As I mentioned in a previous post, my Lenten Bock was delicious, brite and clear. It tasted great but then the inevitable happened. It started to pour slightly cloudy, indicating it has gotten near the yeast layer at the bottom of the keg. At this point, I would usually dump the keg and clean it up for the next batch. I really don't enjoy beer with a yeasty character so I decided to try a little experiment with gelatin.
Recently, Brulosophy discussed the results of their exbeeriment regarding adding extra gelatin to the keg (4x the normal dose) to see if they got an even clearer beer without any compromise to the flavor according to tasters.
From the article:
My inability to reliably distinguish a Helles Bock fined with 1/2 teaspoon (1.75 grams) of gelatin from one fined with a full packet (7 grams) suggests the amount of gelatin used had little if any perceptible impact.
While these xBmt beers were identical in terms of aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel, such was not the case when it came to appearance, as the beer fined with a higher amount of gelatin was noticeably clearer than the one fined with the standard amount.
Is this a method we can use to create a dense, tight yeast cake at the bottom of our unitank fermenter/Kegs and extend the life of the batch? I don't know....
So, I rigged up a simple system to add a 4x gelatin dose to my just getting cloudy keg of Bock just to see what might happen. Credit: Short Circuited Brewer on Youtube
I got some monoject syringes (larger 50cc size) and slightly cut the tip. I warmed up some water and added 1 tsp gelatin to a container then stirred it up to dissolve as best I could. I drew up the solution to fill the syringe.
It would be wise to sanitize everything at this point.
Next I got a small piece of beer line and hooked it to a gas ball-lock on one end and the syringe on the other end.
I connected a handy dandy ball lock coupler from Picobrew that opens the ball lock so liquid can flow freely through it.
I gently injected the warm gelatin solution into the ball lock until I saw it starting to flow out of the picobrew coupler. This eliminated any O2 in the line.
Next, I purged the pressure off my Bock keg.
Finally, I connected the rig and added the gelatin to the keg. I purged with CO2 just in case.
I decided to wait 2 days to see what happens.
I will update this post in 2 or 3 days....
Update 3/31: So I poured some of the beer into a small glass and while I did see a nice improvement in clarity, it was not as brite as the picture above. Still an improvement. The interesting thing was to my palate it seemed much less yeasty in flavor, making it enjoyable to drink again despite the slight turbidity. I'm not sure how many more pours I will get but I will try to keep you posted here....