Clarity is viewed as an asset in my styles of beer, an indication of quality process and the brewer’s attention to detail. While bigger brewers have access to expensive mechanical filters, homebrewers often rely on simpler chemical options including gelatin, Biofine Clear, and Clarity Ferm. How effective is each at clarifying beer? That’s exactly what we’re looking at today!
5 thoughts on “The Brülosophy Show: Gelatin vs. Biofine Clear vs. Clarity Ferm | BRÜniversity”
Interesting and informative information Martin! For years I was a big gelatin user for clearing beers. But then I went down the rabbit hole of Low Oxygen brewing and discovered BrewTan B. While BrewTan B, which is a tannic acid sold mainly as a shelf life extender, it also does a fantastic job of bonding to proteins and will drop the wort super bright and then following cold crash, the beer is usually crystal clear, so I stopped using gelatin. About a year ago, I had a stubborn Kolsch thought that would not clear, so went back to gelatin and even with that it took forever to clear. So after some research into what I thought was chill haze, I have started using Clearzyme, which is the same product as ClarityFerm, just from a different vendor. Have to say, after watching your video, once I use that up, may have to just go back to gelatin.
I’m curious why isenglass wasn’t tested. Do people not use it any more?
6g/5gal of Irish Moss at 20min left in the boil followed by a post-fermentation cold crash for 2–3 days below 32℉ does the trick just as clear as gelatin or Bio-Fine— no oxygen problems, cheap, long shelf life, easy. (official instructions are 3g/5gal, but I found doubling that is more reliable and faster)
I haven’t used Biofine Clear, but I have some experience with the brand Cellar Science’s equivalent, Silafine. I typically use it in the keg, and pressure transfer the cold crashed beer on top of the 10-15ml dose. My first experience using this product, I just racked the beer over to the keg, and it took several days to clear up, but it never reached brilliant clarity. Then I did some reading about using this silica sol product, and I found that strong mixing of the product in the cold beer is recommended for the best results. Now I pressure transfer the beer on the sila fine, and PMB in the purged keg, and then once it is full, I violently shake the keg and invert it several times to fully mix the product in with the 32-33F beer. I am able to get brilliant clarity comparable to using gelatin within 12-24 hours at cold temperatures. I have also used it for last minute clarity fixes for sending beers to competitions. I put 2-3 drops of silafine in the bottle and then use a counter pressure bottle filler to fill the bottle. I was amazed to wake up the morning after bottling and seeing crystal clear beer in the bottle. It left a tight layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle similar to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale bottles.
I use Biofine Clear in all my ‘clean’ beers. I typically dose it at 1.6ml per gallon of finished beer added to the fermenter 1 day after hitting cold crash temps. Beers I want to be brilliantly clear I sometimes dose twice. Having the added benefit of fermenting in a Ss Brewtech Unitank, once the haze causing particle fall out after fining, I can dump to clear it out before kegging. It is interesting to see the difference in clarity comparing gelatin and Biofine. I may revisit using gelatin in some future batches. It’s been some time since I’ve used it. Great article, love what you guys do!