Newbie Update

[Kealia]

Yes, I do. I have a friend that has Celiac Disease and part of what Clarity Ferm does is remove the gluten.

It also removes proteins that cause chill haze so the beer is clearer. It's not cheap, but works well and does not impact flavor at all.

But, if you're looking for clarity, gelatin is much cheaper.

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[Luthrose]

Thank you! Is there a specific type of gelatin, or a beer specific gelatin you're referring to? The only gelatin I can think of would be Jell-O lol.

[Kealia]

Just plain old non-flavored gelatin. I use Knox brand, but anything will do. You just don't want flavored gelatin - or maybe you do

Here's the process I follow when I use it, which was not developed by me but taken from the knowledge of others who has been using it long before I came across it:

- Chill beer as cold as you can get it
- Use 1 tsp for 5 gallons, scale accordingly
- Heat 1/2 cup - 1 cup water to boiling and let cool to room temp (or if you aren't worried about your water simply use warm tap water and avoid the boil)
- Add gelatin to water (no stirring) and let it bloom for 30 minutes covered
- After 30 minutes is should be dissolved well, stir lightly
- Heat on stove or in microwave until temp reaches 170 (any higher and it becomes ineffective as I believe it denatures the gelatin - there's a lot of science here I don't understand but you can read up on this if you like). I use a microwaveable measuring cup and use 15 seconds blasts, stirring each time.
- Pour hot gelatin into carboy, keg, bottling bucket, etc. with your cold beer
- After 24 hours or more, rack to final serving container (keg, bottles, etc.). If you kegged your beer, you should be able to pour off the first pint or so which will contain the gelatin sludge and then pour clearly after that.

FAQs:
- Yes, there will be enough yeast left to bottle prime
- Yes, gelatin contains animal product so if you're vegan/vegetarian look for other options
- Use only unflavored gelatin. I use Knox that I pick up at Safeway
- Yes, it really works!

[HerbMeowing]

my gelatin process for 2.5G batch size ...

- sprinkle 1/2 tsp Knox unflavored gelatin evenly into a measuring cup w/~2 oz tap water
- rest ~15 minutes for blooming
- 20 secs on HIGH in microwave (no boiling!)
- pitch

[Luthrose]

I have been meaning to reply to everyone, but obviously with the forum down I haven't been able to. I just wanted to say thank you! Some updates...there were sales, I ordered kits, and if my calculations are correct (I highly doubt they are), I have enough brew kits to last me until the holiday season. I ordered my cousin a kit, and myself an extra fermenter, a mexican cerveza which I'm going to try and dry hop some Citra, and at the same time I'll be fermenting an American Light Lager (ale) for my dad for this summer. I currently have a Vienna lager conditioning in the fridge which I have NO idea how it will turn out, since I tried doing things backwards and added priming sugar after bottling. In case you were wondering, they gushed. I placed them in the fridge over night and added priming sugar the next day, then put them in a cooler to let them carbonate.

Almost all of my Irish Red is gone, which I'll post a pic of. It was beautiful and tasted great!

My summer fermentation will be an Oktoberfest along with Bewitched Amber Ale, and while those are conditioning I'll be brewing a Pumpkin Lager. So, I can see how this hobby can quickly and deliciously get out of hand.

I'm thinking with the Mexican Cerveza, if I add some Citra Hops after the first week of fermenting, it should add some citrus notes, am I right there? I also think with this batch I'm going to try the Knox gelatin idea to keep the least amount of sediment out of the bottles.

I was also thinking of grabbing some Beano for the American Light Lager to drop the Carbs down a bit for him, and possibly not use any of the boosters at all to give it a lower ABV %. Any thoughts on these ideas?
I got the Beano idea from a MrBeer video post they did.

[Luthrose]

Here is the Irish Red I mentioned.

Sorry for the sideways pic, I don't know how to fix that.

[bpgreen]

That's a nice looking beer even if it's sideways.

Sounds like you're hooked.

So say we all (ok. Wrong scifi series, but seemed appropriate)

[Luthrose]

Oh yeah I’m absolutely hooked! I’m really loving how different it tastes compared to commercial beer. I also found some citra hop pellets and the Knox brand gelatin! I saw a bunch of other hops though and I wish I’d taken a picture to remember them so I could do research on them.

[Luthrose]

Does anyone subscribe to any brew magazines?

[Beer-lord]

Does anyone subscribe to any brew magazines?

I get Zymurgy in the mail and Brew Your Own digitally. Can't say that for me and decades of brewing it's as useful as it use to be but I like hearing about new ideas and techniques as well as gadgets.

[berryman]

Does anyone subscribe to any brew magazines?

I was until recently getting Brew Your Own magazine. It has a lot of good tips and recipes no matter if beginner using extracts or all grain. I always liked the DIY projects and copied quite a few. https://byo.com/

[jayelif]

I was until recently getting Brew Your Own magazine. It has a lot of good tips and recipes no matter if beginner using extracts or all-grain. I always liked the DIY projects and copied quite a few. https://byo.com/

I am a beginner, I was wondering where I should start about brewing, The link you shared, should I go with it or do you suggest something else

[HerbMeowing]

I am a beginner, I was wondering where I should start about brewing, The link you shared, should I go with it or do you suggest something else

Good place to start is the book _How to Brew_ by John Palmer and ask questions ...

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1

[swenocha]

Callback to an earlier discussion... I use clarity ferm in most all of my batches to gluten-free/reduce my beers. Not really an aroma, flavor, or mouthfeel difference of note in my experience. I will note I have only used it in all-grain fermentations, but considering it is added at yeast pitch time, I'm not sure it would matter if it's all-grain or extract, but there may be reasons that I'm not thinking of that it wouldn't work on an extract batch. In my mind, by the point you are pitching yeast, it's just wort regardless of extract or all-grain.

[Luthrose]

Hey all, been a while. Thank you btw for your replies about the magazines. I think I'm going to subscribe to Brew Your Own sometime soon.

Quick update, I brewed the Vienna Lager style from the BrewDemon kit, the same batch I mentioned kept spewing because I decided to put the sugar in after I'd already bottled. Anyway, it came out alright. I'm not a huge fan of the taste, it has a very wood-sy taste to me. And it came out darker than I expected (the best before date was 11/04/21) so not sure if that affected it at all or if it's just naturally a dark beer. The taste has grown on me, it's just definitely not one of my favorites.

I have one 1-liter bottle left of the Irish Red that has been in the fridge since about March 1st, and I'm excited to be drinking that in a few days for my birthday.

So now I need some advice. I'm getting ready to brew an American Light Lager style, and a Mexican Cerveza style. I bought probably about 6 or 7 packs of different hop pellets for dry hopping, and I was curious what your opinions would be on a better pairing for each? For the Cerveza, I'm looking for a not-so-subtle fruit flavor, such as lime (considering I'm hoping to make my own version of Corona Extra with a Lime wedge). For the American Light Lager, I want to keep it pretty simple, since it's for my dad, but I don't want it to be just same-ol same-ol if you get my meaning. Something subtle but still noticeable. Here is a list of the hop pellets I have: Citra, Mandarina Bavaria, Calypso, Lemondrop, Summit, Comet, Hallertau Blanc, and Falconer's Flight 7 C. Based on the aromas they list, I was planning on saving the Summit hop pellets to dry hop my Oktoberfest style when that comes down the pipeline. What are your suggestions? Also, they come in 1oz packs. When I go to add, do I add the whole pack or no?