Beer Not Clear--Can I Bottle It?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

osagedr

Recovering from Sobriety
HBT Supporter
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
2,512
Reaction score
123
Location
Winnipeg
I have a Brew House Oktoberfest started around the last week in August and moved to carboy on the 29th of that month after about a week in the primary. It cleared nicely over a couple of weeks. Then I got the bright idea that I should dry-hop it; the hop pellets went in loose on September 17th. I rocked the carboy around a fair amount now and then to try to get the hops to settle to the bottom.

Even now, the beer is not clear and while 90+% of the hops have settled to the bottom; there are still a bunch floating on top. The beer is pretty cloudy. Do I have any choice but to keep waiting? First of all, I am now concerned that the beer will be over-hopped (I used half a fairly small bag of Tettnang; guess about two ounces?). Secondly, even though I have read a great deal here about beer being able to sit quite a long time before being bottled, I'm a bit anxious about losing it.

Do I have any alternative but to wait?

Thanks!
 
You could transfer it to a bottling bucket (if you have one). Just siphon off the beer and leave as much trub behind as you can. Then let it settle for a day or two (or more!), and you're golden.
 
Do you have any kind of control over the fermentation temperature, even if it's just sticking the fermenter in a picnic cooler or party tub, etc.?

What I would recommend is cold-crashing, trying to get it down to say, below 40F, as quickly as possible, and keep it there for a couple of days. If you want to clear it more than just cold crashing will accomplish, you could also add some gelatin finings by gently heating some water to around 180F, adding the gelatin, let it sit at that temp for maybe 15 minutes or so, and then gently stirring into the cool fermenter.

THEN I would carefully rack to a bottling bucket and leave all the sediment and hop matter in the fermenter, prime, and bottle.
 
...I'm a bit anxious about losing it...
Not sure what you mean there but don't get worked up about it. It will be fine.
Many things work as mentioned already. I've found that with clarity issues, time and racking will clear up most anything most of the time.
 
Do you have any kind of control over the fermentation temperature, even if it's just sticking the fermenter in a picnic cooler or party tub, etc.?

What I would recommend is cold-crashing, trying to get it down to say, below 40F, as quickly as possible, and keep it there for a couple of days. If you want to clear it more than just cold crashing will accomplish, you could also add some gelatin finings by gently heating some water to around 180F, adding the gelatin, let it sit at that temp for maybe 15 minutes or so, and then gently stirring into the cool fermenter.

THEN I would carefully rack to a bottling bucket and leave all the sediment and hop matter in the fermenter, prime, and bottle.

Cool; thanks for the help; I will put it in the fridge for a few days and see what happens!
 
I've noticed lightly tapping my carboy puts enough disturbance in the beer to drop any floating hop particles that won't drop on their own.
 
After I cold crash it; do I have to wait for the beer to reach room temperature before bottling? I can't think of any reason to but thought I'd better ask.
 
You MIGHT run into trouble with carbonation after cold crashing. It'll cause a lot of the yeast to drop out of suspension and make them take a nice nap. I know some people do it with no problem, but I'd pitch a little yeast in the bottling bucket to make sure you don't run into trouble. Just my $0.02, but I'm overly cautious about it because I have had a few poorly carbonated brews in the past.
 
After I cold crash it; do I have to wait for the beer to reach room temperature before bottling? I can't think of any reason to but thought I'd better ask.

No, in fact it's probably better to rack it cold if possible. Some of the stuff that dops out at low temps will re-enter solution when it warms up, so have things ready to rack into the bottling bucket as soon as you pull it out.

I've never had a problem carbonating after a cold crash, especially if you're only crashing for a few days. If you were lagering for a month or two, that's another story and you'd probably want to add some yeast at bottling time.
 
Back
Top