Has anyone tried Clarity Ferm (Brewers Clarex) from White Labs?

I searched the forum for this, no hits.

I'd never even heard of it until your post.

Looking into it, the product Brewers Clarex is intriguing and I can definitely see some advantages of using it on a commercial scale. On a homebrewing scale, I'm not as sure it's worth the retail prices I've found for it ($2/5 gallon batch) if the goal is to improve clarity, as other products like gelatin, PVPP, polyclar, etc. are much cheaper, and cold crashing for a few days does wonders as well. Shelf stability isn't really a problem I've run into.

I agree on the cost. Do those other clarifiers work on chill haze too?

Yes. I typically use whirlfloc at the end of the boil, then before packaging I add gelatin and cold crash for a few days that tends to drop out most of the stuff that causes chill haze. I rack to the bottling bucket when the beer is still cold to be sure those proteins don't get back into suspension.

Great. Thanks. For schnitsandgiggles I'm going to try some, I'll let you know how it worked out.

If this is in fact Brewers Clarex, the more interesting aspect is that it might be able to help reduce gluten in beer making it more drinkable for celiacs. For $2 a pop, that is worth it for a 5 gallon batch instead of brewing a meh sorghum beer.

Is anyone able to buy this from a HBS??? Where can I find official info that shows that this reduces the gluten to less than 5ppm? I'm really interested in this, and I am willing to be a guinea pig and to post the results on here. I'm trying to find good GF recipes, and it's getting difficult. However, if I could get a hold of this stuff, I would be very happy to try it out.

A couple of online places have it:
http://www.beer-wine.com/products/clarity-ferm
http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/product/0102252/white-labs-clarity-ferm

I ordered some and it arrived today. I plan to test it as a gluten reducing agent in a stout that I am making for a friend with gluten intolerance. There has been some discussion about it on homebrewchatter.

http://www.homebrewchatter.com/board/f65/brewers-clarex-liquid-yeast-t7726/.

It isn't being labeled as "gluten reducing" or "gluten-eliminating" in the US. But there are a couple breweries in Europe that are using it in barley beers labeled as gluten-free. So far, the homebrew jury is still out on it though. I figure worst case, if it doesn't work, I will just have to drink this failed experiment myself. . .

Enhoffer-Knopfe said:

I agree on the cost. Do those other clarifiers work on chill haze too?

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Polyclar (PVPP) is the only additive product of which I am aware which can reduce chill haze.

In my opinion, the best way to reduce haze is to use proven techniques which don't allow haze precursors (high-molecular-weight proteins and polyphenols) to form in the first place. I dislike additives where good technique and ingredient selection can perform the same function.

Procedures like:

If you use a protein rest in the mash, don't let it go on too long.
Do not oversparge.
Ensure a vigorous boil, which promotes break formation (use Irish Moss in the boil).
Add hops after you start to see hot break.
Completely separate the bitter wort from break at knockout (well, as completely as you can).
Chill the bitter wort as rapidly as possible.
Cold-condition the fermented beer for at least seven days (as close to freezing as you can get the beer).

Ingredients:

Use of a pale malt which is lower in nitrogen and proteins (<11%).
A small amount (~10% of the grist) of adjunct such as flaked maize or rice is a confirmed nitrogen diluent.

Cheers,

Bob

homebrewbaron said:

If this is in fact Brewers Clarex, the more interesting aspect is that it might be able to help reduce gluten in beer making it more drinkable for celiacs. For $2 a pop, that is worth it for a 5 gallon batch instead of brewing a meh sorghum beer.

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I just finished tasting my first experiment with Clarity Ferm (Brewer's Clarex from White Labs). I brewed a 10-gallon batch of an Alpha-King clone which I split into 2 5-gallon fermenters, one with clarity ferm and the other not. I used SafeAle US-05 in both as it is considered gluten-free. I bought a gluten test kit from http://www.ezgluten.com/ and tested it today. It came back negative, which means it was under 10 ppm! This is very good as generally if it's under 20 ppm, it's considered safe for celiacs. I have some friends who are celiacs who are anxious to try the final product when it's ready (only 10 days in the bottle so not quite yet).

One note of caution - I used less bottling sugar than usual and still ended up with excess foaming. I would say use 1/2 as much as you normally (2 oz?) would so that you don't encounter this. I will the next time.

So how did it taste? Seems pretty tasty to me. I will come back and post after I do a side-by-side taste taste with the other 5 gallons...

