Cloudy beer after the fridge?

I made a pretty huge mistake and stirred up my brew a bit while bottling it. It is an English IPA.....my first AG batch too! After about three weeks, the bottles cleared up to my happiness! I threw one in the fridge over night to test and it clouded up again....I was careful not to shake things up. Does the cold naturally stir up the beer? Hopefully this is dumb question!

Sounds like chill haze.

I agree it sounds like chill haze. The good news is it's an English IPA which shouldn't be chilled lower than about 55F. There should be no chill haze at that temperature, and after you have had a few to educate your taste buds, you will find that it tastes much better than when it is over chilled.

-a.

The better news is that if you leave them in the refrigerator for a week or two, the chill haze should be significantly reduced and often will disappear altogether.

Yep, as other mentioned it sounds like chill haze. I have yet to avoid this in my brews too, but as others mentioned it will dissipate after a few weeks in the fridge.

ajf said:

I agree it sounds like chill haze. The good news is it's an English IPA which shouldn't be chilled lower than about 55F. There should be no chill haze at that temperature, and after you have had a few to educate your taste buds, you will find that it tastes much better than when it is over chilled.

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AJF, Thanks for the info....I just cracked my first English IPA open last night and poured it into a frosty mug from the freezer. Tasted good, but not great. Will let it warm a little tonight and compare.

It should taste much better when it warms up. Skip the frosty mug next time. Those are only good for BMC. I find most of my home brewed beer tastes great after its been sitting out for about 10 min. I'll even drink my brown ales at room temp.

I have been wondering about this same thing. Didn't know there was a name for it: "chill haze." The good news is that all my batches to date (admittedly only a few) have gotten past the "chill haze stage" to the point where they are crystal clear even when very cold. Though they are drinkable when still exhibiting chill haze, my rule of thumb now is not to drink them until it is gone--and so far every batch is better after this stage.

Just to go a little deeper into chill haze. It is caused by proteins dropping out of solution as the beer cools. These proteins do not contribute any off flavors, so don't worry about that. Chill haze is usually a result of an incomplete cold break. If you can get a better cold break, chill haze will be a thing of the past.

Oh yeah, +1 on not chilling your glasses.

Thanks all....I just made a copper coil setup to my faucet to cool my wort quicker. Works pretty well and cools down 5 galloons boil in about 10 minutes or less. Is that what is called a cold break?

Some protein in the wort is only in solution because of the heat. As you cool the wort protein will begin to precipitate. The size of the precipitate is dependent upon how quickly the wort is cooled. The more quickly the larger the particles. The advantage of the large particles is that they trap smaller proteins that do not come out with out the 'cold break'. These smaller proteins come out of solution and are suspended in the beer when its temperature is very low. This is chill haze. You can see a cold break when you use your wort chiller. It'll look like snow flakes in your pot.

Had a room temp English Pale last night and it really made a difference! I actually tried a glass of it ice cold before trying at room temp for comparison. Warmer is definately better. Thanks for the advice!

Sorry to bring this up again. I have made about 20 dark beers. First light colored beer. I have the Chill Haze as you call it.

What is a cold break? I have no clue what to do to avoid the chill haze? Do i need to allow more time at 60 degrees before dropping it down to 50? How do I avoid Chill haze, yet still cool the beers off? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

KilhavenBrew said:

Sorry to bring this up again. I have made about 20 dark beers. First light colored beer. I have the Chill Haze as you call it.

What is a cold break? I have no clue what to do to avoid the chill haze? Do i need to allow more time at 60 degrees before dropping it down to 50? How do I avoid Chill haze, yet still cool the beers off? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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Three ways I know of:

1) Cold stabilize it by getting it below 40F and leaving it there for 3-4 weeks before bottling/kegging.
2) Use a fining agent like gelatin a couple days before bottling.
2) Filter it with a 3 micron filter.

KilhavenBrew said:

Sorry to bring this up again. I have made about 20 dark beers. First light colored beer. I have the Chill Haze as you call it.

What is a cold break? I have no clue what to do to avoid the chill haze? Do i need to allow more time at 60 degrees before dropping it down to 50? How do I avoid Chill haze, yet still cool the beers off? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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A "cold break" is the stuff that precipitates out of the wort as it cools quickly right after brewing. Once you turn the flame off, you want to chill the wort as quickly as possible. Using a kettle fining (try Whirlfloc- it works great!) in the boil helps alot, because it causes those precipitates that are mostly protein to coagulate together and fall to the bottom of the fermenter. A wort that has had a good "hot break" (when the wort boils but stops threatening to boil over after that happens) and a good "cold break" will tend to be clearer and not get chill haze.