I almost always add gelatin to my finished beer, it is super effective at dropping yeast and a lot of haze forming particles out of the beer.





Usually I find that a couple of days after adding the gelatin the beer is crystal clear and looking great, I think clear sparkling beer presents better (unless its a Hefeweizen ) and non crafty drinkers appreciate it a bit more!





Most of the time (most being the important word!) my process involves dumping the prepared gelatin into the fermenter that has been sitting in the fridge cold conditioning for a few days, or preferably a week.





I have found the following method a pretty foolproof:





Utensils

1 heat proof jug - I use a 1 cup Pyrex jug.

1 thermometer - digital or other

1 microwave

1 cup water

1 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin - I use McKenzies edible gelatin

Put the cup of water in your heat proof jug. Sprinkle the teaspoon of gelatin onto the surface, let it sit for 2-3 minutes to bloom. Microwave for 15-20 seconds on high. Take the jug out and using your thermometer stir the mixture while taking a temperature reading. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the mixture has reached 68ºC Head out to the brewery and dump the liquid into your fermenter. Wait a couple of days, and then gently rack the beer into your keg or bottling bucket Fin!



Now I am writing all this because of a slight brain fart had me transfer an entire kegs worth of delicious bohemian pilsner with out fining it first.





This is what the beer looked like poured from the keg a few days after carbonation.









Not perfect looking is it? Its cloudy and that would get it docked points in a competition.





Never having added gelatin directly to the keg before I was a little worried, but I followed my process except I added the gelatine quickly to the keg, purged with Co2 and prayed.





A few days later this is the result....













It looks great, it is crystal clear and tasting fantastic.



But I think I will stick with adding it to the fermenter, much less stress!