Trying a similar experiment right now with a split 10 gallon batch of Kolsch. Looking forward to seeing how well it worked. I have a friend with celiac's disease who is willing to be a test subject comparing the batches. I might try to get one of those kits to comapre. Did you measure the gluten content of the non-clarity fermed batch?

homebrewbaron said:

Trying a similar experiment right now with a split 10 gallon batch of Kolsch. Looking forward to seeing how well it worked. I have a friend with celiac's disease who is willing to be a test subject comparing the batches. I might try to get one of those kits to comapre. Did you measure the gluten content of the non-clarity fermed batch?

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No, I did not test the 5 gallons fermented normally. I will do that as a control. The tests are around $15/each (I bought 5 for $60 + ~$15 S & H) so I am trying to be frugal. It would be good for this first test. The literature does mention beer as one of the food items they tested, so I feel pretty confident about the results. But it would be good to do this. I will post my results later today. I will also post my recipe

Sorry I didn't post this sooner. The results for the second EZ-Gluten test (on the 5 gallons brewed normally) showed that the gluten was off the charts, i.e., whet should be expected for regular beer.

I am not sharing the recipe because I do not like how either batch turned out - they both taste the same, but I am not particularly happy with the flavor. It definitely is not similar to Alpha King (as were previous clones of it that I brewed). I am going to use Clarity-Ferm in another batch to see how it turns out, but I am pretty sure it was something specialty grain I used as I used different sources of the same yeast for both, and have never had an issue with Safale US-05 before. In any case, at least both batches tasted the same so I can't blame Clarity-Ferm.

One last note - subsequent bottles of the gluten-reduced beer have not been over carbonated, as I assumed after I opened the first 2 bottles. I assumed all were over carbonated because for the first 2, I chose one of the first and one of the last that I bottled and both were over carbonated. The next two I opened (which were chilled for 2 weeks) turned out to be fine. I am going to chill the remainder of the 10 gallons for about a month to see if they improve overall.

My question now is how clear did it come out compared to using some cheap gelatin. I'm about to order from BMW and currently thinking about dropping a 5 tube pack in my cart. Hmm might as well it's only $10. Plus maybe it'll help the wife out. She has a gluten sensitivity it seems.

smokinghole said:

My question now is how clear did it come out compared to using some cheap gelatin. I'm about to order from BMW and currently thinking about dropping a 5 tube pack in my cart. Hmm might as well it's only $10. Plus maybe it'll help the wife out. She has a gluten sensitivity it seems.

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I do not have issues with cloudiness in my beers so I can't really say, but the split batch I brewed was clear for both.

Okay so I used some of this in a malted cider. One thing I noticed that was very apparent is there was zero, absolutely no, krausen. I haven't even bottled it yet but usually when I do a mini mash for cider I end up with some krausen and there was absolutely nothing.

I'm going to probably want to buy this product for it's gluten reducing abilities.

My mom is developing some gluten allergies, but she loves my beer!

gaviga, I hope you continue the tests!

Thought I'd post this up. I emailed White Labs for some more information on the matter. John got back to me within the hour! Wow, what customer service!

Hi Amanda,

Clarity Ferm is currently being sold solely as a chill haze reducing agent. I have brewed with it and I have had a professional brewery use it on test batches and they are currently being tested for gluten. The results are still pending. I talked with Charlie Papazian, who also did some test brews with it and had his beers tested by an independent laboratory and they found the gluten content of his beers to be in the sub 5ppm range. I can't say that this will be true for any beer made with Clarity Ferm, but the observations so far have been promising. If you decide to use Clarity Ferm to make a gluten free beer, I would advise you to have that beer tested before giving it to anyone who suffers from any sort of gluten intolerance. Once we have done more thorough testing on this subject, we'll publish our results on our website, so keep an eye on it for more info.

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I'm drinking a beer from a batch that I added it to post fermentation. The enzyme apparently takes a bit of time to do its thing. I left it for a week before bottling and nothing seemed to clear up. So I went ahead and bottled. The beer tastes fine and it has a good head but the bottom of each bottle has a serious layer of crap at the bottom. I poured a clean beer and then a second "dirty" one from the same bottle and it has a strange mouth feel with that precipitated protein. May have to do a split experiment on the next batch with the other three vials.

really fascinating. I will keep watching this product

Okay results of clarity ferm so far for me. Malted cider did not clear do to pectin haze. I dumped the boiled wort straight into the apple juice to see if the clarity ferm would remove that. It doesn't.

