What's the secret to clearer beer?

I have 6 AG batches under my belt now, and I am happy to say that they all actually turned out to be "good beer". There's always room for improvement though, and I was wondering what the most important factors for getting clearer beer are. Since my last batch I have added an immersion chiller to try to get more of a cold break. I use a keggle to boil in and try to secondary for two weeks. What are the best things I can do to make clearer beer? Is it bad to let the hot/cold break go into the primary? I use one of the pvc collar/hopfilters which filters my hops pretty well, but the hot and cold break still gets into the primary. I would assume this will fall to the bottom eventually, but I'm really just a noob so I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks for your help! Oh, also of note, I've been able to decrease my fermentation temp. to around 67-68 now as well. I don't know if this aids in clarity but I'm expecting a difference in taste.

What I have done that has made the biggest improvement in the clarity of my beer has been cold crashing. About 2-3 days before I keg, I put the carboy into my chest freezer at set the temp at 34 degrees. This makes my Blonde Ale crystal clear.

Do you use any additives like Irish moss? Another good option is gelatin, it will do an amazing job clearing up a beer.

I do currently use irish moss last 15 min. of the boil. I haven't tried gelatin yet. I wish I could cold crash my beer, but I just don't have enough room right now in my apartment. Someday I hope to be able to get a good chest freezer.

I swear by whilfloc, one tablet per 5 gallons, in the last 10 minutes of the boil. I have never used any clarifiers and have crystal clear beer. Another thing of course is a good cold break. Not just a little, but get your wort from boiling to under 90 degrees ASAP (like in 10 minutes) and tons of proteins will just congeal and fall right out, in the form of cold break, especially with the whirlfloc. It really doesn't matter if the hot break or cold break make it into the fermenter or are filtered out- it'll just settle in the trub anyway. Here's some better explanations of that: http://www.beer-brewing.com/apex/wort_cooling/cold_break_formation.htm

illinibrew04 said:

I do currently use irish moss last 15 min. of the boil. I haven't tried gelatin yet. I wish I could cold crash my beer, but I just don't have enough room right now in my apartment. Someday I hope to be able to get a good chest freezer.

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You don't need a chest freezer. Just get one of those big rubbermaid containers from Lowes, put your carboy/bucket in it, fill it with enough water that it rises at least halfway up the level of the beer, then cycle in frozen plastic bottles of water. My basement is 70F right now, but with my chiller, I can easily keep a batch at 50F using this technique.

YooperBrew said:

I swear by whilfloc

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+ 1 Whirlfloc is MUCH better than standard Irish Moss. I was amazed at the difference in my beers. Yes - it is more expensive but once my bottle of Irish Moss is gone I will never use it again.

+ 1 on the cold crashing but use isinglass before that. No additive (in my minimal experience) will do a great job getting chill haze out of beer unless you get it to form by chilling the beer first.

Awesome, Thanks for all the great ideas guys. I'm definitely gonna try the whirlfloc tablets and the big container filled with water. I actually thought about getting one of these for fermentation purposes. Keeping the carboy in the container of course...not fermenting the beer in the container.

isinglass and gelatin work well but you should keep in mind that they are not vegetarian, and if you use them you should tell people that animal products went into the beer. good alternatives are polyclar - I used it in my last kolsch and its crystal clear. and sparkolloid which I havent tried in any beers yet but its amazing in mead, its instructions say to add it and let it settle for 2 weeks but most things are crystal in around three days.

+1 on putting the carboy in a rubbermaid tub with ice two or more days before racking out. Even better, get it up high so that you can rack without moving the carboy afterwards.

If you cold crash your beer for 2 days prior to bottling, does this remove all the yeast? Are you bottling or kegging and carbing after this point?
Is there still enough yeast in suspension after crashing to bottle condition?
Do any of these techniques affect a chill haze or are they mostly for cloudiness that is from suspended fine particles and yeast?

Thanks

illinibrew04 said:

Awesome, Thanks for all the great ideas guys. I'm definitely gonna try the whirlfloc tablets and the big container filled with water. I actually thought about getting one of these for fermentation purposes. Keeping the carboy in the container of course...not fermenting the beer in the container.

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In my gallery, I have a picture of an igloo cooler with wheels that I use. A carboy fits in it, and I removed the lid and made a styrofoam lid, with a hole in the top for the airlock to poke out. Then, I can use it as a cooler by replacing the lid, or use it as my Yooper Lagerator by putting on the foam lid. It works great, too! I put water in it, and add frozen water bottles with a floating thermometer. In the winter, I can keep it in the basement at 34 degrees. In the summer, I use it to keep ales in the 60s by just using one water bottle.

Cold crashing (same setup as Yooper) is the thing that has made the most difference to me.
On my last brew I was a little lazy and didn't even try to leave cold break and hops particles behind in the kettle when racking to the fermenter. I had planned to use a 2-week primary without secondary prior to bottling, but the beer was still full of particulates after the 2-week period. So I went ahead and racked to a secondary and crashed it to about 40 degrees for three or four days, which cleared it right up.

Whirfloc in the boil.
Gelatin in the secondary/keg.
At least 2 weeks of cold crashing.
Shorten the dip tube a bit by bending it sharper, or cutting off 1/8th inch.

illinibrew04 said:

I use one of the pvc collar/hopfilters which filters my hops pretty well, but the hot and cold break still gets into the primary.

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If you are still using irish moss toss it into pot, not the hop sack. It should get better absorption/circulation that way.

I use same set-up and stopped dropping it in the bag, its seems to have improved the beers. I have also started brewing 5.5-6 batches so I can leave more of the trub behind and still get a 5 gal yield.

1. Boil vigorously. For me, this always results in a clearer beer.
2. Use a highly flocculating yeast
3. Chill quickly after the boil.
4. Brew English ales and serve them at 55 - 57F. Gets rid of chill haze.
5. Don't bottle too early
6. Pour carefully
7. Don't use large amounts of wheat

-a.

Lots of good tips here, I think I need to try whirlfloc but here is what I do for a normal beer.

Irish moss at 15 minutes in boil, no bad.
1 week primary 6 gals.
1 week secondary 5.5 gals.
1 week cold crash in secondary.
carefully rack to keg, with the beer tube shortened.
Let the keg carb in place for a week, don't move it.

I can use my light beers as a magnifying glass to read small print if needed.

No finnings of any sort. roughly a week in the primary 2-3 in the secondary and a week in the keg at ~38F. I dump the hot and cold break into the fermenter.

I am convinced there is absolutely no reason to use any of those clearing agents when I can get beer this clear. The secret is not rushing the beer and the week at cold temps.

irish moss, false bottom and filtering the grain, false bottom and filtering the trub, long primary, long secondary, cold crashing, filtering from keg to keg



i rarely use every step, but those are some things i do! never used gelatin...