glasses?

1. It's a triangle test, meaning only 2 conditions. The first gelatin xBmt was comparing gelatin to no fining at all, and we have plans to do other finings compared to a non-fined control as well. This is more like a gelatin series, trying to flesh out the impact compared to other stuff.

2. Because it wasn't just about clarity, but whether either fining produced a distinguishable difference in overall character. Clarity is easily observable; flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel need to be measured.