A word on protofloc…

[hoppyscotty]

I just buy protofloc tablets in large bags and stated a dosage of half a tablet for a 5 gallon/20litre batch. I stuck to that initially, but since the tablets rarely break cleanly in half so you usually end up with 2/3 with a 1/3 left over I just chuck a full tablet in now for simplicities sake and have notices absolutely zero difference between using a half to 2/3's of a tab vs a whole one. I also use in all beer styles...I've never cleared a hazy yet no matter how much Protofloc I use or how long I cold crash for!! The haziness in a hazy beer is not suspended 'stuff' in the beer that you might want to drop out. And when I brew a clear beer just protofloc and time at cold crash is successful in producing a clear as a bell beer. I've only used gelatine when I've been in a rush and don't have a week or two to give time for stuff to settle out.

 

[White Rose Al]

Very similar @hoppyscotty , I use protofloc tablets and see no issues in using a whole tablet (23L) batch. The beers are always crystal clear unless of course its a style such as Hazy etc.

No imparted taste issues between that and half a tablet.

Irish Moss different, measured out by weight/teaspoon volume etc.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

As above a whole tablet and no issues ever.

 

[chopps]

At the brewery I use 3 tabs in a 385L boil - so 1 tab per 128 litres works for me. Great finished clarity but with some additional silica based finings in the FV and casks.

For smaller brews at home I use a half in 30L, any more and I get 6 inches of egg drop soup that won't settle.
Having said that, there seems to be no detriment if I transfer a good amount of it (or all of it actually) to the fermenter.

 

[White Rose Al]

Interesting @chopps on the 30L, as I don't notice this in the FV, however it's very possible that moving it to a corny and not disturbing the trub I have missed it.

The beer is fine, might go back to 1/2 tablet to save some brass (Yorkshire thinking )

 

[The Baron]

Thats why I said not to use more than half a tablet in a standard 23 ltr brew in fact I try to use 1/3rd of a tablet as you will get a soup of trub in your wort. Yes it will settle out but is prone to not flocculating very well and will start to lift as you transfer it to the FV.
When I used a full tablet I sometimes got 2 inch in the bottom and as you put your syphoning tube with the syphon stick in it it would draw a fair bit through into the Keg/Bottles.
Yes you can use too much

 

[hoppyscotty]

Interesting, not experienced any thicker layer....well not that I've observed. I'm probably at the very edge of the dosing then as I typically do 20 litres with a full tab.

 

[The Baron]

Hi Hoppyscotty when I first started doing AG I bought AG kits which came with a full Protofloc/Whirlfloc tablet so I used them and noticed what was like loads of fluffy clouds floating in the wort and how much trub there was.
I soon realised not to use a full tablet and it improved the Trub amount so I got less Trub and this increased my amount to my FV too

 

[White Rose Al]

No issues with clarity on the final product @the baron ?

You are quite right, kits come with a whole tablet and no instructions about breaking it up

 

[Lesinge]

It isn't as simple as it seems, water is the main ingredient of beer so it is important to have the water at the right pH to effectively use whichever copper finings are being used.
Copper finings work best at around 5.0 pH the proteins are positively charged whereas the copper finings are negatively charged. The negative and positive are attracted and the proteins fall to the bottom of the kettle.
Getting the brewing principles right will save all the arsing around with gelatine or some other clearing agent in the fermenter.
I am in no doubt there will be those who say water treatment is bulltish just add a campden tablet. She'll be right.

I have yet to get into water chemistry beyond adding acidic malt when brewing a lager/cream ale (and a campden tablet to remove the chlorine) - although I should living in a hard water area. I use one full tablet of Protofloc and have never needed to use any gelatine or other finings later in the process which is good as I don't want any animal products just in case I meet a vegan who wants to drink my beer. Think I may give half a tablet a go just in the interest of experimentation.

 

[Lesinge]

No issues with clarity on the final product @the baron ?

You are quite right, kits come with a whole tablet and no instructions about breaking it up

I don't break mine up and use a full one, except in NEIPAs etc where I don't want it clear. I will give it a go though.

 

[Lesinge]

As @the baron says, half a tablet, crushed to a powder, added to a 5 gallon batch 15 minutes from the end of boil

Why do you crush it? it contains a dispersant anyway.

 

[Donegal john]

I just make beer and drink it. If I have a protofloc tablet I will add it if not I won’t but I still make beer.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Why do you crush it? it contains a dispersant anyway.

On one occasion when I first started using protofloc I put half a tablet in whole and after I transferred the wort to the fermentation bucket I found a lump in the trub that looked like the remains of the tablet. So I crush to make sure

 

[Cheshire Cat]

On one occasion when I first started using protofloc I put half a tablet in whole and after I transferred the wort to the fermentation bucket I found a lump in the trub that looked like the remains of the tablet. So I crush to make sure

You add it to the boil at 10 or 15 minutes from FO.

 

[Buffers brewery]

You add it to the boil at 10 or 15 minutes from FO.

Yes. My post was ambiguous. I added the (uncrushed) half tablet of protofloc 15 minutes from the end of the boil and after I had transferred the boiled and cooled wort to the fermentation bucket I found a half tablet shaped lump in the goop (trub?) at the bottom of the boiler when I cleaned it out. I don't find crushing half a protofloc tablet a huge burden on brew day, in fact it gives me something to do

 

[Nottsbeer]

Interesting thread. Probably like many others I've chucked random sizes of a tablet into my wort without thinking too much about it. For some reason I figured one tablet would do a 23l batch, so always used around half a tablet for my smaller brews, tho it probably ranged upto 3/4 tablet at times. Today I went for 1/3 tablet and noticed I had less "gunk" to transfer. The wort had settled alot better than previous brews...though this could also be due to cooling the brew then waiting until after lunch before transferring. Anyway, all future brews will have less protofloc added than previous brews.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I used half a tab yesterday. As you say, there are a lot of different parameters for every brew so it could be a host of different things, but this wort was very clear in the sample jar. More than normal (but could also be my prejudice having read this thread)

 

[DocAnna]

I used half a tab yesterday. As you say, there are a lot of different parameters for every brew so it could be a host of different things, but this wort was very clear in the sample jar. More than normal (but could also be my prejudice having read this thread)

Used half a tab for 46 litres as well today - much less trub and wort looked just fine clear. Still had problems with the pump filter blocking, so I removed the filter entirely once it was above the level of the liquid, I'm v tempted to run the pump in future without the filter, after all the brewzilla doesn't have a filter over the pump inlet.

 

[The Baron]

I use approx a 1/3rd of a tablet nowadays and have always run my pump without a filter, it has never blocked mind you I do use a hop spider then after removing it I stir the wort fast to whirlpool the trub into the middle, let it stand for 20 mins ish and I get hardly any trub into the FV