Kolsch Lager Looks Cloudy

I just bottled my third batch last night, a part grain kolsch. My first two batches, an amber ale and an oktoberfest style ale, turned out clear. This one had an awful lot of sediment on the bottom and the beer looked like coffee with milk in it when I siphoned it into the bottling bucket. I tasted some and it tasted fine. I looked at a couple of the bottles today and they are pretty hazy. With my first two batches I added some Irish moss near the end of my boil. I forgot to do it with this batch. Could that be making such a big difference or is it likely something else?

Did you do a secondary ferment?

I highly recommend one. This allows more time for the trash to settle out and mellows the flavors.

Irish moss makes a huge difference. I don't use it in darker ales, but wouldn't do a pale without it.

Post recipe please.

It shouldn't have been that dark. I just brewed a Kolsch yesterday. I used a whilrflock tablet the last 15 minutes of the boil and my wort came out very, very clear. I didn't even bother to filter out the trub this time as the whole hops did a great job of filtering out most of it while draining from the brew kettle.

Your kolsch should have had a portion of wheat in it. This is a high protien grain and will cause haze in your brew unless your are able to drop the protiens out. This is what irish moss and whilrflock acomplish in the kettle.

This being said, haze is not what you're describing. It sounds like you had dark malts in your brew or else carmalization in your kettle.

I must apologize because I don't have the recipe handy. I don't think it had wheat in it. It is the lightest colored recipe I have made, but not as light as a regular American lager is. Cloudy maybe isn't as accurate as "milky." In the bottles is looks a bit hazy. Maybe as it carbonates the stuff will sink to the bottom. My other recipes said when to add the Irish moss. I intended to add it to this one, but I forgot and the recipe didn't remind me.

If you want clear beer make Irish Moss part of every recipe.

If it is anything like the Kolsch I just made it used wheat extract which will account for the cloudyness. Mine is fairly cloudy also but tastes great. I have a picture of it posted down under the testing section for test posting pictures if you want to take a look at it.

mmditter said:

I just bottled my third batch last night, a part grain kolsch. My first two batches, an amber ale and an oktoberfest style ale, turned out clear. This one had an awful lot of sediment on the bottom and the beer looked like coffee with milk in it when I siphoned it into the bottling bucket. I tasted some and it tasted fine. I looked at a couple of the bottles today and they are pretty hazy. With my first two batches I added some Irish moss near the end of my boil. I forgot to do it with this batch. Could that be making such a big difference or is it likely something else?

Click to expand...

1. Yes, Irish moss can make a difference.

2. Grain/extract used (i.e. wheat which is present in almost all Kolsch ales is cloudy).

3. Yeast. You may be using a less floculant yeast and it may still be in suspension.

That said, I've brewed a bunch of different kolsches and I have yet to make a crystal clear beer. During the primary they will usually be very clean but the wheat seems to increase the chill haze. Nonetheless, the beer will be drinkable.


-Eric

After about 2 weeks in bottles my Kolsch style lager is looking much clearer. I am not sure about the taste, though. So far it's either very yeasty or has a very strong hops flavor or both. It may just need longer in the bottles, though.