The Knox Gelatin family is from my hometown. They donated an entire city block along with a large building to the city to use as a school . That is our major field for the High School sports like football, lacrosse, soccer and track meets. The building is now the middle school. This happened a very long time ago and part of the stipulation wad that if it was no longer used as a school the city has to give it back to the family. Sorry for the long comment but thought some may find it interesting

This might have been brulosophy’s finest episode yet

Whirlfloc @ 5 minutes. Keg, refrigerate overnight, add gelatin. I'm not patient enough for time to help in most cases. Usually, but not always, crystal clear. Thanks for the video.

I use Whirlfloc and love it. Pop in in the boil and that's it!

Loving the channel. Congrats on your one year.

Thank you for posting this video. It was really helpful!

Whirlfloc 10 min before the end of the boil and gelatin during cold crashing, left there 1 week before packaging. I made a weissenbock crystal clear once. Good stuff

Long time home brewer and now Commercial brewer here... when clarity is important (ie. not for hazy styles) we use Whirlfloc or Irish Moss in the boil. Then for some styles like light colored lagers, we also use Biofine, along with cold-crash and lagering to enhance yeast flocculation. It's really just to produce our lagers more quickly. Keep your lagers cold for a while and they'll clear up naturally. it just takes time.

Interesting to see the comparisons between the agents! My preferred method has been irish moss at boil and plain old time. I drink most of my batches alone, so 2 months of lagering is not out of the question. With irish moss I get consistently clear beer, and for the ultra crisp lager I might go all out with gelatin :)

I use kettle finings in the form of a Protafloc tablet. Then I let time do its thing in the bottle. I don't use any finings at this stage and pretty all of my beers end up crystal clear. However, I'm surprised there was no mention of Isinglass (derived from the swim bladder of sturgeon fish). That has been used for years in home brewing and as finings in cask beer.

Protafloc in the boil, gelatin in the fermenter. I ferment in corny kegs and use a (purged) pressurised soda bottle to inject the solution into the keg via the gas post. I also use Will's "forgot the proportions and check on Brulosophy" system too. Every time.

Would like to see a video of you reviewing agar-agar va gelatin vs biofine for clarifying. I understand agar-agar can be incredibly effective in some hard to clarify ciders, I’d like to see how it performs in beer :)

Irish Moss or Protafloc 10 minutes before flame out, then gelatin after a 48 hour cold crash. I find that gelatin tends to stick to the sides of the keg or bottle, so I give it a shake after another 48 hours then leave it alone for a couple of weeks. Works every time.

Note link to cold crash in the video is about mash times not the link to cold crashing.

Thanks!

My normal process is Whirlfloc in the boil. However, I have used both gelatin and biofine and prefer the results I get with gelatin 100%. I will also add that normally I don’t use either and if a beer is conditioned long enough, I found that most of them drop crystal clear, cheers 🍻

I’ve done gelatine for years with great results. The wife developed celiac so we are going to try clarity Ferm on this next batch

Whirlfloc tablet 10 minutes left in the boil. Cold crash In the past Biofine Clear.... Recently i got an extremely good deal on Silafine. [Negative ly charged Silica] So I was very interested in this process as Biofine is not cheap. Silafine seems to work very well with the above processes 😊

My fining option of choice is time!

Great vid. I use whirlfloc @ 15min. I inject my keg with 15ml biofine using a meat injecton needle and a gas quick disconnect to the liquid port befoe kegging. No O2 egress into the sanitized keg this way.

I used to use just whirlfloc toward the end of the boil and PVPP as a fining agent. This worked well but then I saw a few videos where they used whirlfloc and PVPP as a kettle fining and Biofine later during cold crash. I've adopted this method and find my beers are clearer than ever. PVPP goes into the kettle at about @10min, whirlfloc at around 2 minutes and then Biofine on day 2 of the cold crash. It works a treat for me. I only used gelatine once and the beer had a strange texture. It tasted fine but felt a little bit like oil. I don't know if it was the gelatine or something else but I am not keen to try again. Oh yes, I fine in the fermenter and not the keg. I don't want any of the dropped out stuff in my kegs.

my method of clarifying is a good cold crash but stepping the temperature down to 35F over a few days and time. I hate adding additional steps to brewing that open up to O2 and other contaminates. This method does give me mixed results and your impatient but I brew a lot and kegs sit at low temps for a while before I get to them.

