BioFine Clear & Isinglass

[beltbuckle]

won't it gell up if we put it in the fridge?

[Cliff]

All of this has me thinking, though. Can anyone think of a reason why we can't make a large gelatin solution and store it long term, to realize the convenience of a pre-prepared product like BioFine?

Protective Colloid/Crystal habit modifying properties.

If a gelled jelly is frozen, the product will suffer from syneresis and on thawing the clear jelly will disintegrate with much exuded water. However, if water containing 0.5 % gelatin is frozen, the water will freeze as millions of small discrete crystals, instead of forming a single solid block of ice. This effect is most desirable in "ice lollies" and is also used in ice cream manufacture to obtain a smooth product with small ice crystals and also to ensure that any lactose precipitates as fine crystals avoiding the development of graininess with time.

Source:
http://www.gelatin.co.za/gltn1.html

[andy77]

I kegged a trippel fermented with WLP500, and a Cider brewed with us-05 last Sunday, and just took a sample of each. I used 4 teaspoons of Biofine clear in the bottom of the keg for each. Both are too hazy to see through. I've never fined these yeast strains with gelatin, so take this with a grain of salt, but with my process I usually expect to be able to see through the beer at this point, clear enough even to read through, but not filtered looking yet, that usually takes another week or two.

As of today, still pouring very hazy and opaque, much like an un-fined beer at two weeks. I know that these yeast strains are not very flocculant, but with gelatin, I usually expect any beer to sparkle after two weeks. My evaluation is that, at this dose, Biofine is inferior to gelatin.

Anyone else have experiences to share?

[popihead]

I don't know about tsp measurements but I thought they had said 1-2oz per 5gal batch. I dropped some in some barley wine but that won't be ready for almost another 9 months. I will keg some Golden Strong Belgians this weekend. They always take their sweet time to clear, ie a few months. SO I will do some testing and try and take some pics in glasses and post them to see if there is much of a difference over the next week or so.

Robert

[andy77]

Midwest supplies suggests "1/4 Tbsp (1/10th fluid oz. or 3 ml) to as much as 2 Tbsp (1 fluid oz. or 30 ml) per 5 gallon," so I split the difference at 4 teaspoons.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/biofine-clear.html

Please do post those pics.

Do you have experience with gelatin? If so, I'd be interested in your comparison.

[popihead]

No gelatin here. I have used pvpp in the boil, with whirlfloc, and keg but sometimes it leaves particulate behind which is not good at all. I want to avoid filtering and have been looking for new finings. I recently ordered some Fermaid and once it gets here, I will use that in the next brew. It's supposed to reduce haze and added at krausen. Has anyone tried it?

My big push is to try and get some of my beers to clear faster. Mostly the strong golden Belgians, because their haze lasts a long time. Also, if I can get clearer beer faster, they can be drunk faster. Not that a hazy beer ever stopped my drinking

Robert

[andy77]

Robert, try gelatin. Per my previous posts, most of my beers are clear (like read a book through it) in a week, and all are clear in 2. I danced around gelatin for a long time. I tried Super Kleer, isinglass packets, and filtering before trying gelatin, and now tried Biofine. None of them has matched gelatin. The other finings weren't nearly as effective, and filtering was as effective as two weeks with gelatin, but a much more involved process. It does all the things you described in you last post, and quickly.

For the record, I am not affiliated with the gelatin industry in any way.

[beltbuckle]

Have my second experience to share. The first time, I added the biofine clear to the fermenter like I do sometimes with gelatin during the cold crash.

This time I added the biofine clear to the keg just before transferring from fermenter to keg. I used near the max dose, about 25mL per 5gal keg.

The beer was a Scottish 70/- from BCS. I noticed during transferring into kegs that it was already fairly clear, but not bright. After the transfer to kegs, I shook the kegs to get it mixed in (and speed up carbonation).

5 days later I am drinking a very nice, clear, and carbonated scottish 70/-. I poured out the first pint or two. I don't really have a strong conclusion at this point, other than to say the first time (at a low dosage) in the fermenter it didn't fine worth a crap, and this time around I am getting better results but the beer wasn't that cloudy to begin with. The first beer I tried it with I did a side-by-side with Biofine Clear in one keg and gelatin in the other. Gelatin cleared much better and faster, I could not discern any taste difference.

So at this point I'd say it is no magic bullet, and if you do try it, try it near the max dosage to get any results... I think gelatin ultimately does a better job but I will continue to experiment until my 1 liter of Biofine Clear is gone.