9 replies to this topic

[johnpreuss]

Ok so I picked up some Knox plain gelatin at Walmart. It has 4 envelopes in the package. 1/4 oz each. How much do I use and what's the preparation? I know it's been in treads before but I'm really busy tonight and would love to be able to just do it in the morning before work.

[brewman]

1/2 tsp for 5 G of beer. What I do is put it in a cup of cold water for 30 min, then microwave it for 1 minute and let cool. Put in secondary container and rack on top.Dan

[ChefLamont]

I do like above only I heat on the stove to ~160 degrees and hold it there for about 10 min. Then I add to a keg of uncarbonated beer that is already cold.

[Mindblock]

+1.....I also have one keg with a sawed off dip tube that can serve as a brite tank.....after letting the chilled gelled beer settle for a few days I transfer to a standard serving keg.....using this method I never encounter a buggered up dip tube from gel in the keg.

[ChefLamont]

I never transferred. All of my serving kegs have ~3/4" off the bottom. I never had a problem either.

[djinkc]

I do like above only I heat on the stove to ~160 degrees and hold it there for about 10 min. Then I add to a keg of uncarbonated beer that is already cold.

I never transferred. All of my serving kegs have ~3/4" off the bottom. I never had a problem either.

I usually microwave the water to almost boiling and stir in the gelatin. I'll assume you don't want a boiling gelatin/water mix - I screwed up some pies doing that a long, long time ago.......... Never transfer since I do a reasonable job kegging - unless it will travel. Hot gelatin in a carbed keg can be fun, be ready to move really fast to beat the foam. It'll work though.

[Genesee Ted]

+1.....I also have one keg with a sawed off dip tube that can serve as a brite tank.....after letting the chilled gelled beer settle for a few days I transfer to a standard serving keg.....using this method I never encounter a buggered up dip tube from gel in the keg.

How do you replace the stem?

[Mindblock]

How do you replace the stem?

I don't replace the stem....simply remove the stem, pull the "out" tube, saw an inch or so off of the bottom of the tube, and put it all back together. FWIW, I didn't shorten all of my "out" tubes simply because I do not gel all of my beers, and I have never clogged a tube without gelatin being in the mix. The other place where my "brite tank" comes in handy is with dry hopped beers. I dry hop in the keg with the shortened "out" tube (whole hops in a hop bag) and instead of pawing around the keg trying to retrieve the hops I can simply (and aseptically) push the beer with CO2 into a waiting (sanitized and CO2 filled) keg for serving.....no exposure to oxygen or airborne "critters" which could infect the beer.Sorry for the slight hijack.....

[Stout_fan]

Tubing cutters work easier. Finish out the ID with a small rat tail file.OR you can just smash it with an axe. :PThe problem I have is that just before kegging a batch, a process that takes three, I Starsan all my kegs daisy chain. Cutting the dip tube would leave that much sanitizer in the bottom. Upending to dump, would cause oxygen infiltration into a keg full of CO2.I guess you have to pick the hill you die on. Whatever works best for you. A friend who is National rated brought a keg of beer he brewed to a camp out. It would have been a great mild except for the taste of chlorine cleanser. Yup, he forgot about the dip tube, ruined his attitude for the whole weekend. So be careful when you do this. I have one corney with a red rubber top section. I was thinking about using this ONE keg to use with a cut dip tube for racking and gelatin addition.

[Poptop]

I gel in secondary or primary if I'm not harvesting - ONLY. I gelled a keg once and got a clogged pour for the whole keg. Of course, this is NOT saying that I didn't screw something up royally. I'm good at that, it's true.