My other beer was brilliantly clear with the exception of hop haze.

I am doing another batch right now that I just threw the clarity ferm in the fermentor. This beer is a belgian style tripel so it will be a very good beer to see if it works with. I did not add any fining agents to the kettle and did not even chill. I let the wort sit over night in the stainless fermentor to cool. I aerated then pitched the yeast and enzyme.

My next move will be to split a batch. I just keep forgetting about it when I run-off from the kettle. Hell I forgot I even had the vials of the enzyme until this morning.

Pics to follow in the future of the tripel.

Also this is listed on white labs in case anyone hasn't seen the information.

http://www.whitelabs.com/enzymes/Clarity-Ferm.pdf

My interest in Clarex is not killing chill haze, but reducing gluten. I spoke to WL about this project about a year ago, while they were still talking with DSM about marketing it. They said it would do a very effective job of eliminating gluten, but they stopped short of branding it for that purpose. My guess is this is because reaction to any amount of gluten varies even within the population of celiacs, so WL have to protect themselves legally.

As I understand it, Clarex is an enzyme derived from a mutated bacteria, a genetically modified organism or GMO. The enzyme chomps proline, breaking down the gluten proteins (including gliadin) that causes reactions in gluten intolerant people and in celiacs (not the same thing BTW). However, large fragments of the gluten can and do remain in suspension. These chunks of gliadin protein remain a concern to medical researchers. Simple assays for detecting gluten will say there is little gluten present as a result of Clarex activity, but those tests aren't looking for all those fragments. It is not clear to me that this means the product is safe for gluten-free (GF) consumers, not unlike WL's stance.

There were rumors at the time of my initial research on this topic that a couple of brewers in Europe were starting to use it - one in the "low countries" and one in Spain. I recently tried Damm Estrella Daura, a Spanish import lager offered at one of the finer beer establishments in town. I believe this is the rumored Spanish brewer. Daura was very good - no after taste, off flavors, etc. Not expensive like many GF beers. But this isn't surprising based on what we know about the Clarex and its intended use by commercial breweries. Interestingly, Daura does NOT claim to be gluten free beer, just a little note in fine print on the neck: gluten 6 ppm. If this commercial lager has also been cold-crashed, etc., chances are it's okay for most really gluten sensitive folks. But we did say chance, and chance is something I've found firsthand that most GF folks don't like to mess with - for good reason. They also tend to be skittish about highly processed or modified foods, including use of GMOs.

I'm curious to know how gluten-free beer drinkers feel about this, about the use of Clarex in beer. Are products like Damm Estrella Daura something that they're going to run out and buy by the truckload regardless? ... "damn the torpedoes!!!".... Or would they rather we keep trying to create alternative fermentable beerish concoctions from non-traditional ingredients (Redbridge, Bards, et al)? Run this past your gluten-free friends and let us all know what they think.

TIA - Bobbo

BCat said:

As I understand it, Clarex is an enzyme derived from a mutated bacteria, a genetically modified organism or GMO.
TIA - Bobbo

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The enzyme is sourced from Aspergillus niger. That is a species of black mold from what I understand. As to whether it's GMO or not I don't know. I could do some research on this using my school's resources. I might even be able to ask a couple of my profs if they know anything about the mold. Not that knowing more about where the enzyme comes from will do much for is effectiveness for reducing gluten.

Now I am also interested in its gluten reducing qualities. My wife has developed a gluten intolerance and while typically beer does not bother her I'm sure it will in the future. I figure if I can still make normal beer with regular malt instead of malted quinoa or rice syrup then we'll be better off.

I'm not a bio type, know just enough to say A. niger is probably the mold version of what Drosophila melanogaster (a fruit fly) is to the bio lab community. I'm guessing A. niger on my onion in the kitchen doesn't produce a proline-specific endoproteinase, in which case it needs have been mucked with -- but I have no hard proof as yet. I will check my notes from earlier this year. Any additional data you gather is appreciated by this thread. Just let us know what the source is.

Cheers!

According to the DSM website it says the enzyme they use is from a cloned strain of A. Niger. This is a mold that can cause serious lung infections in humans, especially immunocompromised. That being said, my friend is a gluten intolerant M.D. who has given up beer. I called her today and told her about Clarex and gave her all the info I could find. She said she would be the first in line to try the "gluten reduced" beer. She said she had tried the damm estrella with no side effects so the clarity ferm sounds promising. I'm going to split an 8 gal batch 5/3 with the clarity ferm for the 3 gal batch and send her a beer or two. If it works out she said she'll buy a 3 gal keg just to keep in her fridge.
I'm looking forward to positive feedback from her. This could be huge.

