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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Re: Gelatin for clarification (Fred L Johnson)
  Re: Gelatin for clarification - effect on yeast? (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Gelatin for clarification - effect on yeast? ("Dennis Lewis")
  Re: gelatin (Alan Semok)


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Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 07:47:22 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Gelatin for clarification

Doug asks how gelatin clarifies beer.

It is my understanding that the active ingredient in gelatin,  
collagen (as is also the case for isinglass), binds negatively  
charged yeast (primarily) and other negatively charged proteins,  
creating large aggregates of these and thus speeding their  
sedimentation.

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 09:36:24 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Gelatin for clarification - effect on yeast?

Doug Moyer of Troutville, VA wrote:

> For those of you with pointy heads or insane amounts of brewing- 
> related
> knowledge, perhaps you can help...
>
> When you add gelatin to clarify beer, does it also cause the yeast  
> to drop
> out? Or will it leave the yeast alone to flocculate at its normal  
> rate?


Not a very pointy-headed answer, just one based on experience going  
back years.

Gelatin drops the beer clear, yeast included.  You can watch it  
happen in a carboy from the top down (how else?) over a period of  
hours.  Quite entertaining.  Shine a flashlight through from behind.

It does seem to leave enough yeast in suspension for bottle  
conditioning, but to make sure, I always slurp up a few slugs of  
yeast when racking to the priming vessel.

Jeff
- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943





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Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:40:37 -0400
From: "Dennis Lewis" <dblewis at dblewis.com>
Subject: Re: Gelatin for clarification - effect on yeast?

> From: "Doug Moyer" <shyzaboy at yahoo.com>
>
> When you add gelatin to clarify beer, does it also cause the yeast to drop
> out? Or will it leave the yeast alone to flocculate at its normal rate?

Gelatin will clarify the beer by electrostatically binding to the
yeast cells to cause them to flocculate and drop out. (Gelatin is
positively charged and yeast are negatively charged.) My understanding
is that the mechanism is similar to isinglass and gelatin is a whole
lot easier to come by. I found through some searching a while back
(which means I don't remember where now...) that a good ratio is a
whole packet of unflavored Knox gelatin for a 10-11 gallon batch (1
firkin). The key is to dissolve the gelatin in cold water, letting it
rehydrate fully for 10 minutes before heating. I heated it in a
microwave for a few minutes with the priming sugar, stirred well, then
diluted and cooled with some beer before adding to the beer to be
fined. That way it doesn't just go to the bottom in a lump, so to
speak. I've done this in firkins and it seems to keep the yeast pretty
well stuck to the bottom.

Now gelatin will only take care of yeast haze, not chill haze or
starch haze, so your results may vary.

Dennis Lewis
Warren, OH


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Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:55:33 -0400
From: Alan Semok <asemok at mac.com>
Subject: Re: gelatin


On Fri, 5 Sep 2008 16:15:05 -0400, "Doug Moyer" <shyzaboy at  
yahoo.com> wrote:

> When you add gelatin to clarify beer, does it also cause the yeast  
> to drop
> out? Or will it leave the yeast alone to flocculate at its normal  
> rate?


When I use gelatin I use it _specifically_ to drop the yeast out.
Not necessary with all yeast strains, and arguably not really  
necessary for any if you cold crash the beer, but gelatin works  
remarkably well and amazingly fast.

cheers,
AL


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