Fining with Isinglass

[denimglen]

Anyone got tips on this stuff (Magi-fine 300)

I've tried it a few times now and doesn't seem to do much.

Mixed about 1 gm in about 200mL water. Added to cold (10C) beer. Left a couple days. Kegged. Still cloudy.

Wort is pretty clear leaving kettle. Doesn't seem to be any infection or anything.

[Stu McKinlay]

Just the mash for dark beers, all of the liquor for pale beers. Clarity, conversion, fermentation, to avoid tannin extraction...

[denimglen]

Where are you getting calcium chloride?

I've seen Gypsum and calcium carbonate in our favourite black and white baggies.

[Mike Neilson]

How much acid are you using for the batch? do you do it per 1kg of grist? or what how do you use Tartic acid? I use 5.2 and occasionaly I get a cloudy beer 1/10?

[James P]

How does lactic acid rate in modifying the PH?

[Stu McKinlay]

Carl Vasta uses it, I believe. And Brendon 'Nowhere Man' MacKenzie was using it a while back.

[Stu McKinlay]

1g per 20L.
I drink so many of my beers at cellar temp that I'd hardly notice chill haze. The last pale one I drunk a bit of from the fridge was my Belgian Pale (Achouffe yeast was clear, Chimay one was mud - so it must have been yeast haze).

[JoKing]

I thought I threw the cat amongst the pigeons saying that you can taste the 60min hop addition in beer!

1: pH 5.2 is good stuff - I stopped using it because I cant afford it.
2: Mash pH is a possible contributor to haze i.e. tannin extraction and bonding to proteins.
3: If you have clearish looking beer - dont muck around with water chemistry: especially if you havent got a water report from your council - you can ruin a beer that would have been fine without any witchcraft.
4: 99% of NZ water is perfect for making 99% of beer styles.
5: There is no 5... I just didn't think 4 was enough numbers.

[Stu McKinlay]

Of course you can taste a 60min addition. Bitterness is flavour.

3 is a very very good point. Something Stephen Plowman mentioned to me a long time ago. I wasn't making any additions but he told me of someone who was making really good beer, besides all the mucking around with water that he was doing (Stephen and the man himself will probably now who I'm talking about but I can't remember his name in this baby haze - like a chill haze but it happens at all temperatures and time of the day).

[JoKing]

I know who you are talking about - and his beers are great! Thanks goodness he stopped tinkering with his Pilsen like water supply. He's been "lurking" between making good to great beers since the first time I met him.

[MrC]

You can definately taste 60min hops. That's why I stopped using Pacific Gem, I don't like the taste.

[jt]

Finings ?
I've been in & out of finings over the last few years.
Kettle finings, always since I started using grains - you've got to - right ? I've used the brewcraft irish moss in those luverly little black & white baggies and yea, it's ok. For a brilliantly clear wort, Ithere's no comparison - Koppafloc. Clearest transfers to fermenter ever with this.

Fining in the fermenter's optional yea ?
If I read this datasheet right, you've got to mix it at 5C or below and allow it to rise to no more than 8C over the 30 minute mixing time ?
Sounds like 30 minutes mixing in the fridge or chilled water bath with a stick blender - which doesn't sound like my cuppa hop flavoured beverage
For the number of beers that don't come out as clear as an Auckland, Brewed Under License Euro-lager, I think I'll forgo the pleasure of a 30 minute cold mix for now - and close my eyes when I drink a cloudy beer !

[NVIOUS]

I use fermenter finings in a few of my beers with great success.
I dissolve it in a cup of boiling water tip into the fermenter at 4-8 degrees. Give it a little stir and leave it for a couple of days.
Absolutely everything drops out. With no loss of body at all.