Author: Marshall Schott

At this point, Brülosophy regulars are well aware that we’re big fans of using gelatin as a beer clarifier. Besides being incredibly easy and quick, it’s super cheap– I still have half of a box of 32 pouches left that I ordered back in November of 2014, and I brew quite a bit. By my calculations, this puts me at just under $0.10 worth of gelatin per 5 gallon batch, a small price for those of us who prefer our beer to clear in short time.

During a conversation I had about gelatin with John Palmer a few months ago, he asked if I’d ever used more than the 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallon ratio I discussed in the first gelatin xBmt article. Seeing no need to fix something that isn’t broken, I admitted I’d never strayed from this method, but that I’d heard from many brewers who used amounts ranging from 1 teaspoon to a full tablespoon, all who reported success. It was around this time the first Short & Shoddy batch was done fermenting and I added the same gelatin solution I use for 5 gallon batches to the 1.75 gallons of beer. Later that day, it was crystal clear, leaving me curious if the larger amount of gelatin somehow expedited the clearing process.

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the impact the amount of gelatin used as a fining has on beer.

| METHODS |

I needed to get my beers brewed for the quickly approaching National Homebrew Competition, and due to a friendly rivalry with bloggers Derek Springer from the Five Blades Brewing and Dan Paris from the InBounds Brewing, I designed a Vienna Lager recipe that differed greatly from any I’d made before. Since I rarely do anything without a little twist, I decided to submit this beer into a few different categories.

NHC Vienna Lager & Czech Amber Lager & European Amber Lager & Märzen

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 11 gal 60 min 19.8 IBUs 12.2 SRM 1.052 1.012 5.2 % Actuals 1.053 1.01 5.6 % Fermentables Name Amount % Vienna Malt (Gambrinus) 20 lbs 96.97 Pale Chocolate Malt 10 oz 3.03 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Magnum 26 g 60 min Boil Pellet 11.2 Select Spalt 30 g 10 min Boil Pellet 3.1 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature German Bock Lager (WLP833) White Labs 73% 48°F - 55°F

Two days before brewing, I threw together a single large starter using 2 packs of WLP833 German Bock yeast.

The following evening, I gathered my liquor, adding the minerals and acid per the Bru’n Water spreadsheet recommendations, then milled my grain in preparation for brewing the next morning.

On brew day, I hit the flame under my strike water kettle then retreated inside to start a pot of coffee.

Within 15 minutes, the strike water was to temp and I mashed in, nailing my target mash temperature on the nose.

While I have great faith in Bru’n Water, I like to periodically measure mash pH readings just to be sure everything is still on point, and since I’d be submitting this beer to competition, I figured it was a good one to test. About 10 minutes after mashing in, I pulled a small sample into a cold glass, chilled it to room temp, and confirmed I’d hit my desired pH.

After a 45 minute saccharification rest, I collected the first runnings, performed a batch sparge, then quickly brought the full volume of wort up to a boil.

The 1 hour boil proceeded like normal with hops being added according to the recipe. Once complete, I quickly chilled the wort to 75°F/24°C, split it evenly between two sanitized 6 gallon PET carboys, then placed them in my chamber controlled to 50°F/10°C to finish chilling. Believe it or not, I still ferment some lagers cool. It took about 6 hours for the worts to stabilize at my target fermentation temperature, at which point I pitched an equal amount of yeast starter into each fermentor. Signs of activity were present 18 hours later.

The beers fermented and, no big surprise since nothing was different at this point, appeared the same throughout. After 4 days of activity, I ramped the temperature in the chamber to 68°F/20°C and by 1 week post-pitch both beers appeared to have finished fermenting. I let them sit a couple more days before taking an initial hydrometer sample, which showed both had dropped to the same target FG.

Noticing no off-flavors at this point, I set the chamber temperature to 32°F/0°C and began cold crashing. The following afternoon, it was time to introduce the xBmt variable. Having heard stories of people successfully using 1 packet of gelatin, which amounts to 2.5 teaspoons (7 grams), I was curious to see if even more might expedite the clarifying effects and opted to dose the high amount batch with a bit more.

For this xBmt, I would be comparing my normal gelatin dosage of 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons of beer to 2 full packets, approximately 10x the normal amount, both of which I dissolved in 1/4 cup of hot water. The difference in appearance was quite apparent.

The gelatin solutions were added to the beers and the carboys gently swirled to ensure adequate distribution. Anxious to see how things were moving along, I pulled small samples from each and was surprised with what I observed.

While neither batch was bright, the normal amount beer seemed to be more clear than the high amount batch. I let the beers lager another 2 days then proceeded with packaging.

As the carboys slowly emptied, I noticed something stuck to the inside of the one the high amount batch was fermented in. It looked like a blob of… Jell-O!

The full kegs were placed in my 38°F/3°C keezer where they were hit with 40 psi of CO2. Twenty hours later, I purged the kegs and reduced to my preferred serving pressure of 14 psi. Another day later, after tossing the first few ounces from each keg, I pulled small samples to compare clarity differences.

The standard amount beer continued to show signs of better clarity while the high amount beer maintained a noticeable haze. Could this be result of the “fluffy bottoms” theory I’d read about? If so, I’d expect the high amount beer to be demonstrably briter as I continued to rid that keg of the fluff. I let both sit another full week before presenting them to tasters for evaluation, the clarity difference at this point only more amplified.

| RESULTS |

In all, a panel of 19 people consisting of BJCP judges, experienced homebrewers, and craft beer drinkers participated in this xBmt. Each taster was blindly served 1 sample of the beer fined with a normal amount of gelatin and 2 samples of the beer dosed with a large amount in opaque cups then asked to identify the one that was different. Given the sample size, 11 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance. All said and done, only 8 participants (p=0.28) made the correct selection, suggesting a beer fined with a normal amount (1/2 teaspoon) of gelatin is indistinguishable from one fined with 10x the amount.

Following each tasting session, I poured the samples from the opaque cups into clear glasses and asked the participants to again select the sample they thought was different based on appearance alone. Every single one easily identified the odd-beer-out, many expressing surprise to discover it differed from their original selection that did not account for appearance.

Preference ratings among those who were correct on the triangle test, meaningless as they may be given the xBmt results, were split 4-4 between the beers.

| DISCUSSION |

The issue of beer clarity, or perhaps more accurately beer haze, has been the subject of much debate lately with one camp believing fining and filtering reduces quality while another camp claims the opposite. The main purpose of this xBmt was to evaluate the impact of gelatin amount on beer, and while obvious differences in clarity were observed between the two conditions, participants were unable to reliably distinguish one from the other. This, to me, is where the most interesting implications lie, as it adds to evidence that utilizing fining agents, at least gelatin, to assist in clarity is not detrimental to the beer’s overall quality. In fact…

I packaged this beer a mere 5 weeks after brewing it, sending 12 bottles off to Seattle to be judged in 4 different categories of the National Homebrew Competition. One of the seemingly more organized judging sites, I received word a couple weeks later that my Märzen scored well enough to advance to the second round! When I received my scoresheets in the mail, I was pleased to discover the judges thoroughly enjoyed the beer and gave it a combined 40 points, which put it in third place!

Are you a finer, a filterer, or a long-time lagerer? What has your experience been using different amounts of gelatin or other finings? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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