Flaked corn and pectin

Quick question, I made a cream ale and it's hazy. I added Flaked corn to my mash. Never having used flaked corn before, and never having issues with beers that didn't fully clear (ie crystal clear). I'm thinking the corn is the culprit. So does corn release any pectin that may have set?

Recipe:

6 lbs DME Pilsen malt.
0.25 lbs melanoiden malt.
0.25 lbs carapils
0.25 lbs flaked yellow corn

0.5 oz Magnum @ 10AA

1 pkt (11 gram) Dans tar Nottingham

procedure:

Bring 8 gallons water to 152F and steep grains for 20 minutes.
Slowly raise temp to 172F and mash out (let bag drain)
Bring to boil, after hot break add hops, boil 60min.
10 minutes remainung add whirfloc tab.
Cool and pitch.

It was done primary after 5 days. I used Super Clear to let it clear out, but it is still hazy.

Thanks in advance!

caps_phisto said:

Quick question, I made a cream ale and it's hazy. I added Flaked corn to my mash. Never having used flaked corn before, and never having issues with beers that didn't fully clear (ie crystal clear). I'm thinking the corn is the culprit. So does corn release any pectin that may have set?

Recipe:

6 lbs DME Pilsen malt.
0.25 lbs melanoiden malt.
0.25 lbs carapils
0.25 lbs flaked yellow corn

0.5 oz Magnum @ 10AA

1 pkt (11 gram) Dans tar Nottingham

procedure:

Bring 8 gallons water to 152F and steep grains for 20 minutes.
Slowly raise temp to 172F and mash out (let bag drain)
Bring to boil, after hot break add hops, boil 60min.
10 minutes remainung add whirfloc tab.
Cool and pitch.

It was done primary after 5 days. I used Super Clear to let it clear out, but it is still hazy.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

I can't speak to your water, but when I started adjusting my water with Bru N Water spreadsheet, beer clarity was one of the most notable improvements. I usually add calcium to get it up to appx 80ppm. Out of the tap, its 30-50ppm which Palmer suggests is a bit low and indeed, haze is a consequence.

I have bottled before, put the beers in a cardboard box to lager outside in the fall. Temps ranging from 30-45f. Haze gone in a week. In winter, I leave the carboy in my garage where it's about 45-50f most of the time.

There is a Brew Stong episode called Haze with Dr. Bamforth that goes into great detail about haze causes and remedies I found helpful.

One culprit may be uncovered startches. Corn does not contain pectin as it is a carbohydrate source. Without any enzymes from malt, it will not do anything except put startches into your wort. Next time, throw some American two or six row into your steeping grains and reduce the LME by an appropriate amount.

Ahhh, the lack of malts must be it. Generally I'm an AG brewer but time constraints had me looking back at extracts. As far as water was concerned I used distilled and used Bru'n Water to match the Pilsen profile, so that could be it too. But I've made other beers with that profile with no clarity issues so I'm leaning toward starch haze.

Thanks for "clearing" that up!

PS - Pun intended

caps_phisto said:

Ahhh, the lack of malts must be it. Generally I'm an AG brewer but time constraints had me looking back at extracts. As far as water was concerned I used distilled and used Bru'n Water to match the Pilsen profile, so that could be it too. But I've made other beers with that profile with no clarity issues so I'm leaning toward starch haze.

Thanks for "clearing" that up!

PS - Pun intended

Click to expand...

You may find the carapils and melanoidin malt add more body than a typical cream ale. Generally, the use of corn or rice in a cream ale is to add carbohydrates without adding proteins to keep the beer light, crisp and fairly dry. It's a matter of preference, not to suggest there is any fault if you intended it.

Thanks for noticing! I did intend that. I found that this recipe came out great minus the clarity issue. The head is super thick and very creamy, kind of like whipped cream on top. To quote Jim Koch "I can float a bottle cap on it!"