IPA - clearing methods & quality techniques

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BrewToHeugh

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Currently fermenting Brewers Best IPA
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kS5VHFRZXuYJ:http://www.ldcarlson.com/public%2520catalog/Brewers%2520Best%2520Recipes/1037.pdf%2Bbrewers+best+india+pale+ale&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3..0l2j0i30l4.69886.76342.0.76542.16.7.1.8.8.0.125.588.4j3.7.0...0.0...1c.1.81seGFwbpJc&hl=en&ct=clnk

Kit mentioned to move to 2nd fermenter after a week but after reading alot on here about just a longer primary stage I decided to try it on this batch.

its just about two weeks and its still cloudy as hell! After skimming through some threads on here it looks like its normal for IPA's because of the amount of dry hops but Ive also come across some interesting points like;

adding agents to help clear

cold crashing

moving to secondary (with good results)

just leaving it in primary until it beings to clear (might lose flavor?)



Was hopping:cross: someone with alot of IPA experience could tell me what the best thing to do to help clear. I understand the cloudiness most likely wont affect the quality but doing something about it might...

so.... are there any techniques that can improve the quality of my IPA while assisting in clarity?

thanks my fellow brewers
 
Move to secondary once fermentation is done. Leave for a week then cold crash for 48 hours.
 
When you old crash it, use gelatin (do a search on here). The gelatin will pull yeasties and beasties out of suspension in a matter of a day or two.
The stuff is awesome. Really clarifies well.

For clear beer, time and cold are your friends. If you're bottling you need to condition for a minimum of 3 weeks and if recommend your beer be in the fridge for a week or two after conditioning. The cold will drop the conditioning sugars out of suspension and compact them into a nice tight cake on the bottom of the bottle. Make sure you pour smooth and leave 1/4 or so on the bottom of the glass. Leave the yeast behind!

I've completely moved away from secondaries. I cold crash and fine in the primary (or fine in the kegs if kegging). It makes the yeast cake much easier to draw off of.
 
When you old crash it, use gelatin (do a search on here). The gelatin will pull yeasties and beasties out of suspension in a matter of a day or two.
The stuff is awesome. Really clarifies well.

For clear beer, time and cold are your friends. If you're bottling you need to condition for a minimum of 3 weeks and if recommend your beer be in the fridge for a week or two after conditioning. The cold will drop the conditioning sugars out of suspension and compact them into a nice tight cake on the bottom of the bottle. Make sure you pour smooth and leave 1/4 or so on the bottom of the glass. Leave the yeast behind!

I've completely moved away from secondaries. I cold crash and fine in the primary (or fine in the kegs if kegging). It makes the yeast cake much easier to draw off of.


how long do you leave it in primary? When do you add gelatin and how long do you cold crash?
 
I leave it in primary for anywhere from 2 weeks to 5 weeks. The minimum time is not up to me, it's up to my little yeast buddies. Sometimes my pipeline is so full that I'm not ready to move it yet, so I'll leave it for a bit.

I dry hop in a 5 gallon paint strainer bag, so I dry hop in primary.

I add the gelatin at cold crash and typically cold crash for 24-48 hrs, depending on the availability of a refrigerator. Make sure you rehydrate the gelatin with room temp water for about 20 min, then I add a cup or so of very hot water to bring the mixture up to about 160. This dissolves the gelatin into liquid form.
 
You may also want to use fining agents in the boil with light colored beers. I use Irish moss and it works well. Some Irish Moss in the boil, 4 week primary, 1 week cold crash and even my dry hopped IPAs are very clear.
 
I don't bother with finings and cold crashing. Put it in a secondary and clears. no hassle , no extra steps.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. This is what I've decided to do:
Currently in its second week btw.

If things don't start to clear by the 3rd week I'm going to move to secondary until its fourth week. Really looking to see if the kruesen settles too.

2 days before the end of the 4th week I'm going to add gelatin and cold crash it for 1-2 days.

My concerns: if I move to a secondary I'm giving my brew an opportunity to collect air and ****. If I just leave it in first then maybe it won't clear just as good, ie the old kruesen mixed with gelatin at the end.
Thoughts?
 
How does a secondary clear the beer?

Search the forum; huge topic but from what I take from it, your basically moving your brew from all the gunk you don't want in your final product and giving it another opportunity to drop anything else that shouldnt be in it. Fairly popular approach is just leaving it in primary for 3+ weeks and it should clear just as good and give better taste. But it seems like IPAs need an extra step or two to get that traditional clarity. My last ale cleared up really well no additives or extra steps. Just 3 weeks in primary.
 
I sually never crash my ipas feel like it strips flavor and hop oils i also dry hop warm
I never secondary either. Time is your friend the more youe it the longer it takes leave it alone for 3 weeks and rack to bottling bucket/keg.
Use your secondary as another fermenting vessel!
 
Oh, I understand why people think a secondary would clear beer. Unfortunately it doesn't work to clear beer any more than the same amount of time in primary and cold crashing.
 
