WLP-400 First time use, Extremely Clear?

I just racked a batch of "Wit's End Belgian IPA" to kegs yesterday, and this is the first time I've used WLP-400. I was expecting a cloudy result, however this beer came out of primary sparkling clear. Honestly the brightest beer I have ever pulled out of primary.


Fermentables
Pale Ale Malt (Briess 5301) 75.0 %
US White Wheat Malt 25.0 %


Hops
Variety Alpha IBU Form When
US Summit 10.0 % 47.3 Bagged Pellet Hops 70 Min From End
US Cascade 5.5 % 0.0 Bagged Pellet Hops At turn off

I fermented at 65f ambient for 3.5 weeks. My process doesn't use a secondary. The beer tasted great going into kegs, so I have no complaints, I was just very surprised to see this beer clear so well. Has anyone had similar experience?

The ferment kept a solid krausen for 2.5 weeks, fermenting slowly. Attenuation came in at 76.8%. I should also note that the initial pitch (from a healthy starter) was approximately a 30% overpitch according to Mr. Malty. I did this intentionally because the gentleman I got the recipe from brews this beer on a prior cake, so I assume he is "overpitching" as well.

I've had fairly bright beers using this yeast as well. Wit's are usually cloudy due to flaked wheat or oats in the grain bill - it's the hefe yeasts that don't drop out as readily...

Boil a teaspoon of flour in half a cup of water to cloudy it up, if you want. I've had good results with that method if I forget to add it to the boil.

indigi said:

Boil a teaspoon of flour in half a cup of water to cloudy it up, if you want. I've had good results with that method if I forget to add it to the boil.

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That's a really neat idea. I don't feel the need to worry about it this time around (I mean, bright beer is never *bad*, right?) but when I brew this beer again I expect I'll modify the grain bill a bit to get some proteins in suspension in the finished product!

For a Wit yeast that yeast clears like a champ. I had to shake the keg every few days. Makes a great beer, but floculation is actually really nice (not for a wit).

Careful, that one is notorious for dropping out before it's totally finished. I hear a lot about people having to stir it back up into suspension every few days to get it to dry out. I had bottle bombs once on a Wit that I attribute to the yeast dropping out too quickly.

The 76.8% attenuation it came in at was a few points lower than projected so it seems to have finished properly in this batch.

I bet the attenuation problems others have experienced relate to ferment temp. I have worked with a few different strains that completely call it quits after a 3F ambient drop. Rousing often can revive them as you mention though.