Isinglas

[Smh77]

I've never tried Isinglas before and I was curious how it's used. I'll be kegging an IPA in a couple of weeks, does it go in the keg? Or should I throw it into secondary? Also (if it matters)I'll be dry hopping in secondary so does that create issues with the isinglas?

I've also never used Irish moss, would that be a better alternative to go with on future brews to clear things up? Or are they complementary of each other?

[Mad Scientist]

Well, at this point, you are too late to use Irish moss, as it need tobe used in the boil. Not sure on isinglas usage though...I think you may just pour it into secondary. I know it does not go into the keg.

[beerking]

Isinglas should go into the secondary. If you put it in the keg, you need a dip tube that is cut about 1/2-1" short of the bottom, as you will get a thick sludge on the bottom, which a full length dip tube wouldpick up and deposit in your glass. :eek:

You can do the same thing with rehydrated, unflavored gelatin.

[Smh77]

Thanks, do you have a preference between islinglas and the gelatin?

So far all of my beers have been been very hazy and merky looking, will using irish moss and one of the other clarifiers be a dramatic difference for me? Or is there another culprit that causes cloudy beer? For example, does insufficient vorlaufing cause problems?

[beerking]

There are many potential sources of cloudy beer.
Wild yeast, and many bacterial contaminations will make cloudy beer.
Insufficient vorlauf may make cloudy beer.
Incomplete mash can make cloudy beer.
Not enough calcium in the water can lead to weak yeast which will not flocculate well.
Some yeasts are poor flocculators, and require longer to clear.

You need to provide more info for us to try and troubleshoot your cloudiness.

[Smh77]

OK, I'll try.

I always clean my equipment with PBW and One-Star and I feel that I generally do a good job of keeping things pretty clean and sanitised.

I've only made 2 All-grain batches of beer and have tried to vorlauf but I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. I run out the wort until I can't see any husks coming out anymore.
I haven't done an iodine test during my mashes but I've done done multiple step infusions for both batches (i think that's what it's called) with a protein, sacc, and mash out. I've tasted the mashes before sparging and they've been sweet.
All of my extract batches were cloudy but they were all very dark too so it didn't bother me as much.
As far as water goes, I use tap water, and I have no clue how to read a water quality report. All I know is every year our newspaper tells us we have the cleanest tasting water in the country.

Now when it comes to yeast I need lots of help. I've tried using WYeast Activator packs and dry yeast. I've never made a starter. I've always stirred and swirled the wort trying to get as much air in there as possible and then pitched the yeast. I've had lots of stuck fermentations in the 1.020 to 1.030 range.

....And I've never used a clarifying agent either.

If there's any more information I can give you that would be helpful let me know and I'll gladly give it. Thanks for helping! :)

[beerking]

First off, it sounds like you are not running a vorlauf long enough. Rather tahn no husks, you want to run it until the wort clears up.
The first couple quarts of wort should be cloudy from lack of filtration. With time, (usually by the end fo the 3rd or 4th quart) you should notice a definite clearing of the wort.
Otherwise, there is a good chance you are getting starch into the boil kettle which will remain to cloud the beer.

Second, just seeing if the wort tastes sweet is not enough to tell if you have conversion. Keep tasting it, if you do so, and do a proper conversion test, you will develop the experience to taste (and see0 when conversion is complete, but until you have done this for a while, I would stick to the iodine test.

Third, call your water department and ask for a full mineral analysis..if you can't find it online already. Many municipalities post it. Tell them you are a brewer and are interested in PPM of Ca, Na, Mg, Cl, SO4, Carbonate, and hardness or alkalinity. Take a look at chapter 15 of How to Brew: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html for a full description. One thing john leaves out is that you also want enough calcium for fermentation after the mash, and the mash "uses up" a lot of Ca. You really need 100 PPM or more, even though most books give a level of 50 PPM or more.

Finally, if you use liquid yeast, use a starter (or buy 2 packs). If you use dried yeast, give it proper rehydration, which is described on the www.morebeer.com site.

[Smh77]

Thank you very much! :) I really appreciate your help and I'll investigate all that info!

[Mill Rat]

My experience is that if you find the chemist that's stuck running all of these mineral concentration tests, they're beyond thrilled to find out that there's someone who's actually interested in the numbers that they've been jotting down in ledgers that no one ever looks at. That you're brewing beer is almost always a big plus. You'll probably spent 3-4 times longer on the phone talking to chemist because they won't shut up, and you don't want to get surly with someone who's just done you a favor.

[Smh77]

Something else just popped into my head....Should I put the islinglas in first and then the beer or should I let the beer age a little more in secondary and then add it?

[seafra]

I've found the later the better with clarifiers. It simply gives more time for yeast and other matter to naturally fall out of suspension. Therefore, there is less left for the clarifier to grab onto and they can more effectively drag down the more persistent stragglers. That's the job of clarifiers: dragging stuff to the bottom.
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