Oh, I understand why people think a secondary would clear beer. Unfortunately it doesn't work to clear beer any more than the same amount of time in primary and cold crashing.

If using a glass carboy as a secondary it provides the window to watch the beer clear. You also have a window to examine the racking cane as you transfer to bottling bucket/keg. Keeping the end of the cane elevated and lowering as you empty. This keeps your beer sediment free.
 
yewtah-brewha said:
From my understanding its just putting the beer in a fridge. the sediment seems to drop, but thats my opinion, i might be wrong.

Googled the issue, lots of vague info. Have a 3 week ferment gonna try it for 48 hours, condition in a keg afterwards and see what happens.
 
I get really clear IPA's by keeping it simple.

I keep most of the crap from going into the fermenter when I brew.

I use Irish moss, or Whirlfloc in the boil.

I ferment them out, anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks.. Depends on beer, the gravity and my schedule.

Skip the secondary- I keg it right to the keg, put the dry hop in a bag in the keg and leave it for a week. Then I put the gas on it and carbonate it. After another week, it's carbed, and I pull the dry hops.. First one or two pulls have some haze but after that.. it's pretty darn clear. I don't have to handle it a bunch, and I keep all the hop oils and aroma in the keg where I want it to be when I serve it. Aroma and head are usually great!
 
I get really clear IPA's by keeping it simple.

I keep most of the crap from going into the fermenter when I brew.

I use Irish moss, or Whirlfloc in the boil.

I ferment them out, anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks.. Depends on beer, the gravity and my schedule.

Skip the secondary- I keg it right to the keg, put the dry hop in a bag in the keg and leave it for a week. Then I put the gas on it and carbonate it. After another week, it's carbed, and I pull the dry hops.. First one or two pulls have some haze but after that.. it's pretty darn clear. I don't have to handle it a bunch, and I keep all the hop oils and aroma in the keg where I want it to be when I serve it. Aroma and head are usually great!


deff going to use to irish moss next time but i feel a lil indifferent about adding chemical agents like tablets or such.

Like an idiot i used a 5gal carboy with a 5gal brew. so i took care of the overflow but the kreusen is like caking at the top. which is why i wanted to use a secondary for a like a week.
 
deff going to use to irish moss next time but i feel a lil indifferent about adding chemical agents like tablets or such.

Like an idiot i used a 5gal carboy with a 5gal brew. so i took care of the overflow but the kreusen is like caking at the top. which is why i wanted to use a secondary for a like a week.

I don't know what chemical agents you are talking about, Irish Moss and Whirlfloc are the same thing. One is just ground up and has some other protein coagulators in there. It's all natural.

The krausen will fall, the crust won't do anything but dry up if it's not wet. If it's wet, it'll fall into the beer and settle out.

If you want to secondary go for it.. It won't make a huge difference in the clarity of the beer, but it shouldn't hurt it as long as your sanitation is good.
 
Just wanted to show that you don't have to go wild with all the ways to clear a beer.

I used whirlfloc in the boil at like 10 minutes. I actually let it ferment for like.. 9 or 10 days maybe? Didn't cold crash, didn't secondary. Put it right into the keg, added 3 ounces of leaf hops to the bag and tossed it in there. Started drinking it in a week.

The logo is on the OTHER side of the glass, and with a crap iphone camera you can see the logo pretty clear on the other side.

EFF0C060-4075-4AB6-A125-FFA1713993C2-12905-000017B24D8461CC.jpg


And it's gone. ;)

CD027E14-42F9-4EF8-ABBB-1576764B4AFD-12944-000017B42AAF5DAF.jpg
 
Just wanted to show that you don't have to go wild with all the ways to clear a beer.

I used whirlfloc in the boil at like 10 minutes. I actually let it ferment for like.. 9 or 10 days maybe? Didn't cold crash, didn't secondary. Put it right into the keg, added 3 ounces of leaf hops to the bag and tossed it in there. Started drinking it in a week.

The logo is on the OTHER side of the glass, and with a crap iphone camera you can see the logo pretty clear on the other side.

EFF0C060-4075-4AB6-A125-FFA1713993C2-12905-000017B24D8461CC.jpg


And it's gone. ;)

CD027E14-42F9-4EF8-ABBB-1576764B4AFD-12944-000017B42AAF5DAF.jpg

thats an excellent clear beer you got there. head is looking pretty good too.
this just made me thirsty
 
Irish moss in the boil. Week in the keg, pour out the first pint, this is the result. Label on the glass is on the other side

ForumRunner_20130109_192455.jpg
 
Currently fermenting Brewers Best IPA
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kS5VHFRZXuYJ:http://www.ldcarlson.com/public%2520catalog/Brewers%2520Best%2520Recipes/1037.pdf%2Bbrewers+best+india+pale+ale&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3..0l2j0i30l4.69886.76342.0.76542.16.7.1.8.8.0.125.588.4j3.7.0...0.0...1c.1.81seGFwbpJc&hl=en&ct=clnk

Kit mentioned to move to 2nd fermenter after a week but after reading alot on here about just a longer primary stage I decided to try it on this batch.

its just about two weeks and its still cloudy as hell! After skimming through some threads on here it looks like its normal for IPA's because of the amount of dry hops but Ive also come across some interesting points like;

adding agents to help clear

cold crashing

moving to secondary (with good results)

just leaving it in primary until it beings to clear (might lose flavor?)