I make a lot of Saisons and find that after fermentation, leaving the beer in the fermenter for 2-4 weeks after its done really helps to clarify it. But this may not be suitable for all styles of beer.

whirlfloc at the end of the boil and add 10 mL of Biofine when kegging. Seems to work really well. I also used floating dip tubes for most of my kegs.

Nice my favorite clarifier is Murphy and Sons super clear but I can never get it here unless from a brewery that uses it. Comes in a 23l jug

A head brewer here. I would not use anything but biofine. All my beers are vegan friendly, and need to be. Yes, biofine takes longer, but if you use more (like, 1kg/10hl, that's 10g/10L) it takes 2 days. If you are racking a homebrew into a keg with biofine, your beer after carbonating using your setting and forgetting method will be wonderfully clear. But hey, if you don't serve your beer to others, who cares, do what you want. If however, you do serve beer to friends, I'd suggest biofine. Then there is no problems.

Clarity ferm isn't a fining agent. It's an anti haze enzyme. So it doest effect yeast. But poly phenols.

I use clarity ferm mainly for the gluten reduction but is still hazy can I use gelatine aswell along side the clarity ferm?

I actually use clarity Ferm regularly. I don't chill by beer. I rack it into a stainless steel fermenter and let it cool on its on. Clarity Ferm seems to prevent chill haze. makes cleaning easier on brew days, because I am not having to clean all the equipment it takes to chill beer. It's a set it and forget it type of strategy.

Gelatine added to the keg 24h into a cold crash. Added using a purged, pressurised (25psi) coke bottle with carbonation cap on top, connected with 20cm beer line and a couple quick disconnects. Low to no oxygen exposure… and I find it fun for some reason 😅

Is there a fining agent that works without cold crashing? (maybe Sparkolloid?) Something I can add to the fermenter at the end, a few days before bottling. If gelatin works at 60-something degrees F, just not as well, that is acceptable. Thanks.

I use a combo whirlfloc or Irish Moss then finish with biofine. Easy peasy clear beer. I don't care if it is perfect!

I use Carrageen. Its Vegan and when you put it 10 min before your boil ends, it gets the best results.

What about the good old cheap option called time? I have used gelatin and it works so great and fast, however with letting beer sit longer I have gotten super clear beer with about 1 week longer of sitting in the fridge.

I take a 3-step approach to brewing clear beer. 1. use a hop spider 2. I vibrate my beer for 30-minutes after transfer to my fermentor. This is done by wrapping a waist vibrator around my fermentor and most of the free floating particles drop to my mason jar which is disposed of prior to pitching my yeast. 3. Yes, gelatin into the keg during bottling. I make probably the clearest beer you've ever seen by doing this.

Would you consider doing a test with silafine? It's basically biofine clear but I've had really good results with it.

There are plant-based gelatins as well (e.g. kelp)...are they any different than animal gelation?

I'd like to know how bentonite stands up with these other fining agents

Whirlfloc at 10 minutes left in the boil. Gelatin in the serving keg (floating dip tube) once it is completely chilled (takes about 48hrs if I didn’t cold crash in the fermenter).

Brand new to homebrew, I added gelatin to a half cup of the wort while still hot, and transferred to small (10L) pressure fermenter when cooled to pitching temp. Just about to cold crash and then bottle. I'll comment on the results on your next vid.

FYI - The link at the end has nothing to do with cold crashing.

What about irishmoss/whirfloc/protofloc?

Isn’t microwaving distilled water extremely dangerous? If it’s pure, it won’t boil until you introduce something. So you won’t know how hot is really is and can be volatile and explode in your face when adding something else (like gelatine).

