Removing Tannins

[Beerbilly]

I was brewing a Southern English brown yesterday, Mashed out over direct heat constantly stirring until the thermometer read 170. I cut off the heat and stirred a bit more, then ran inside to eat dinner (I smoked a few racks of ribs). After a fine meal I ran out to the garage and about crapped my pants. The thermo read 185! There must have been hot spots in the grain mass, and I should have kept stirring to fully incorporate. Anyway it must have sat for about 10-15 minutes(during my break) so I am more than likley looking at cringe city.

Is there anyway to remove excess tannins from a brew? I noticed folks used gelatin for the same purpose in wine and polyclar has been been said to do just that. What are your opinions?

This is going to be a pretty sweet beer so I may not even notice..

[BigEd]

First of all, have you tasted it yet? Temperature alone is not going to cause a tannin expraction problem. If that were the case any decocted beer would be undrinkable. I'm assuming from what you say that it was the mash itself that was at 185F for 10-15 minutes. If that's true then I wouldn't worry about tannins in the final beer. The excess temp may cause a bit of a reduction in body but overall you should be OK.

[BrewDog]

How thin was the mash at that point?
Did you pH adjust the sparge/mashout water? The dark roasty malts in a brown grain bill will help, but depending on how thin the mash was will determine if there's going to be any astringency. Decoctions typically don't get astringent because the grist is thick.

[Mill Rat]

I recall a post here that gelatin finings will knock out a good bit of tannins. I've not yet had to address that problem, so I can't speak from experience.

[dparsons]

I had this happen to me. The beer came out astringent so I used some gelatin in 2ndary after FG was reached. It worked fine. It carbonated a little slower than average but still carbonated.

[Beerbilly]

I'm guessing I will be able to tell if the beer did become astringent after the FG is met but before carbonating?

I have used gelatin in the past with good results. From what I have read it looks like gelatin removes one type of tannin while something like polyclar will remove another type (usually the type associated with chill haze).

Heres my plan of attack. Let the beer reach FG, then taste a sample to determine the tannin level of the beer. I will add gelatine and coldcrash the beer in a secondary. After a week or when the gelatin settles out I will taste a sample if all is good then I will krausen and bottle.

Hopefully this will work. Thanks for the help ya'll!

[dparsons]

Originally posted by Beerbilly
I'm guessing I will be able to tell if the beer did become astringent after the FG is met but before carbonating?

I have used gelatin in the past with good results. From what I have read it looks like gelatin removes one type of tannin while something like polyclar will remove another type (usually the type associated with chill haze).

Heres my plan of attack. Let the beer reach OG, then taste a sample to determine the tannin level of the beer. I will add gelatine and coldcrash the beer in a secondary. After a week or when the gelatin settles out I will taste a sample if all is good then I will krausen and bottle.

Hopefully this will work. Thanks for the help ya'll!

Sounds like a plan. Give it 2 weeks to settle. More time won't hurt and may help.

[Beerbilly]

The beer has been at 33*f for a week now. I added both gelatin and polyclar. I sampled right before adding the two compounds and the beer did indeed have some(not as much as I would have though though) tannin issues.

I pulled a sample this morning and there is a huge difference! I do not want to add anymore fining agents as I am scared it will begin affecting the good flavors that are in the beer.

So I had a question about priming. I want to make a priming wort, then krauesen this batch with it. What is the usual method for this? I was planning on making a half gallon or so of wort with some light DME and the same hops I used in the brown ale. Let it come to high krausen then toss it in the keg along with the brown ale. I might add some maltodextrine to the priming wort as well to help mask the slight hint of the remaing tannins.

What do yall think?

[Beerbilly]

I forced carbed this batch and it turned out great. I will definatley use the polyclar/gelatine mix again if I run into tannin issues.