Was hopping:cross: someone with alot of IPA experience could tell me what the best thing to do to help clear. I understand the cloudiness most likely wont affect the quality but doing something about it might...

so.... are there any techniques that can improve the quality of my IPA while assisting in clarity?

thanks my fellow brewers

sorry if this has been already said, but i've been using irish moss(last 15 mins of boil) the last few times i brew IPA's and has done wonders!:mug:
 
so here's an update...

cold crashed for about a month..

here's the result. not as clear... tastes great but the hop flavor wasnt as strong as i would have liked. maybe because of the cold crashing?? pretty much an IPA lager lol

310965_10151565114679329_45121801_n.jpg
 
so here's an update...

cold crashed for about a month..

here's the result. not as clear... tastes great but the hop flavor wasnt as strong as i would have liked. maybe because of the cold crashing?? pretty much an IPA lager lol

You want to drink IPA's young and fresh because over time they loose hop aroma and flavor.

Looks like you have a little chill haze. I get chill haze on all my beers and can't figure out how to prevent it without adding something else like gelatin. I have beer that's been in the keg for a month and still has chill haze.
 
There is nothing wrong with a cloudy IPA. Some of my favorite IPA/imperial IPA's are cloudy, but if you want to clear it up, I found using a little Irish moss in the boil works pretty well!!!
 
Cold Crash BEFORE you dry hop or transfer to the secondary...this is been my most recent change and I just cracked my first bottle of an IPA batch and it was crystal clear, only two days in the fridge.

Cold crashing after a dry hop will strip the aroma and flavor from it. The oils attach to the yeast and floc out as well. I've just started experimenting with a no secondary (gotta try everything, especially if you want to say x is better than y) and this is what I've come up with:

Ferment as normal...reach FG, then I cool crash (basically build a stonehedge of ice packs around the carboy) overnight and stick it in a fridge for two days...give it a day to warm, dry hop a week, then cool crash before bottling.

I was so disappointed when I went to bottle my first primary-only. It was still very cloudy, much more than when I used a secondary (and I never actually cold crashed my secondary method, just cool crashed, racked, dry hopped, then cool again).

BUT, the first bottle was so clear and no haze at all. I usually get haze, probably from the insane dry hop schedule I use on basically every batch, but its gone once it warms. This was out of the fridge, pour, and I could watch TV through it. That was only after two days!
 
This thread has been an interesting read. Now I have some questions for you IPA gurus ... :)

I'm just at the tail end of making my first IPA. Following Palmer's recipe for Victory & Chaos IPA out of his book and, so far, I've followed his directions about as close to the letter as I can. Moved to secondary after one week and dry hopped one ounce at that time. The beer has been held at about 65F for the past three weeks and most of the hops have settled off the top with only a very thin krausen layer remaining.

I brought the beer in yesterday to let it warm up to room temp before cold crashing with the idea I would bottle this coming Monday or Tuesday evening. I just noticed that I'm getting some bubbling activity in the airlock this morning. The beer is now at about 74F.

I have two questions about this batch:

1. The activity in the airlock tells me there is still some fermentation going on. I'm thinking I should just leave it alone until that stops. Don't need any bottle-grenades. Right? Wrong?

2. To cold crash or not?

Thanks!
 
This thread has been an interesting read. Now I have some questions for you IPA gurus ... :)

I'm just at the tail end of making my first IPA. Following Palmer's recipe for Victory & Chaos IPA out of his book an...............

I have two questions about this batch:

1. The activity in the airlock tells me there is still some fermentation going on. I'm thinking I should just leave it alone until that stops. Don't need any bottle-grenades. Right? Wrong?

2. To cold crash or not?

Thanks!


I'm deff not the person to answer this but i thought id point out some important things about my batch and my thoughts...

I think cold crashing is a good idea but maybe my approach was a little off. first off, i left it in primary for about a month and then cold crashed it in my cellar during the winter which is typically around 30 degrees. I used a glass carboy and noticed it did clear a lot after a month. When i bottled my brew, and i think this is where i went wrong, i intentionally sucked up extra trub thinking that my carbonation might have been affected since it was cold crashed for so long. I actually got the idea from someone's advice in this forum because i was worried about my yeast levels(levels is it?). Well maybe i sucked up too much because there's a good amount of trub in each bottle so i have to carefully pour each bottle. Also my head retention is wild... the minute i pour a huge amount of foam develops and remains well after a minute. My take on this is A. shorter cold crashing might keep the hop taste stronger, like someone mentioned before B. dont bother with extra trub (siphoning should get enough) C. beer tastes great, fu*k it.:mug:

I'm going to make a short video and post to show the head.
 
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