using finings

[robbo79]

Hi all,
does finings really make a difference? I currently leave for 10 days in fv and brews come out fairly clear, is it worth using finings?

If so when do you add to the brew?

[mickhew]

If your brews already come out clear then no need. I tried a sachet of Beer Brite in the barrell ,just before syphoning the beer in, Coopers Bitter, and was crystal clear in 2 weeks. My Wherry was still a touch cloudy after 2 weeks in the barrell, with no finings, 2 different kits though, so not sure exactly how helpfull the beer brite was, or this post is to you ? !

[D_C]

Yeah, i'd agree if youre happy with you results so far, i wouldn't bother. Why put extra s#!t in if it's not needed? I recently got a keg with a tap at the bottom and the lovely folks at my not-so-lhbs said that finings were a must in this case, but I tried it with a coopers IPA & after 10 days in the keg, can't say i can tell much difference - it's still pretty cloudy.

All my bottled beers have been crystal clear without finings, given enough time. I imagine my IPA will be clear enough in a month... if there's any left .

If so when do you add to the brew?

When it's ready to keg, add, stir gently then leave 24hrs before kegging were the instructions with my finings.

[Jaz_Allen]

Gonna bump this because I would like more opinions.
When is the best time to add finings to beer if you intend to Keg? I recently upgraded to Cornies and force carbonation so a secondary ferment is now less essential. Do I want to add finings in the Fermentation Vessel, allow to clear for a few days then transfer to Keg, or do I keg up the beer and then add finings in the Cornie? I added gelatin to my Norfolk Great Eastern in the keg, but I'm not tapping that bad boy for another week so as of yet have no experience either way.
Thoughts gents?

[OldSpeckledBadger]

No experience of using either finings or Cornies but if you're forced carbonating then you can afford to clear all the yeast down before kegging so finings may help speed up the process. This is just a guess though as my preference is to condition naturally.

[Jaz_Allen]

Anyone experimented with pre-keg finings vs in-keg finings? I have in-keg finings for my first brew but I was going to try pre-keg finings with my next batch. The results of this experimentation won't be evident for a few weeks though.

[mickhew]

Harris Beer Brite says... add to BARRELL just before adding beer if kegging. Add to FV the day before when bottling. Just came home and checked my sachet, that's what a nice guy I am ! Full instructions on sachet. Why not buy a sachet to test ? £1.60 from Ebay

[Jaz_Allen]

What a remarkably nice guy you are, so it seems that either way is acceptable, I would guess they say add to keg just because that makes it easier and slightly reduces the risk of infecting your beer. I am using gelatin instead of beer brite, I've been told it's a better fining and its also a lot cheaper (about 2 quid for 12 brews worth of gelatin sheets).
I am going to commence as planned with FV Finings in my Cooper's Lager so I keg keg up as clear a beer as possible. I'll post the results of my experimentation here.

[D_C]

Another week on and the finings seem to have done sod all, so I'm not going to bother again, I don't really want cows' guts and crushed beetles in my beer anyway, i'd rather drink the yeast heh heh!
IPA tastes great by the way, should be even better when i get back from working away in 3½ weeks, oh aye