Chill Haze Problem

I brewed two batches of beer about a month ago and both seem to have chill haze. I will run through my brew process after but read somewhere in an old post that new beer can sometimes have chill haze and was looking for more information on that.

The chill haze is real chill haze not unconverted starch. At room temp I can read something on the other side of the bottle, in the fridge it looks like a wit beer.

I am doing AG brews. LHBS crushes my grain. I mash in a 10 gal Midwest Gott cooler setup. Batch sparge with no mashout. I lauter slowly like I would for fly sparging to try and get clear as possible sweet wort. Both batches boiled for 60mins. I add super irish moss at 10mins left. I use a 50ft SS Immersion Wort Chiller with my old 25ft copper IWC as a prechiller in a bucket of ice water. It takes me 15-18 mins to go from 212 to 64. Both batches were fermented with Wyeast 1056 American Ale. 12 days in the primary at room temp and then moved to cold basement for 2 days to get the yeast to settle out before bottling. Beer was bottle conditioned.

Things worth mentioning:

The beer has only had 2 weeks in the bottle, wanted to try one saw the chill haze when I put it in the fridge to test. Beer was carbonated well though.

Other than that I am not sure. The books I have say the problem is not getting a cold break but I use a wort chiller so Im stumped. Anyone have an idea or question about my process shoot away.

Matt

Whirlfloc will set you free.

944play said:

Whirlfloc will set you free.

Click to expand...

I always had haze with irish moss, and almost never with whirlfloc.

Do you get a really great cold break? If not, try Whirlfloc. It really made a big difference for me. I never get chill haze any more.

Another thought is to chill the beer longer- after about 2 weeks of cold storage, the chill haze disappears. If you have room in the fridge to store more beer, that will help.

YooperBrew said:

Another thought is to chill the beer longer- after about 2 weeks of cold storage, the chill haze disappears. If you have room in the fridge to store more beer, that will help.

Click to expand...

This works for me. I haven't tried Whirfloc yet, because it just doesn't bother me that much but longer chilling definitely makes a difference.

Chill haze solution: ceramic mugs...

What brand/type of malt are you using?

Was it the same base malt for both beers?

What was your mash temp(s)/schedule(s)?

Thanks for the responses,

Would whilfloc really make that big a difference over the five star super moss?

Not sure if I get good cold break or not? I brew in my not so well lighted garage and try to keep away from the pot once the wort is cooling. I do notice large brownish clumps forming. I do not however whirlpool my wort before I drain though. Once it hits 64 I just drain it.

I believe I used Simpson's Golden Promise for the blonde and Marris Otter for the amber (not sure on the brand). 60 min infusion mashes for both. 153 for the blonde which drops to about 150 after an hour. 155 for the amber dropping to 152.

Matt

menschmaschine said:

What brand/type of malt are you using?

Was it the same base malt for both beers?

What was your mash temp(s)/schedule(s)?

Click to expand...

x2! These are VERY important questions that all too often neglected on this and other forums. I've fought this issue, and it was the malt all along (nobody sugested that in my cry for help threads, but Menschmaschine steered me in the right direction - THANKS BTW)!

To fix my chill haze issue, I simply modified my grist and added more "other" malts than I'd been using. Whether it was adjunct, other 2 or 6 row, Munich, etc....when I got away from this one base 2 row, the beer was VERY clear.

Blonde was Simpson's Golden Promise, Amber was LHBS's Marris Otter.(Not sure which brand.)

No

60Min Infusion for both, Blonde was 153 dropping to 150, Amber was 155 dropping to 152.

Tetzlaf said:

Blonde was Simpson's Golden Promise, Amber was LHBS's Marris Otter.(Not sure which brand.)

No

60Min Infusion for both, Blonde was 153 dropping to 150, Amber was 155 dropping to 152.

Click to expand...

Those malts should be OK as far as proteins go, i.e., proteins that would result in chill haze. If you can't find any other cause, you could try a low 140s°F rest before an upper 150s°F rest to break down some of the insoluble proteins.

If you're using English malts, brew English style beers, and drink them at the appropriate temperature (55 - 57F). Not only will this prevent chill haze, but the beer will taste much better.

-a.

Another vote for Whirlfloc. It's MUCH more effective than plain Irish moss. All my brews are crystal clear now.

I am using the Five Star Chemical Super Irish Moss. White Powder, not the brown reg kind.

Matt

I like Whirlfloc better- it just seems to work better for me.

You said you're not sure about your cold break. Well, if you get a good hot break and a good cold break, you'll know because the wort going into the fermenter will be clear. You can see it separate- the cold break globs up and participates out. The wort at the top of the keggle is beautifully clear.

I thought of this today while I was brewing. I didn't check the temp, because I walked by the cooling kettle and saw that the wort was cloudy. So I knew that I hadn't reached under 90 degrees yet. A couple of minutes later, sure enough! The globs of protein were coagulating and falling to the bottom, leaving clear wort at the top. I then checked the temperature and got ready to transfer (the wort was 70 degrees then).

I didn't think to take a picture to show what I mean, but I'll do a search and see if I can find someone else's picture. Generally, if the wort is clear going into the fermenter, you shouldn't have any chill haze issues.

It sounds like he is chilling really fast, so I don't think its because of a lack of cold break. I have also had clear beers since I started using Whirlflock.

Tetzlaf said:

I am using the Five Star Chemical Super Irish Moss. White Powder, not the brown reg kind.

Matt

Click to expand...

I used that super moss HB and pitched it. I just didn't do anything. THe regular Irish moss worked better for me.

THis is the first time i had heard anything about the wirlflic tablets, do you guys really think they work that much better than regular?

One of my brew buddies built one of those home water filter rigs. He said it took a few days but the 5 micron filter brightened his beer up REALLY sharp. i might borrow that for a contest beer, but every beer? Not very cost effective

YooperBrew said:

Generally, if the wort is clear going into the fermenter, you shouldn't have any chill haze issues.

Click to expand...

Generally, yes. But if it's due to high levels of proteins, it'll be crystal clear going into fermenter and then still hazy as heck after fermentation, crash cooling for months at a time, etc.