I've been vegan for longer than I've been a homebrewer. Thanks for reminding me to avoid other people's beers--they might have gelatin in them! I've never really had trouble with clarity. Between whirfloc, having a clear beer, and recipe design, beer styles that should be clear seem to be clear. I don't even cold crash. I do use silifine for some beers, which I believe is the same thing as biofine. I've never checked expiration, but I'm going to assume that expired silifine, if there's any difference at all, just won't work as well. I'm not worried about it being a contaminant or anything.

Unfortunately in the US brewing industry any silicate(BioFine) is required to be filtered out. Not sure how well this is followed, but it is what it is. Homebrewers never fear the FDA cares not.

I use biofine. Being paranoid about o2 I build a seringue to gas connect adapter and add it to my conical before cold crash. It works fantastically. I bottle all by brews and zero residue on bottle bottom even after weeks.

I use all three in most of my beers (probably overkill, I know). Clarity firm at yeast pitch, gelatin in the FV once cold crashed, and biofine in the keg.

Protein rest, mash recirculation, Whirfloc/Irish moss and Cold with time. This layered process works for me.

Love the channel. Gelatine for sure. Not sure how the synthetic options are really “better for the environment”

I have found that my beer clears on its own if I don't bottle it until a week or so after fermentation has completely stopped. I get a little bit of sediment but if I'm careful to pour it stays clear . Just saying

I’m new to brewing and love your channel by the way, as making my learning process so much easier and also the pod casts help loads too. But in the uk on Amazon we can buy this which is cold water soluble Gelatine I may give it a go. Mr.P Ingredients CWS Gelatine Cold Water Soluble 250g 200 Bloom Powder Stabiliser Gelling Aerating Agent Gluten Free Instant Halal Kosher Non-GMO.

I'm not clarifying, but I'm aware of beard hairs in our beer.

I have yet to use any of these. To be honest it never really crosses my mind.

Definitely gelatin cheap easy and again is there really a shelf life?

It supouse that gelatin must flocculate and melt, so the final beer should not have gelatin or it would be a minimal amount...

I think the fear about fining agents is a spillover from winemaking where fining agents can easily strip out tannins which are an important flavor component in wine, but are rarely present in beers. My question is, why don't beer makers use bentonite? I have brewed some esoteric wines such has habanero wine that I put bentonite in during fermentation and it clarified almost as soon as the fermentation was done.

I used clarityferm on a recent brew and I must say I'm surprised by your results. Mine was perfectly clear. Did you follow the instructions on the package? You're suppost to add the stuff at the same time as pitching your yeast, instead of after fermentation.

What about sparkelloid or chiatin that we use in mead.

I suspect there were some issues in how the Biofine was used here. It's not a 100% solution if you have a stubborn yeast pitch, but it clarifies most beers in a couple of days when you use the right amount at the right temperature and mix it well.

Super

Since yeast are living organisms does their use run afoul of the vegan philosophy?

I ferment under pressure so I just use a pressurized bottle and push additives in whenever I want. No o2 to worry about. Still very new to the hobby and had biofine in a kit I got already, so that's what I used. It's meh and I'll be using geletin from now on. Thanks

Good video. Seems a little odd to include in a comparison with gelatin and Biofine… it’s supposed to specifically reduce chill haze.. so I would expect it to be less effective in general than the post ferm fining agents, as it’s more specific.

