Does too fine of a crush cause cloudy beer?

I am a bottler and have recently had most of my beers turn out very very cloudy. They taste great but the level of cloudiness is starting to bug me.

I have a barley crusher set to 0.34 or 0.35" and was wondering if the extra flour from the crush be causing this cloudiness.

I don't want this to turn into a thread about how to make your beer clear. I just want answers specifically regarding to how a fine crush affects clarity.

Thanks.

I dont think so, that particulate would be so large that it should settle out in the fermentor easily. Flour would be much more coarse than say, yeast... larger particles, so my vote is for no.

Well I've heard if you want a wheat beer to stay cloudy, add some flour. So I was wondering.

I read threads much more than I reply and have never heard of such a relationship. I have my crusher set to .035 but I keg and the beers are pretty clear. How long do you keep the bottles in the refrigerator before drinking? I am thinking that a longer time ( 4 to 5 days) would help the sediment drop and compact in the bottom of each bottle resulting in a clearer beer.

Soperbrew said:

Well I've heard if you want a wheat beer to stay cloudy, add some flour. So I was wondering.

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i've heard this too, but it seems silly. i've never had a hefeweizen go clear on me.

Well I've had some beers in the fridge for at least a week and were still cloudy. I made a witbier once that was pretty clear. Don't know how that happened.

what yeast did you use? that would probably be why.

DeathBrewer said:

i've heard this too, but it seems silly. i've never had a hefeweizen go clear on me.

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lol - they can't go clear if you drink em all in a week

lol, you're on to me.

Are you using any boil additives like irish moss?

If not that is your first place to start, the next question is about your boiling/cooling. It sounds to me like your getting chill haze in your beers.

Jonnio said:

Are you using any boil additives like irish moss?

If not that is your first place to start, the next question is about your boiling/cooling. It sounds to me like your getting chill haze in your beers.

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chill haze dissapates as the beer warms in the glass. i believe its the yeast.

The trick for adding flour to a beer to keep it hazy requires adding to the boil where the starches would remain starch. If you mash and fully convert, there's no starch left.

You might want to try chilling those bottles for at least a week before opening to get rid of chill haze. If you're just chilling down quickly and pouring, no good.

Not to be too basic but do you pour slowly and leave 1/4 inch or so in the bottle so as not to disturb the sediment that has settled out?

Thanks for all replies. I use whirlflock in the boil, I vourlauf at least a gallon before draining mash, my boil is vigorous (20% boiloff rate), I use a CFC that cools to < 80F into the fermenter. I primary for at least 3 weeks before bottling.

The only thing I don't do is give them much time in the fridge before drinking. Maybe 1 or 1.5 weeks max. Not enough room in the beer fridge to keep up with consumption rate.

I have a partigyle ale which has been in the fridge for two weeks now, bottle conditioned with S-04, the wort was crystal clear in the bottling bucket, I could read a newspaper through it. I just took a peek, it's very cloudy with yeast. Next to it is a bottle from my first batch (March) I found when I was scrounging around for beers in the closet. It's been in the fridge since Saturday and it is absolutely CRYSTAL clear, and there is a compact sediment cake in the bottom.

You know, you could turn that 20 cu foot freezer in the garage into a very nice kegerator.

A fine crush WON'T cause a haze in your beer. Poor quality malt will however.

Seeing as you only want confirmation on the crush aspect, I'll leave any other comments out.

Cheers

boo boo said:

A fine crush WON'T cause a haze in your beer. Poor quality malt will however.

Seeing as you only want confirmation on the crush aspect, I'll leave any other comments out.

Cheers

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Thanks. Much appreciated.

eriktlupus said:

chill haze dissapates as the beer warms in the glass. i believe its the yeast.

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This haze is not yeast, it is coagulated protiens and such.