I suck at kegging IPA's

Been force carbing for 24 hours and wanted to try a sample. Damn....a million floaties in the glass. Tried another 1/2 pint and same result. Nobody will want to drink this beer with a ton of hop floaters in their glass. However, this IPA is deeeelicious!

I tried to siphon with a hop sack on the end of the siphon but it kept getting clogged. So I moved the hop sack to the other end (hose end) and it caught a lot of sediment, however it was too late.

So my question is. For anybody who has kegged an IPA will it clear eventually? This is the first time I have kegged an IPA. It has only been cold for about 18 hours because it takes a while for 5 gal of beer to get below 40 degrees in my kegerator.

As it cools, sediment should drop to the bottom. The first few pints will have the sediment in them, but after a few, the rest should be clear.

I'd recommend cold crashing your fermenter prior to kegging. I also think fining with gelatin ensures a clear pouring ipa. Many people will get very clear beer with only using Irish miss/whirfloc, good hot/cold break, cold crash and careful siphoning.

Stop shaking your keg, let it carb up at cold temps. Pull a few pints for yourself (which may have the hop particles) then share your clear beer with friends!

DocScott said:

As it cools, sediment should drop to the bottom. The first few pints will have the sediment in them, but after a few, the rest should be clear.

I'd recommend cold crashing your fermenter prior to kegging. I also think fining with gelatin ensures a clear pouring ipa. Many people will get very clear beer with only using Irish miss/whirfloc, good hot/cold break, cold crash and careful siphoning.

Stop shaking your keg, let it carb up at cold temps. Pull a few pints for yourself (which may have the hop particles) then share your clear beer with friends!

Click to expand...

I don't shake my keg. I just let it do its thing, which for regular beers is a simple thing to do. This is just my first IPA kegged and there is a lot of sh*t in it.

You don't suck at kegging, you suck at waiting.

I don't know how you got all the sediment into your keg, but if you keep it cold for a week, then discard the 1st glass, it will be relatively clear.

Remember depending how much you used for dry hopping and no proper filter or fining agent after,
it will stay cloudy for weeks.
On the other hand if you see debris, then throw it in the fridge for a week and toss the first pint like pawn said..


Itll be gravy from there!

passedpawn said:

You don't suck at kegging, you suck at waiting.

I don't know how you got all the sediment into your keg, but if you keep it cold for a week, then discard the 1st glass, it will be relatively clear.

Click to expand...

True! All my other beers are ready in 36 hours. This beer may need some more time.

passedpawn said:

You don't suck at kegging, you suck at waiting.

I don't know how you got all the sediment into your keg, but if you keep it cold for a week, then discard the 1st glass, it will be relatively clear.

Click to expand...

One question though, did you (OP) dry hop in the keg?

Johnnyhitch1 said:

Remember depending how much you used for dry hopping and no proper filter or fining agent after,
it will stay cloudy for weeks.
On the other hand if you see debris, then throw it in the fridge for a week and toss the first pint like pawn said..


Itll be gravy from there!

Click to expand...

I used 3.5oz of centennial hops for dry hopping. One tab of whirlfloc in a 2.5gal boil. The transfer to keg, well....I explained that in my OP.

mattd2 said:

One question though, did you (OP) dry hop in the keg?

Click to expand...

No.

For all my beers, I do a two keg transfer. Keg the beer as normal, but instead of carbing let it sit cold for a few days or a week. Then hook up a beer line from "out" to "out" onto a fresh keg. All I do is leave the receiving disconnect off and pour a pint. Then attach it back and hook it onto the fresh keg. Hook up the gas and let it rip.

It is a very similar process to how breweries cold crash beer in their tanks. You can also use this process to clean your kegs. Pumping over cleaning/sanitizing solution to knock them all out at once.

KeystoneHomebrew said:

For all my beers, I do a two keg transfer. Keg the beer as normal, but instead of carbing let it sit cold for a few days or a week. Then hook up a beer line from "out" to "out" onto a fresh keg. All I do is leave the receiving disconnect off and pour a pint. Then attach it back and hook it onto the fresh keg. Hook up the gas and let it rip.

It is a very similar process to how breweries cold crash beer in their tanks. You can also use this process to clean your kegs. Pumping over cleaning/sanitizing solution to knock them all out at once.

Click to expand...

That's a cool process. Although if I'm transferring between kegs I might as well filter with a 5 micron and get all the junk out.

BansheeRider said:

I used 3.5oz of centennial hops for dry hopping. One tab of whirlfloc in a 2.5gal boil. The transfer to keg, well....I explained that in my OP.

Click to expand...

Let it sit for a week in the fridge @35 dump first 6oz, itll have tons of nutrients/yeast if you want to drink it (what i do) wait another day, pour a pint and after that you should be fine.

Cheers!

BansheeRider said:

That's a cool process. Although if I'm transferring between kegs I might as well filter with a 5 micron and get all the junk out.

Click to expand...

Exactly, if you want to go this far you can, but with proper fining agents and TIME beer will clear...given its not a hefeweizen or wit.

How long was your primary/secondary(dry hop)? Most of my beers are rather clear after a week or two, a third week and they are very clear, even IPA's. The key is racking from at least 1 inch above the trub layer on the bottom and then tipping/lowering to get all the clear beer and none of the debris. When you bottle carb do you have a large layer of debris in the bottoms?

DrunkleJon said:

How long was your primary/secondary(dry hop)? Most of my beers are rather clear after a week or two, a third week and they are very clear, even IPA's. The key is racking from at least 1 inch above the trub layer on the bottom and then tipping/lowering to get all the clear beer and none of the debris. When you bottle carb do you have a large layer of debris in the bottoms?

Click to expand...

I had the beer in primary for 3 weeks then racked to secondary with dry hops for 5 days. The hops was still on top and they began to fall in the middle of racking to the keg. I thought the hop sack on the siphon would help but it kept getting clogged. I think with my next batch I will allow the hops to fall first then wait a day or so before transferring to the keg. The batch I have fermenting now also is an IPA. I am on an IPA kick right now

As far as cold crashing...I don't have the means to do that with my fermenter. I can do it in a keg and then transfer again to a different keg. That sounds like a lot of work and possible chance of oxidation/infection. Also trying to get my siphon all the way down into the keg might be a challenge.

For cold crashing you can crash in a keg then use a beer out to beer out jumper after pouring off a beer worth or two (to clear an area in the trub layer). You would do it gas in to full keg, beer out connected to empty keg beer out. bleed pressure off slowly from the receiveing keg and it should transfer. Stop transfer as sediment gets into the transfer line and all you should have is clean beer. No need to siphon.