Finings added in the fermenter are usually added 4-5 days before bottling or racking the beer to give the fining time to precipitate yeasts and proteins and keep these out of the finished bottle or keg.

Do you need to add finings?

So do I actually need to use finings? The choice is yours and it depends on how much you care about beer clarity. If you are after clear or cloud free beer, then using finings is one very easy trick to help you with that goal. If you are adding hops to your beer, you may want to consider it.

How long do finings take to work?

The finings that come with a kit wine in the main are the two-part type (Kieselsol and Chitosan. These should always be left for 3-5 days. This is a bit naughty as for the finings to work properly it should be a minimum of 5 days (it's put at 3 days to substantiate the ready in 7 days claim on the kit).