HELP! Filtering/Fining Suggestions for a Kristmas Kölsch

[pmanz]

HELP!
I brewed a Kölsch that was supposed to be for Christmas. I pitched 2 smack packs of Wyeast 2565 for 5 gals (woke up and decided to brew so I didn't have a starter) and it fermented like a muther. After it reached its terminal gravity, I crashed it to 34˚ and let it sit for a week. Then I racked it into a corny with 1 oz. of Isinglass (Crosley & Baker I think) and lagered it for about 1 week in a corny at 34˚with a shortened dip tube before I attempted to rack it into a serving keg. I kind of messed up and accidentally shot some CO2 back through the shortened dip tube into the clearing keg. I decided to let it settle out and try again in a day or two rather than to try racking the beer after I had kicked up the trub. For some reason it transferred itself (I must not have relieved all of the pressure on both kegs or something) because when I went to try to rack it again it was already in the serving keg.

I said F-it and decided to carbonate it thinking it would only affect the appearance and not the flavor so much. I pulled the first taste off last night and it tasted like crap in my opinion. I had my wife taste it and she said yeasty, my neighbor said yeasty too.

Now to the question: What can I do to save this beer. My CFO (the wife) says I can't get a plate filter so the only thing I can think to do is try to hit this really hard once or maybe twice before Christmas with Isinglass again (maybe double the dosage) and hope (if I'm careful when transferring it) that it clears out but I'd like to hear any other thoughts or suggestions.

Paul

[ZZ]

Sounds like you sucked up the junk that had dropped in the serving keg. I assume that one doesn't have a short tube (like JP).

The first couple of pints will pick that stuff up and the rest should be ok, I think.

[BadRock]

You might think about using Gelatin. Here is a link to a thread about that.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/vie ... ht=gelatin

[pmanz]

Thanks. Towards the end someone mentioned gelatin being especially good for dropping out yeast so that sounds like the ticket.

thanks again,
Paul

[Mylo]

Yep. If it is yeast that is making it cloudy the gelatin should work like a charm.


Mylo

[Thirsty Boy]

Sorry man but I'm not confident.

Gelatin or isinglass will probably help, but that 2565 is an absolute bitch to get out unless you filter.... and IMHO at least Kolsches made with 2565 that have any yeast whatsoever in suspension, taste like crap.

Its an unfortunate coincidence that the least flocculant yeast I have ever used is also the one that tastes the worst in suspension... yeasty, plasticy, medicinal, nasty ... but run it through a filter and hey presto - delicate and fresh.

I don't know about a plate filter either .... they sound expensive to use. you could try something like this, which just uses a 10 inch household water filter canister and a washable 1 micron absolute pleated polyester filter cartridge. Should be good for 500 litres of filtering; and with the addition of an el-chepo carbon filter cartridge, you can use the housing to filter all your brewing water too.

I don't use the method described on the site I linked, I filter via gravity directly out of the primary fermentor. no gas wasted and its simple and easy. I spend maybe 5-10 more minutes of effort to get crystal clear filtered beer, than I would if I was just racking to the keg anyway.

I can only assume that like every other bit of brewing equipment, in the US you will b able to get one of these a hell of a lot cheaper than I was able to here in Australia.

Diamond bright every single time... its got its attractions

Thirsty

[Crut]

Not to Hijack your thread, hopefully you got what you need, but I got a question thats been burning my brain this morning. Can you use a vinbrite filter for uncarbed beer?
http://www.harrisfilters.com/vent_vinbrite.htm
I have one of those for my wine filter, but have never tried it on beer? any thoughts or experiences on it with beer?