Clarity: Part II

Last month, we focused on goosing your beer’s natural tendency to fall clear. This month, let’s take active intervention to save our beers from the remains of a yeast hootenanny. A quick trip to the grocery store yields the cheapest clarifiers—good old-fashioned, unflavored gelatin. It may be the odd, gooey collagen made from the leftovers of the meat-packing industry, but it’s surprisingly effective. Not bad for a grab bag of peptides and proteins.

Mix a half-pack of gelatin with a cup of cold water. Let it “bloom” for 10–15 minutes to yield jelly. Melt it with a quick 45-second zap in the microwave. Rack cold beer into a keg or carboy, and then add the gelatin. Shake or rock to mix. Settle for 48 hours or longer. Rack away (or blow off the few pints of snotty beer) and voila—clarity.

Gelatin works best against negatively charged, hazy particles like yeast, hops and cold break. Sometimes you need to get negative to achieve clarity, and that’s when you break out a two-part clarifier like Super-Kleer KC Finings. The solutions (chitosan and kieselsol) strip haze from the beer. It’s also stupidly quick. When I had a hazy, week-old IPA that had to be served in two days, a combination of Super-Kleer and 31°F storage made it shine like a crazy diamond just in time!

A word of dietary caution: Neither of these two measures are vegetarian friendly! For a vegan alternative, look to Biofine Clear, a silicic acid solution.

SEATTLE MUD PIT IPA
For 5 gallons at 1.075, 97 IBU, 10.3 SRM, 7.8% ABV

Malt
7.0 lb. Domestic 2-row
7.0 lb. Maris Otter
1.0 lb. Crystal 60L
1.0 lb. Munich malt

Mash
Mash at 150°F for 60 minutes.

Hops
1.5 oz Warrior | 15% AA | 60 minutes
1.0 oz Columbus | 14% AA | 5 minutes
1.0 oz Citra | 12% AA | 0 minutes
1.0 oz Columbus | 14% AA | dry hop

Yeast
Wyeast 1272 American Ale II

Extras
Super-Kleer Fining Agent ■