Finings

[marshbrewer]

I don't understand finings in beer. Bear with me.

I'm not talking about kettle finings, but things that are put in the FV to clear the beer.

What I don't understand is this. If my beer is ready to be packaged, and I pop in finings, it clears the beer. Then I package it, with primings, and the remaining yeast starts off again and makes the beer cloudy.

I this instance, how does the addition of finings give meer clear beer more quickly?

 

[xozzx]

If you were to keg the beer then it would stay clear. Never used it myself but I guess this is the reason.

 

[BeerCat]

I bottle my excess and its not often as clear as the keg. Perhaps its because i don't control the temperature of the bottles. Its annoying though and makes me wish i had more kegs to bottle from.

 

[lancon]

Why fine at all? Isn't it a purely cosmetic thing to do and could be said to be detrimental to the beer. And the murkiness of the end of the barrel and the morning after stomach were more down to dead fish/animal products than yeast.

 

[MyQul]

Why fine at all? Isn't it a purely cosmetic thing to do and could be said to be detrimental to the beer. And the murkiness of the end of the barrel and the morning after stomach were more down to dead fish/animal products than yeast.

Fining just speeds up the process (which of course with a commercial brewery time is money). The beer will be just as clear using gravity, given enough time

 

[lancon]

It does speed up the process of clearing the beer, but it also stops the process of the yeast continuing to clean up the beer. Isn't it the case that it was only the advent of glass vessels that started the urge to clarify the beer (or wine), and in this case it was along the lines of white flour/bread, white sugar, having no real positive reason (and questionably, detrimental to the product).
Also fining in cask doesn't always work as it should and drop to the bottom, one occasionally has a layering of clear/unclear/clear ale in a racked cask.

 

[Dutto]

......... Isn't it the case that it was only the advent of glass vessels that started the urge to clarify the beer (or wine), ............

I never thought of that, but it's the kind of logical argument that I like.

It also fits in with the old time joke when a customer complained that his beer was cloudy.

"What do you expect for a tanner?" replied the barman "Thunder and lighting?"