Chill haze in secondary while cold crashing

Brewing a clear beer has been a personal goal since I started brewing and I haven't succeeded yet.

I have my pale ale in secondary, and I added gelatin this time. It totally cleared out the beer and I could see all the way through the carboy. I put some pellet hops in it in a hops sock a couple days ago and it was still clear. I wanted to bottle it so to help the hops settle I started cold crashing it by stacking ice jugs in my SOFC. I just checked it after a day or so and it was cloudy again. I think this might be what people call chill haze. Its going to depress me if I make a beer that is clear at room temp but hazes in the fridge. Will extended cold crashing help clear it up or should I just bottle it?

BetterSense said:

Brewing a clear beer has been a personal goal since I started brewing and I haven't succeeded yet.

I have my pale ale in secondary, and I added gelatin this time. It totally cleared out the beer and I could see all the way through the carboy. I put some pellet hops in it in a hops sock a couple days ago and it was still clear. I wanted to bottle it so to help the hops settle I started cold crashing it by stacking ice jugs in my SOFC. I just checked it after a day or so and it was cloudy again. I think this might be what people call chill haze. Its going to depress me if I make a beer that is clear at room temp but hazes in the fridge. Will extended cold crashing help clear it up or should I just bottle it?

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Extended cold crashing will get rid of the chill haze! It's easier to prevent chill haze than getting rid of it, though, in my opinion. If you haven't used whirlfloc in the kettle, give that a try. It might really make a big difference.

I don't use gelatin, but my understanding is that it would work better in cold beer. You'd normally want to chill the beer first, and then add the gelatin. That would cause it to "grab" those particles that are causing the chill haze.

Extended cold crashing can help clear chill haze. You could also use gelatin when the beer has chill haze and that will help drop it out.

You may want to start using irish moss or something similar in your boil if you are not already. Also pay attention to your water chemistry. If you don't have enough of certain minerals it can promote chill haze.

Hi Yooper Looks like you are faster than I

+ Whirlfloc

Yes the Whirlfloc, rolling boil and fast chilling should take care of the problem. If you remove the proteins in the kettle, they can't screw with you later on.

Looked up the water chemistry stuff. I thought it was calcium but wasn't sure...
I do no-chill and I've never had chill haze, so not sure how important fast chilling is compared to the other factors (whirlfloc or similar, rolling boil, water chemistry, type of malt)

http://www.winning-homebrew.com/clarity.html
"
You may be experiencing a chemical haze caused by an in-balance of chemicals in your water. A deficiency of calcium in your boil can cause a clarity problem from a chemical haze called oxalate haze. Make sure you have more than 25 ppm calcium (50 ppm is better) by getting a chemical water analysis. When treating your water to lower bicarbonates, the calcium level may have dropped considerably. Add more calcium back as necessary. Minerals such as iron and copper at levels exceeding 1 ppm, and tin at levels exceeding 0.1 ppm can also cause a chemical haze. Try carbon filtering your water or diluting with distilled water, RO (reverse osmosis) water or bottled spring water to reduce these minerals below the haze-forming threshold."

My first pale ale I used nothing and during primary and secondary I couldn't see through it. After bottling and aging for 3 weeks then 2 weeks in the fridge I have a clean/clear pale ale! its a thing of beauty. (my first beer too!)

my second pale ale I did nothing but Its still bottle aging.
my third beer (my take on hazel nut brown by rouge) i used Irish moss I way noticed a difference in both primary and secondary (its super dark, but looks mouthwatering tasty)
I believe I'll be using Irish moss from now on in all my brews.

Well I bought whirlfloc tablets and I'll try using them next time.

Polyclar will work a lot better than gelatin to get rid of chill haze, but it's harder to work with. Yooper is right though, it's a lot easier to prevent chill haze than to get rid of it.

1) Check your calcium levels (25ppm+)
2) Use kettle finings
3) Chill quickly*
4) Insure you have proper and complete conversion, especially if using starchy adjuncts such as wheat, oats, maize, etc.
5) Use a protein rest with lower modification malts (most assuredly unecessary in your case)

* I know that people get clear beer with no-chill, but I started to consistently get clearer beer ever since I started to chill quickly instead of no-chilling.

Well I do a 3 step mash with a short protein rest, 1 hour at 62C and 1 hour at 72C. I chill with a water bath but it only takes about 25 minutes or so with my thin kettle. I guess I could probably boil harder--my kettle is full so I try to avoid boilovers. I could use a smaller boil volume and top off to allow a harder boil.

Don't boil your Whirlfloc for more than 5 minutes either. That + chilling as quickly as possible = egg drop soup looking break that immediately settles to the bottom of your fermenter.

Burgs said:

Don't boil your Whirlfloc for more than 5 minutes either. That + chilling as quickly as possible = egg drop soup looking break that immediately settles to the bottom of your fermenter.

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Interesting, does the 5 minutes help over say a 15 minute? I've always used Whirlfloc, and have been pretty happy with the results. My hydrometer samples prior to pitch are crystal clear after 5 minutes or so when the trub drops out.

But if there's a benefit, I can move the Whirlfloc to the last 5 minutes.

solbes said:

Interesting, does the 5 minutes help over say a 15 minute? I've always used Whirlfloc, and have been pretty happy with the results. My hydrometer samples prior to pitch are crystal clear after 5 minutes or so when the trub drops out.

But if there's a benefit, I can move the Whirlfloc to the last 5 minutes.

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Hard to tell, but I will agree that 5 minutes works, I forgot a few time and added a few minutes before flameout and had great results.

does adding Whirlfloc or Irish moss to early say 20
to 25 minutes till flame out hurt ? , this happend
to my first batch last Sunday - long story....

overdbus said:

does adding Whirlfloc or Irish moss to early say 20
to 25 minutes till flame out hurt ? , this happend
to my first batch last Sunday - long story....

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If it's added before about 15 minutes before the end of the boil, it seems to be ineffective, or at least less effective.