How to Clear Your Beer

We have all started out by making beer that not only taste bad but looks bad. Overtime you may have improved the quality of your brew. This may have been through proper sanitation, improving your source water, excessive note taking, temperature controlled fermentation or proper wort aeration. Although these things may have improved the taste of your brew, it didn’t improve the appearance. Follow along as we take the necessary steps to turn that great tasting beer into a great looking beer.

Cold Crashing

Cold crashing is the number thing you need to do in order to have clear beer. It is also the easiest to do. Cold crashing is performed when the beer is fully fermented and ready to be packaged. The process involves lowering the temperature of the beer very quickly to near-freezing temperatures and holding it there for about 24 hours.

Biofin Clear

Biofine Clear is a clarifying agent designed to drop yeast and haze-forming particles out of your beer. Highly effective, Biofine Clear will make beer very bright and clear within a day or two of adding. Add between 1/4 tsp and 2 tbls after fermentation is complete, a day or two before packaging. This is a wide range for dosing, but some beers will require a higher dose than others. It is recommended to start with a small amount and add more if needed.

Gelatin

There are different schools of thought in regards to when to add gelatin to your beer. Personally, I prefer adding it to the fermentor during the second day of cold crashing prior to packaging, but others may add to the keg prior to serving. The beer must be cold (34-40 °F) when fining with gelatin. I let the beer old crash for 48 hours to drop out the main sediment, then gelatin fine for another 48 hours to allow the very fine sediment to drop out. There are a lot of options in doing this from buying individual gelatin packs at your local grocery store to buying brewers gelatin as your local home-brew store. Either way, it’s the same process.

Steps: (per 5 gallons of beer)

1. Add ¼ to ½ cup of cold filtered water to a sanitized measuring cup

2. Add ½ teaspoon of gelatin on surface

3. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to partially dissolve

4. Heat water to 150-155 °F (I usually do small 5-10 bursts in the microwave. You may also heat the water by adding very small increments of boiled water) DO NOT BOIL THE WATER, you will make Jell-O instead.

5. Stir and test temp with sanitized thermometer

6. Pour into fermenter or keg. Use care in avoiding unnecessary cold side oxidation.

7. Allow 24-48 hours to work its magic prior to packaging or serving.

As homebrewers, we pride ourselves on delivering delicious tasting beer to our friends, family and ourselves. Now you have the tools to insure that great tasting beer is also a great looking beer. Cheers!