Chill Haze

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magno

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I've been noticing that some of my lighter colored beers have some chill haze. I was under the understanding that this was mostly an all-grain issue, and not something to worry about with extract brewing. Is it possible to get chill haze from 2 to 3 pounds of specialty grain? Is there something I can do to fix this in future batches?

thanks for any input

- magno
 
No I am not sure it is chill haze. The bottled beer is stored in a closet that right now gets to the mid to high seventies, but will get warmer further into the summer. It is all out of direct sunlight. Ive noticed this haze on batches as old as Novmber and as recent as January.

- magno
 
Ive noticed this in my amber ale (November) and my IPA (January). They both look quite clear in the bottle at room temp, but when cold they are hazy. I dont care much for the amber ale, but the IPA tastes great.


thanks for the help

- magno
 
magno said:
I was under the understanding that this was mostly an all-grain issue, and not something to worry about with extract brewing.
That's not really the case...you can get chill haze regardless of brewing method. The best way to avoid it is to eliminate or control the compounds that contribute to it, primarily proteins and unconverted starches (the starches are more of a mashing issue).

- Get a good hard boil going as quickly as possible which forms a good hot break.
- Cool your wort quickly which forms a good cold break. Both of these steps will precipitate out some proteins.
- Secondary your beer at cellar temps which will help settle proteins.
 
I'm not convinced that you can eliminate chill haze completely. My understanding of chill haze is, that these are proteins that are small enough to make it into the fermenter (past hot and cold break) but are large enough to go out of solution once the beer drops to a certain temperature.

As a result of mashing (ME has been mashed too) there should be a wide spectrum of various length proteins in the wort. The idea of the boil and fast chill is to coagulate most of the larger and medium length ones. But I'm not sure that you will get all of them.

Even commercial brewers need to filter cold to remove chill haze. But with the suggestions that the Baron made, you may be able to reduce chill haze.

Kai
 
I don't know, I've gotten some pretty dang clear beer, but maybe it just appeared clear relative to some of my other creations and compared to a commercially filtered beer it would be quite cloudy. OTOH, I've only done one non-wheat beer this entire year, so clarity is not really on my radar at the moment ;)
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
I don't know, I've gotten some pretty dang clear beer,

At what temperature. All my beers (except for the wheat) are pretty clear at 50F but develop chill haze below 40F.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
At what temperature ?

Kai
Cold from the fridge. I had some ales that I "lost" in the back of the fridge for 3-4 weeks and I felt like they were crystal clear (they had been secondaried ~45-50F, as well). But as I said, I didn't compare them to a filtered beer so I may have only been impressing myself.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
Cold from the fridge. I had some ales that I "lost" in the back of the fridge for 3-4 weeks and I felt like they were crystal clear (they had been secondaried ~45-50F, as well). But as I said, I didn't compare them to a filtered beer so I may have only been impressing myself.

That's pretty good. Maybe I have to check on my procedure in order to reduce the chill haze, that I'm getting, even further.

Kai
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
Aren't you lagering most of your beers? I would think that would eliminate chill haze pretty well (at least settle it out).

You might be right. On Sunday, I took a Maibock sample from the top of the keg (as opposed to using the dip-tube) and it was pretty clear for beeing at 35F. So the chill haze may actually settle after all. It just seems to get disturbed very easily ;).

Kai
 
if you have the patience (and the refrigerator space) throwing them into the fridge for a week or two after they've carbonated should settle out the haze
 
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