Cloudy beer

I used Irish Moss chilled my wort down in about 20 minutes and still have cloudy beer. Could it be from dry hopping? Actually it's cloudy even when it's warm so it isn't even chill haze.

Is it bottled or still in the carboy? How long?

Sorry....it's been bottled for 5 weeks this wed.

1 week primary....2 in secondary and 3 in bottles (now 5).

Interesting. Did you use a secondary? Was the beer clear when you were putting it into the bottles or has it been cloudy from the start?

It appeared cloudy in secondary. I had 1oz of hops pellets in a muslin bag in there for 7 days. I was pretty good racking both into secondary and bottling bucket and didn't have much sediment in secondary. There isn't much yeast at all on the bottom of my bottles. It was an English IPA and it fermented at 68-72 degrees. Same for secondary and same for bottles. Right now it is sitting at about 70-73 degrees F.
You can see the cloudiness just by looking at the bottles. At 45 minutes into the boil I added 1/2-3/4 tsp Irish Moss to my wort (2.5 gals). Actually I did a late addition and added my second half of extract also. (3.3 lbs LME).

If it tastes good swill it down. If it really bothers you put it in a dark glass or just drink it right out of the bottle. I occasionally have this happen and I don't know the cause.

rohanski said:

If it tastes good swill it down. If it really bothers you put it in a dark glass or just drink it right out of the bottle. I occasionally have this happen and I don't know the cause.

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The cloudiness doesn't bother me but it is puzzling since I used Irish moss. I thought that was to prevent this!
There is a weird taste and aftertaste to this brew that I had on my first batch also. Others that have tasted it have not noticed it and most like the beer. Compared to my middle two batches I can't stand it.... just like my first batch. One or two have tasted the same odd taste I have but most don't. My LHBS tasted the off taste but kept tasting because he wasn't really sure if he did or not. It's hard to pin down....kind of a cross between tinny, and bitter or a faint soapiness? The taste is nothing that fits the usual off taste descriptions ( I checked Palmer's also). Definitely drinkable (and after two you don't taste it!) but just not to my liking....something isn't right. Could that be "yeasty?" I'm not sure what that would taste like but come to think of it the back taste and after taste might be that of "trub."

So while cloudiness doesn't bother me, I have to wonder if there is a connection and especially since I added Irish moss which I thought would kill any cloudiness concerns.

Irish moss only removes proteins, not something like a starch haze. What were your specialty grains (if any) and how much iron is in your water?

david_42 said:

What were your specialty grains (if any)?

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6.6 lb. Munton's Light Malt Extract
¾ lb. Munton & Fison Crystal Malt 60° L
½ lb. Munton & Fison Carapils Malt 20° L
1 ½ oz. Kent Goldings U.K. Hops (Bittering)
1 oz. Kent Goldings U.K. Hops (Flavoring)
1 oz. Fuggles Hops (Finishing)
Wyeast # 1028XL London Ale

My son just tasted it and didn't think it was bad other than it was a little "light" in flavor. There is a definite bite to it that tastes like trub to me if I had to describe it as anything. I racked to secondary after my Hydrometer reading fell to 1.011 or 12 from OG of 1.050. Airlock activity was one bubble every 40-60 secs.

I would brew the same batch again and see if the unusual taste remains. If so, i would try bottled water for a batch and see if that changes the taste.

I always use bottled water

The faster you can chill your beer, the clearer it will be. Anything you can do to get a nice cold break (immersion chiller, CFC, etc) will help on the clarity front.

I'd chalk it up to the dry-hopping. My beers are always very clear since I use gelatin and crash cool.

The only exception is my dry hopped American Pale Ale.

If you read the BJCP guidlines...there's also reference to the fact that beers won't be expected to be crystal clear if dry-hopped...and I quote:

Appearance: Amber to coppery brown in color. Moderately large off-white head with good retention. Generally quite clear, although dry-hopped versions may be slightly hazy.

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david_42 said:

Irish moss only removes proteins, not something like a starch haze. What were your specialty grains (if any) and how much iron is in your water?

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Doesn't it coagulate (sp?) the protiens not remove them? You still need a cold break to remove them, or so I thought...

CEMaine said:

Doesn't it coagulate (sp?) the protiens not remove them? You still need a cold break to remove them, or so I thought...

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I thought it was supposed to attach to the proteins and then settle to the bottom with protein attached thus removing them. My batch was cooled in about 20 minutes.

i have had some beers that were cloudy and couldnt figure it out, tasted good but haze to them.
The longer they sat in the fridge the more it went away

Well it's been 6 weeks since bottling and after 3 weeks I didn't like the beer at all; it had an odd back ground and after taste (tasted like trub). At just about 5weeks it was the same and kind of watery/light. At 5 and a half weeks the beer was great and the aftertaste gone. Now at 6 weeks it is more full bodied and the very good.
Out of the four batches I've made 2 took about 5 weeks to be any good while the other two were ok at 3 weeks (but much better at 4-5). Let it sit!

Still cloudy though But now I care less!

Brewno said:

Well it's been 6 weeks since bottling and after 3 weeks I didn't like the beer at all; it had an odd back ground and after taste (tasted like trub). At just about 5weeks it was the same and kind of watery/light. At 5 and a half weeks the beer was great and the aftertaste gone. Now at 6 weeks it is more full bodied and the very good.
Out of the four batches I've made 2 took about 5 weeks to be any good while the other two were ok at 3 weeks (but much better at 4-5). Let it sit!

Still cloudy though But now I care less!

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now let them sit in the fridge for an additional 2 or 3 weeks and you cloudiness will subside

mot said:

now let them sit in the fridge for an additional 2 or 3 weeks and you cloudiness will subside

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Are you kidding? I am so impatient that I find every excuse to try another beer. So Nov, 7th made 3 weeks in bottles. As of today I only have 10 bottles left!!

BierMuncher said:

If you read the BJCP guidlines...there's also reference to the fact that beers won't be expected to be crystal clear if dry-hopped...and I quote:

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Hmm... interesting. I hadn't noticed this with my dry-hopped beers, although with extract I guess they tend to be less "crystal clear" than most beers anyway. I'll have to compare in a month, as I just made a double batch of bitter-- one dry-hopped and one not.