The confusion comes because there are different types of particles that cause different types of hazes and different types of finings are used to remove them.
- Copper finings originate from seaweed (irish moss), have a negative charge and are added in the copper (kettle) to help remove protein.
- Auxiliary finings can also originate from seaweed or can be silicate based. They have a negative charge and are added to the fermenter, conditioning tank or cask to help remove protein.
- Isinglass finings originate from the swim bladders of some tropical fish. They have a positive charge and are added in the conditioning tank or cask to help remove yeast.
A large reason for the action of the finings is due to the charge they have. Opposite charges attract so negatively charge finings attract proteins (which are positively charged), and positively charged finings attract yeast (which is negatively charged). This is why finings cannot be used interchangeably and finings made from seaweed will not help remove yeast. Neither will PVPP so don't start on that. Or silica gels either. If you're after more information I recently posted at great length about hazes caused by non-microbiological particles, and part two on microbiological hazes is in the latest issue of the SIBA journal and will be posted here in due course.
Is anyone working on an actual alternative to Isinglass? Is there a market? Fungal chitins? How expensive? (£1000 I should think. I'm not paying it, etc.)
ReplyDeletePeople have looked into a few things but I've not heard of anything even coming close to being commerically available.
Delete@therealspratt mentions pectin. And I see there's this going on: http://www.ebc-symposium.org/uploads/mycms-files/documents/2014/presentations/BSG/L16_FJ_Methner_EBC_BSG.pdf
DeleteGets my goat this... I hear copper finings conflated with isinglass a lot... and sometimes even from folk who think they're brewers. The BBC piece is not the first time we've seen this, and nor will it be the last.
ReplyDeleteA lot of brewers are now using "vegetarian finings" - meaning the aux/silica stuff. Which I admit I do lazily repeat. Albeit I give a more complete story to anyone who asks... most folk just want a yes/no on a) "is it vegan?" b) "is it supposed to be this hazy?" :)
Most of the "vegan finings" folks I know of are dropping practically all yeast out in a cold crash in tank. Using silica to help clear protein.
Removing yeast (and other hazes), before packaging, without isinglass, is not a hard problem (although there are issues) The biggie is the demand for clear "real ale" in the current setting.
DeleteAgree with all the above ...& yet (after a few hiccups early on IIRC) Marble seem to consistently manage it & when I spoke to Dave Porter once, he did too in his own pub (I.e. they just waited with the cask in stillage until it finally dropped clear-ish). I'm sure yeast choice, having CT's, etc could all help, & as a drinker I'd be ok with a tiny amount of yeast in my pint, but the recent vogue for 'London Murky' yeast-soup ain't for me.
ReplyDeleteNo mention of using gelatin finings? Fairly common post fermentation in the US for breweries without centrifuge or filtering equipment.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting, someone from NZ mentioned gelatin on twitter too. I guess isinglass isn't as widely available outside of the UK. Here though I don't think anyone uses gelatine commercially as isinglass is widely available and works better.
DeleteGelatin(e) is what you end up with if you don't look after your isinglass.
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