Advice on Finings to clear a beer

How to fix floaties?

  • Finings

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • Second Cold Crash

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Cheese Cloth

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ignore and enjoy

    Votes: 5 83.3%
  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .
Box of Rocks

Box of Rocks

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Recently brewed an English mild with Safale English Ale S-04, cold crashed, and yet there are major floaties. Pretty much a new thing for me since my process usually produces clearer beers. Have a Kolsch that has wheat and cold haze, but no floaties for example.
So my question is - use finings, and how? Or, cold crash again? Or just bottle it all with cheese cloth on the output of the bottler? Or ignore them and just enjoy?
 
Let the bottles sit in the refrigerator longer? I’m a fan of cold and time. I did use gelatin in the keg for an Irish ale recently, not sure how to do that with bottling. Or just enjoy them now :)
 
Floaties or chunks that won't settle are typically kept in suspension by dissolved co2 coming out of solution on the small points of the material in suspension (nucleation). The best way is to cold crash to nearly freezing and forcing the co2 back into solution. If you have tight control, just below freezing (30-31F) is the most effective. The beer will clear, but it may take a while to be brilliant without some help from clarifiers. Cold temperatures and time is your friend in this situation.
 
Another vote for cold temps and more time.
 
Box of Rocks said:
Recently brewed an English mild with Safale English Ale S-04, cold crashed, and yet there are major floaties. Pretty much a new thing for me since my process usually produces clearer beers. Have a Kolsch that has wheat and cold haze, but no floaties for example.
So my question is - use finings, and how? Or, cold crash again? Or just bottle it all with cheese cloth on the output of the bottler? Or ignore them and just enjoy?
Click to expand...

major floaties? do you mean large particles or just alot of haze? finings wont really do anything for large particles, just cold and time will settle it. my experience with s04 is that it takes a while to finish.

if you are just seeing haze, then a fining agent will speed up the process. allot of people use knox geletin. it does work. I have been using Biofin Clear for about 9 months now and wont go back. clear beer in a week, stuff is magical.
 
Josh Hughes said:
Let the bottles sit in the refrigerator longer? I’m a fan of cold and time. I did use gelatin in the keg for an Irish ale recently, not sure how to do that with bottling. Or just enjoy them now :)
Click to expand...
you put the fining agent in the fermentor when you cold crash it, then wait 3 days or so. it should fall out in that time.
 
Minbari said:
major floaties? do you mean large particles or just alot of haze? finings wont really do anything for large particles, just cold and time will settle it. my experience with s04 is that it takes a while to finish.

if you are just seeing haze, then a fining agent will speed up the process. allot of people use knox geletin. it does work. I have been using Biofin Clear for about 9 months now and wont go back. clear beer in a week, stuff is magical.
Click to expand...

Are you putting the Biofin in the fermenter or keg?
 
I've had that happen with S-04 as well, although nothing to excessive. I just transferred like Ward described above and all was fine in the end.
 
More care in future transfer processes.

This batch, ignore or filter by the glass (e.g. paper towel. Cheesecloth is not fine enough. Muslin maybe).
 
S04 is my go to for English styles. It's generally finished in a week and never fights me, I really like it.

For us over here, cask ales are mostly served clear; really crystal clear and polished. For us, it's a two step fining process, there's a 'fining adjunct' that goes into the fermenter for the last 24 hours and then isinglass at racking.

I don't like isinglass personally but for that finished polish there is no other game in town.

I would also say that for most uses the adjunct would be plenty, the beer going into the cask looks excellent so in a non-commercial setting I would probably be content with just that.

The times are a'changing for sure and some styles are accepted as hazy, not English milds and pales though. Haze is generally considered a fault in those.

I'm also a fan of time and temp as has been said, we don't have the time though.
 
I am a big fan of lager time, no matter the style. Lagering any style of beer will round it out and drop anything of high density out of suspension. Finings work great but I am a purist when it comes to beer.
 
We use S-04 on several of our beers. The "floaties" in our case was a result of the high flocculation of the yeast ( a good thing). It clumps nicely and falls out of suspension. The issue we have found is if we don't leave it sit long enough there still is some yeast in suspension, it will settle out in the can or bottle. Any disturbance of the bottle / can results in floaties coming out into your glass. Leaving the beer sit at a cold temperature a little longer will alleviate this issue and being careful not to siphon the yeast into the bottles. At the end of the day, it is only yeast and will not hurt you. Just carefully pour it off into a glass and watch for the sediment as your pour.
 
Use two teaspoons of unflavoured powdered Gelatine in a cup of water. Put the water in a saucepan and sprinkle the Gelatine on top and allow a few minutes to drop without stirring then heat and you then stir the liquid just enough for the gelatine to dissolve but no more, do not allow it to boil (your not making a jelly). Take away from heat and cool then pour onto your beer that has been cold crashed at a temperature just above freezing, leave for three days, do this every time you want a clear beer and the results will be guaranteed.
 
Has anyone tried Sila Fine by Cellar Science? Do you recommend it? Thanks
 
pacobw said:
Has anyone tried Sila Fine by Cellar Science? Do you recommend it? Thanks
Click to expand...
basicly the same stuff as biofine clear. silicon based acid(not to be confused with silicone) that has a negative charge and sticks to particles. can clear beer in less than 24 hours.

been using biofine for about a year now. works great and no clean up from it like gelatin can cause. only downside is the cost, at about $75 a gallon and it has a 1 year shelf life.

Tigermoth said:
Use two teaspoons of unflavoured powdered Gelatine in a cup of water. Put the water in a saucepan and sprinkle the Gelatine on top and allow a few minutes to drop without stirring then heat and you then stir the liquid just enough for the gelatine to dissolve but no more, do not allow it to boil (your not making a jelly). Take away from heat and cool then pour onto your beer that has been cold crashed at a temperature just above freezing, leave for three days, do this every time you want a clear beer and the results will be guaranteed.
Click to expand...

not a fan. used it for a couple years. too cold and it wont melt, too hot and you get goop. always gunked up the heating rod and cooling coil in my fermenter.
 
Minbari said:
basicly the same stuff as biofine clear. silicon based acid(not to be confused with silicone) that has a negative charge and sticks to particles. can clear beer in less than 24 hours.

been using biofine for about a year now. works great and no clean up from it like gelatin can cause. only downside is the cost, at about $75 a gallon and it has a 1 year shelf life.



not a fan. used it for a couple years. too cold and it wont melt, too hot and you get goop. always gunked up the heating rod and cooling coil in my fermenter.
Click to expand...
One thing do not do with Biofine is freeze it the silica comes outta solution :oops:...:p
 
Tigermoth said:
Use two teaspoons of unflavoured powdered Gelatine in a cup of water. Put the water in a saucepan and sprinkle the Gelatine on top and allow a few minutes to drop without stirring then heat and you then stir the liquid just enough for the gelatine to dissolve but no more, do not allow it to boil (your not making a jelly). Take away from heat and cool then pour onto your beer that has been cold crashed at a temperature just above freezing, leave for three days, do this every time you want a clear beer and the results will be guaranteed.
Click to expand...
Trialben said:
One thing do not do with Biofine is freeze it the silica comes outta solution :oops:...:p
Click to expand...
lol, yup. it does warn against that.
 
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