It may just be a figment of my imagination, but I really think the brew is getting lighter as it sits in the secondary fermentor. In an effort to kill bad stuff we’ve let the brew sit in the carboy for almost a full seven days now, and plan to add in the gelatin either tonight or tomorrow afternoon. I am concerned that the hops we added into the carboy haven’t full dissolved, but instead have turned to mush and remain atop the entire mix. I’m not sure how exactly what’s going to happen with the hops when we add the gelatin.

To be honest, I’m not really sure what’s going to happen when we add the gelatin. As Arlen asked, “If the gelatin sucks out all the solids, what happens to the yeast? We need yeast in the bottle.” I hope we don’t have to take yeast samples from the bottom of the carboy and drop a little into each bottle. That sounds like a nightmare. The likely solution is that we’ll siphon from the bottom of the carboy.

Once the gelatin is added the brew must sit for another 2-3 days, which will give us plenty of time to sterilize the bottles and begin prepping for batches 002 and 003. A trip to the Homebrewer’s Warehouse in Sacto for a bottle washer and more brew kits may be in order.