bufitfn

Recipes 

Hi, my first post, I learn a lot from you guys, Thanks
Here is my problem, I make mostly ales and I get them crystal clear using gelatin in the secondary, but when I keg and carb it is hazy.
I know chilling fast is important but I use Irish moss and a 40 plate chiller and I can cool 5 gallons from boiling to 70 in about 5 minutes. So I don't think thats it.
Any Ideas what I'm doing wrong??

ksbrain

Recipes 

You're supposed to crash cool then use gelatin. That gets the chill haze out.

Though I feel you - I can't seem to figure out how to keep the chill haze out in the first place.

bufitfn

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I have crash cooled below 50deg and then added gelatin,goes clear, then in keg it hazes again

ksbrain

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That's odd. Dunno what that could be...

Captain Damage

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Chill haze happens. It's proteins that coagulate at low temperature. It will drop out after a week or two in the fridge. The important thing is to keep it cold and not disturb it, or you'll keep kicking the haze back into suspension - so don't keep your beer in the door of your fridge. Some beers may take longer, and beers of certain styles may always be hazy.

It seems, from my experience, that cooling your wort quickly after the boil and/or three weeks minimum in primary helps reduce chill haze, but I don't have any hard data regarding this, so it's really just anecdotal evidence.

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cklages

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You have to let it condtion in the keg at serving temps for two or three weeks to allow the chill haze to drop out. The same goes for bottles.

Personally I don't mind the haze. Of course I still bottle and letting a bunch of bottles sit in the fridge for weeks isn't really an option for me. On top of this, when the chill haze drops out, it will form chunks on top of the bed of yeast on the bottom of the bottle which are very light and nearly impossible to keep out of the pour. I would rather have hazy beer than chunky beer, which is why I don't mind the haze.

On the other hand, with a kegging system like yours you should be able to drop the temp to serving, let it sit undisturbed for a few weeks, get a couple of 'chunky' pours then hopefully it should run much clearer.

This is my understanding anyway, hopefully in another year I will have more first hand knowledge about kegging!

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bufitfn

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Thanks Guys, It may be my impatience. I never let the keg go weeks without sampling it till empty!

Mermaid

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I think that with some yeast, you're just never going to get it crystal clear unless you filter (or can get a really fast cold break, using whirlfloc or IM), then use gelatin with cold crashing.

With my most recent brew I had an "ah hah!" moment. My brew day was pretty darn cold (New Years Eve). The ground water temperatures were COLD, and I was able to drop the temps in about 15 minutes using my chiller (usually takes closer to 30).

I've been extremely busy the last couple months, so I tucked the carboy into my "beer closet" (which is just a closet on an outside wall with no insulation). The temps stay at around 50F during the winter.

When I pulled it out to bottle yesterday, the beer was so clear I could see through it (never got around to using gelatin on this one). It was as clear (even more clear) than I saw with the previous batch I cleared with gelatin.

So, my brain came to the conclusion that whirlfloc/irish moss work GREAT when you can get a really fast cold break. "Lagering" for a couple weeks also seemed to be tremendously helpful.

I guess I'll know for sure how it all worked in a couple months when I'm ready to drink it.

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Primary: Empty
Secondary: Empty!
an empty fermenter is a sad fermenter
Bottled: Nut brown ale, Bink blond clone (she's a bitter Belgian!) Belgian Wit, several other tasty beers that have since been consumed!
On deck: TBD