Schwind said:

According to the DSM website it says the enzyme they use is from a cloned strain of A. Niger. This is a mold that can cause serious lung infections in humans, especially immunocompromised. That being said, my friend is a gluten intolerant M.D. who has given up beer. I called her today and told her about Clarex and gave her all the info I could find. She said she would be the first in line to try the "gluten reduced" beer. She said she had tried the damm estrella with no side effects so the clarity ferm sounds promising. I'm going to split an 8 gal batch 5/3 with the clarity ferm for the 3 gal batch and send her a beer or two. If it works out she said she'll buy a 3 gal keg just to keep in her fridge.
I'm looking forward to positive feedback from her. This could be huge.

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I googled Aspergillus niger (that is what Clarity-Ferm is derived from - http://www.whitelabs.com/enzymes/Clarity-Ferm.pdf) to see what exactly you were talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_niger . It seems pretty harmless used as we use it in brewing. The FDA says that it is "generally recognized as safe", and it appears to be widely used in other foods (used to produce high fructose corn syrup and we know that is in almost everything!) The only warning about it is "if large amounts of spores are inhaled, a serious lung disease, aspergillosis can occur." That should not be an issue for homebrewers

BTW, I have had mixed results but I can tell you one thing - CP and I found that it is not as effective in wheat beers as it is with just barley malt. Two of the first 5 batches I brewed with it had some measure of wheat and they both tested positive for gluten. I am sticking to all-barley beers for my GR beers from now on, and that is what I recommend. Also please note that the recommended dose of Clarity-Ferm is for beers that are 12P (~1.048) or lower. I like IPAs and IIPAs so I will probably double dose my ****** beers from now on, too.

Cheers!

Thanks for clarifying that part. I forgot to mention it's harmless as a brewing adjunct.
I was going to email Chris @ White labs but it would appear you and Charlie could answer my question. Is there any harm in adding more clarity-ferm for higher OG's? Would I add the extra proportionately depending on the gravity or should I just add 2 vials for anything over 1.048.
Now that I think about it, 1 vial should work for 3 gal of 1.062 wort if you can scale it that way.
This is a great thread and I really appreciate all the effort you've put into this.
Thanks,
Schwind

Schwind said:

Thanks for clarifying that part. I forgot to mention it's harmless as a brewing adjunct.
I was going to email Chris @ White labs but it would appear you and Charlie could answer my question. Is there any harm in adding more clarity-ferm for higher OG's? Would I add the extra proportionately depending on the gravity or should I just add 2 vials for anything over 1.048.
Now that I think about it, 1 vial should work for 3 gal of 1.062 wort if you can scale it that way.
This is a great thread and I really appreciate all the effort you've put into this.
Thanks,
Schwind

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Hi again,

I am assuming that more Clarity-Ferm will work with higher gravity worts just as more is needed for larger worts, but you could check with White Labs to make sure. I was just going to try it the next time I brewed a larger beer, but it might be more cost-effective to ask If you get an answer, please post it.

Thanks,
Gary

Here's the email response. Hope this helps everyone out.

Hi Mike,

The pitch rate is 1 5ml vial per 5 gallons, regardless of starting
gravity. The enzyme is very specific and only targets the protease protein
and it will continue working until there is no more protease left, then
stop. Adding more enzyme will simply make it work faster, but there's
really no advantage to it working faster so I would recommend sticking to 1
vial.

John Carroll
White Labs, Inc.

Schwind said:

Here's the email response. Hope this helps everyone out.

Hi Mike,

The pitch rate is 1 5ml vial per 5 gallons, regardless of starting
gravity. The enzyme is very specific and only targets the protease protein
and it will continue working until there is no more protease left, then
stop. Adding more enzyme will simply make it work faster, but there's
really no advantage to it working faster so I would recommend sticking to 1
vial.

John Carroll
White Labs, Inc.

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Thanks Schwind! That's great news! I wonder why they have the note about worts of 12 P or lower then? That seems a little confusing at best.

I'll try it on an IPA (sans wheat this time) to see how it turns out. I will report back. Please note - I brew outside in Iowa so it may be a few weeks before I brew (it's March here and it still gets pretty friggin cold!)