FIltration is only one way to get clear beer. I will explain it from a german point of view! The mind is, to brew beer and after that get rid of that stuff which isn't desirable. It's a very "english" kind of thinking. The opposite way - and its throughout the german kind of thinking - to reduce the haze stuff durning the mash, with a protein rest. The problem now is, the most today malts are not made for that. Too low total protein content and too high modificated. You would get a thin and watery beer with few head. Another thing is, protein rest makes only sense if you use lager (bottom fermenting) yeast. During protein rest (even at higher temperatures above 55°C/131°F) huge amounts of FAN get free, Ale (top fermenting) yeast have no usage of such huge amounts. It means, the beer shelf life could be reduce, because bacterias like these FAN stuff. Lager yeast can consume that, and during typical cold fermentation there is very few space for bacterial growth. What to do? Chit malt as base malt is best for traditional german style mashing with protein rest. But chit malt has low flavour it self, so it has to be mixed with munich or something roast/caramel malts else or have to be decocted for chit malt only grists. Another solution could be use high protein malts, but these are extremly difficult to buy today. There are no doubts because because of low BHE when using chit malt or high protein malts, the protein rest makes it possible to use the protein as apart of extract, +75% BHE is no problem, like mashes with standard low protein malts and single infusion or hochkurz mash for these malts. For me myself, I use irish moss (which is negative charged) in the kettle, then I decant and drop the still fermenting wort at begining into the main fermenting bin(yes, its "double drop", brits know what I mean) and after fermentation I use gelatine (which is positive charged) and let it settle down in an extra bin for about some days up to a week. The main thing for me is, I can not digest gluten. Protein rest helps perfectly for that. If I have to avoid it because of malt quality, I must use a combination of irish moss in kettle and gelatine after fermentation to reduce the gluten content. and yes, it works! But Protein rest would work even better at all. PS: during protein rest the same enzyms will be activated as during adding clarity ferm. As I said the only problem is malt quality to perform that.

I always use gelatin!

So, gelatin wins. But what can you do for people who bottle? We don't have kegs. What's the solution for us?

I use biofine to good effect and store it cold. I have found it more effective than gelatin.

Gelatine, while being more finicky, is the clear winner.

I've never had much luck with gelatin! I use brausol now and I've had better results.

1/4 tsp of biofine is nothing though. 5-10mL in 5gal is what's mostly used.

Gelatin 100% it just works 😊

Gelatin and Chino Cannon. The best way.

Irish moss is missing from this test.

I should note upfront that I am a professional trained taster and I don't mean to be a troll here. With that said, I disagree with the belief that there is "no" sensory difference between beers that have been fined or not fined for clarity. There is some. Perhaps the wording should be very minimal, or hardly noticeable. It depends on the specific beer of course, but beers that contain residual yeast, at least to my taste, are different. I also suspect that they have a slightly lower pH as yeast itself is acidic. Can I smell it? No. There is a threshold to this but hazier beers will display what I'm talking about in taste. Can the "average Joe" taste it? I think not. But to clarify this just a little bit more, if you simply eat some brewers yeast does it have a flavor? Yes, it does. If there is some remaining in the beer wouldn't it then add something? How many parts per million does it take? I don't know, but that also depends on the beer because there are so many other factors involved, and the particular taster involved. The same would be true for residual hop particulate and proteins from the grain. So while I generally agree with the idea that there's no difference in flavor or aroma between fined versus un-fined beers for most people, I think it's not quite accurate overall. Interestingly enough, this is one of those things that science just can't prove.

I'm going to be that guy, lol That was the best by date on thee gelatin, not use by date, so it isn't "bad" after that date.

Just use gelatine, what they don't know won't hurt them unless allergic to it, and if a friend you probably know that already.

I just lager for a month or two

Не вижу никаких проблем, использую агар-агар.

Maybe agar agar could be a vegan alternative to gelatine

Irish Moss.

Ah yes, gelatin.. only took me looking up how it’s made to know I don’t want that in my beer. A bit more than hooves. But to each their own! Actually they make vegan gelatin now, sounds like a new exbeeriment to try!

Gelatin.

Gelatin all the way.

I have a taste difference after I clear my Beer....... I use alpha amylase and brew down to .997 it taste better when not clear as I think the haze contain flavor and sweetness....... after I clear with gelatin I loose some flavor and get more bitterness........ Try brewing down to .997 and redo your taste test......

Option 4: don't clarify your beers.

Please, make a whirflock or not episode 🍬🍬🫡