VERY!VERY! VERY! cloudy beer??????

I brewed my first two batches of all grain in well over a year and the beer is very cloudy. I made a brown ale and an IPA. I fermented for about 5 days and than kegged and forced carbonated. Both beer taste fine but the brown ale looks more like a late and the IPA looks like a Hefeweitzen. The yeast I was forced to use was Safbrew S-33 because thats what I was able to buy locally and I used Irish moss at the end of the boil. At first I thought maybe it was a severe case of chill haze but it's not. What could the problem be and how can I fix it?

1) Learn about cold crashing
2) Don't ferment in only five days

Kegging at 5 days seems to be a bit extreme. It's only a medium flocculation strain. Give it some time to flocculate and also clean up your beer for starters.

"I fermented for about 5 days and than kegged and forced carbonated" - give it at least 2 weeks in primary, then keg and let sit in your fridge for another 2 weeks.

You can't rush good beer.

Minimum I've fermented was 10 days, for a witbier, where cloudy is fine. At this point the best you can do is leave it alone in the keg, cold, for a week or two. Then pour off the first pint (pour off as in, pour it down the drain) and it should be much clearer as it goes. Don't disturb the keg at all during this time, either.

I agree with the above sentiments about needing a longer fermentation and possibly a secondary fermentation prior to kegging.

I also wanted to offer up one other possibility to explain the cloudiness of your beers. It could also be unconverted starches left over in the wort following a mash that was either too short or at the incorrect temperature. This can often give the liquid a milky or murky character.

I had a beer that didn't attenuate very well but was stable gravity, so I kegged it. It poured SOOO cloudy I thought it still had yeast in suspension (even though I'd cold-crashed before racking to keg). I set it back out at room temp for another week, then chilled for a few days, still poured cloudy. Left it alone in fridge for a week and came back, poured off, was beautiful thereafter.

BrewDoc22 said:

I agree with the above sentiments about needing a longer fermentation and possibly a secondary fermentation prior to kegging.

I also wanted to offer up one other possibility to explain the cloudiness of your beers. It could also be unconverted starches left over in the wort following a mash that was either too short or at the incorrect temperature. This can often give the liquid a milky or murky character.

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Possible, but in this case the simplest answer seems best; the OP simply did not leave the beer enough time for the yeast to fall out of suspension.

How many pints have you pulled? As the beer sits cold, that excess yeast should still be falling out of suspension - and since the dip tube sits at the bottom of the keg, you'll be pulling the "yeastiest" beer initially. Wouldn't surprise me if the beer clears up on its own, as long as you let the keg sit.

the_bird said:

Possible, but in this case the simplest answer seems best; the OP simply did not leave the beer enough time for the yeast to fall out of suspension.

How many pints have you pulled? As the beer sits cold, that excess yeast should still be falling out of suspension - and since the dip tube sits at the bottom of the keg, you'll be pulling the "yeastiest" beer initially. Wouldn't surprise me if the beer clears up on its own, as long as you let the keg sit.

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That's why I recommend it sit still for a while. Let it mostly fall down and then pour off that first pint or two which should primarily be comprised of settled what-not.

Agreed.

I'll say, too, that I don't think a secondary fermentation is necessary. You can get beer that's plenty clear if you let it finish conditioning in the primary, and carefully rack into the keg.

the_bird said:

Agreed.

I'll say, too, that I don't think a secondary fermentation is necessary. You can get beer that's plenty clear if you let it finish conditioning in the primary, and carefully rack into the keg.

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I do secondaries. In the primary.

Thanks for the advice and for not being too brutal with the sarcasm. I'll give it more time and see how it turns out.

baer19d said:

Thanks for the advice and for not being too brutal with the sarcasm. I'll give it more time and see how it turns out.

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Sarcasm is not nice indeed. Your beer will clear after it spends a few days even weeks chilling.

I don't know anything that's going to ferment and clear in 5 days. That's asking for to much. Time is your friend. I'm sure it will settle out if you let it ride a week or two. Good luck! Patience is not a virtue of mine either. : )