My aunt lives in Iowa so I know how cold it can get. Has the temp gotten above freezing yet?
I might get to brew one before you so I guess it'll be race.

Take care.
Mike

Yes, we've had some warmer days but they have been during the week mostly and were freak occurrences. A common saying in Iowa is that if you don't like the weather in March, just wait a few minutes I expect to do a batch late March if all goes well. I had a nice hop harvest last year so I will be doing an all-homegrown hop IPA that I will hop "burst" the heck out of. I did one last Fall and it turned out really nice.

Where is Iowa does your aunt live?

She lives in Sheldon up in the far northwest corner. If you've never heard if it I'm not surprised. It's a pretty small town.
I've wanted to grow my own hops but don't have the right yard or climate. It's a bit to warm and dry here in the summer. What types are you growing?

Brewed up a 8 gallon batch with 3 gallons of the batch with clarity-ferm. I'll post back results in 6 weeks.

I've gone through a 5-pack of the stuff. I can say that it has definitely reduced the haze in my beer. It doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. I don't filter my beer, although I occasionally cold-condition it. My brews with clarity ferm are definitely clearer than elsewise. On the other hand, it's not precisely cheap and I can always just cold-condition my bottles after they carbonate up.

I am more concerned about the gluten-free aspects of this enzyme. I have 3 celiacs in my family and all of them would give the world to just get a good beer and a slice of pizza. Unfortunately I cant help them with the good pie, but if this stuff lets me make "normal" beer that they can tolerate, this would be AMAZING. I

just picked up a pack of this stuff today. Going to brew this Saturday. Will post back with results later. Does anyone have any idea how long it takes for this stuff to do its thing? Would it take longer than a 4 week primary/secondary timeline?

I've used it in four or five brews. It's real tough to say how long it takes on the gluten front. Most of the beers I used it in for chill haze still had chill haze when I put them in the fridge. So to me it was a bust really. I have one currently going right now that I put a vial in on day one of fermentation. I will hopefully bottle up a stout and transfer this tonight. I will see how clear it is but I don't have high hops. My most recent attempts with clarity ferm were a tripel and an IPA. The IPA is hazy as all hell partly due to hops but also chill haze. The tripel is less hazy but certainly still has significant chill haze. When I bottled the tripel it was crystal clear just for reference. So I don't know if a clear beer at cold temps means gluten action has also been accomplished or not. That would be a question for someone with gluten testing kits to answer.

For us non-celiacs, is the loss of gluten going to change the character of the beer, possibly in a negative way? Is not the gluten in any way responsible for the character of the finished beer?

j_dub4t said:

I am more concerned about the gluten-free aspects of this enzyme. I have 3 celiacs in my family and all of them would give the world to just get a good beer and a slice of pizza. Unfortunately I cant help them with the good pie, but if this stuff lets me make "normal" beer that they can tolerate, this would be AMAZING. I

just picked up a pack of this stuff today. Going to brew this Saturday. Will post back with results later. Does anyone have any idea how long it takes for this stuff to do its thing? Would it take longer than a 4 week primary/secondary timeline?

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A few hints. Don't brew with wheat - this stuff seems to work best with barley and is somewhat limited with wheat. I noticed this in 2 of my brews and Charley Papasian reported the same in his trials.

Just follow the instructions and add it to the primary fermenter whrn you are pitching your yeast. It works there to break down glutens into fermentable sugars. Remember to make sure that whatever you use for racking/kegging/bottling is gluten-free to reduce the chance of random gluten getting in. I bought a new racking cane, tubing, and ez-siphon for this. I clean my bottles and kegs especially well if I am putting GR beer in them.

If you want to test what you brewed for gluten, get a kit from EZ-Gluten - I use them and it has saved me from some embarrassment from the wheat situation. Otherwise, if your friends are not super-gluten intolerant, this should not be an issue. Here is a link to the discussion on the AHA site with Charley chiming in: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=5807.0. Again, from personal experience brewing with Clarity ferm, it seems to work. And the beer is pretty much unaffected, especially the flavor and body. My HB club could not tell the difference between it and "regular" beer, and I brewed an APA, and IPA, a Belgian Dubbel, a Mild, and a stout to test it. Unfortunately I used wheat in two of those, but they still tasted great, they just weren't what I was willing to classify as Gluten-reduced enough for my friend. And by the way, Charley uses EZ-Gluten, too, to test his beers. It is a pretty well-accepted test.

Good luck! Please post your results for others after you finish.