IPA remains cloudy.

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

brieuxster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
161
Reaction score
1
Location
St. Brieux
I have a 10 gal all grain batch of IPA and no matter what I do it remains cloudy. I think it tastes fine. I have left it in the Corny keg chilled for two weeks and dispensed it. I have added unflavored Knox gelatin and left it in the keg for a week or two more and dispensed it.

I could use some suggestions on what may have gone wrong. Help Me. :confused:
 
Is it downright turbid,or just slightly misty? Take a look at "buckIPA v1" in my gallery to see what I mean. If it looks like that,it's normal. IPA's have a lot of hop oils in them that cause that slight mistiness.
 
Did you add irish moss during the boil? I add about a tablespoon with 15 minutes left in the boil.
 
I have one that is similar. I couldn't get it clear. It's an 10% IPA with a pound of hops in 7 gallons. Tasty, but I don't share it with others because of the appearance. I like to give people clear beers, I think a lot of people often draw conclusions about a beer before even tasting it.
 
IPAs do not have to be inherently 'cloudy' or hazy. I hate when I see posts like that. Here's a picture of my double IPA with 17oz of hops in a 6 gallon batch. There's even a little condensation on the the glass.

My point is, there's probably another reason your beer is hazy other than the fact it's an IPA. It might be starch haze, suspended proteins that didn't fall out as break, chill haze, yeast in suspension, etc, etc. My money is on starch haze, which are nearly impossible to clear.

But don't let others convince you to shrug your shoulders and say "eh, it's an IPA, it's ok for it to be hazy" If you've ever seen Firestone Walker, Russian River, or Sierra Nevada's IPAs you'd know what I mean, they literally sparkle.

DSC_4015.jpg
 
scottland, did you use finings in the above pictured beer? It looks beautiful!
 
Well,with mine it def wasn't chill haze,they get too much fridge time for that. They settle clear in the bottle,idk maybe I got some yeast in the glass. That was about the best pic I remember taking. And it sat in primary plenty long enough to settle out well. Maybe it's just my camera blurring all the carbonation,cause the APA brewd around the same time was clear as a bell. No finings or anything. The only difference was 6oz of hops in a 6G batch. I'll see how it goes with the next batch coming next month with my current process. Got another batch of Summer Shandy going nuts now.
 
scottland, did you use finings in the above pictured beer? It looks beautiful!

Ya, I fine every beer I brew with Chico yeast. That yeast is stubborn to drop out. English yeasts I don't bother. I use 1tsp of gelatin per 5gal
 
Really funny story about that glass. A local brewpub (SanTan) worked with a local glass shop to develop it. It's much like the Sam Adams glass, only much heavier glass, taller, and thicker. The Sam Adams glasses break if you look at them the wrong way, and these are much more robust.

Unfortunetly(although I do understand), Sam Adams slapped a cease and desist on them over patent infringement, so they no longer make the glass. It sucks that Sam Adams has to screw over a tiny little brewpub in Chandler AZ, but if you don't defend your patents you lose them.
 
My IPA's are usually really clear, my IIPA's a bit less so.

My recent IIPA was clear before dry hopping, but now is stubbornly hazy. However, I am only 6 or so pints into the keg, so my fingers are crossed.

Like you said though, it tastes really great so screw it!
 
My IPAs are crystal clear also- I think that a hops haze (if present) is just a hint of haze and not try cloudiness. Even when judging, most IPAs are clear. I know it's aesthetics, but I really like drinking only clear beer. Murky beers just don't seem to taste as good.

A severe haze like that seems to be a starch and/or protein issue from incomplete conversion or from a large amount of wheat in the grain bill (although even wheat beers will eventually clear).
 
Many beer in the bottle is completely clear, looks as good as any when it's warm.
When I put is in the fridge for a few days it is very cloudy! Looks horrible. I have 2 competitions coming up in a week or so and don't know what to do. It's my first time for comp and I may have to bail on it due to the haze. Unless they judge them warm.
I use Irish moss and lately whirlflock. What else can I do?
 
Lakefront Brewery IPA which is one of my favorites is cloudy. So I never worry if mine is cloudy or not.
 
@ hough77-leave'em in the fridge for a week or two. There might also be some chill haze involved,& that takes a couple days to settle out. See if this helps a little.
 
unionrdr said:
@ hough77-leave'em in the fridge for a week or two. There might also be some chill haze involved,& that takes a couple days to settle out. See if this helps a little.

I will when I get home, thanks! The AHA drop off I think is March 17. Hopefully it will work.
 
I believe that beer wasn't served in glass until brewers figured out how to make translucent, light-colored beers. Before that, dark and murky beers were served in opaque vessels. So obviously, the answer is to pour your beer into a stein and say, "Yup, this is how they used to make 'em."
 
How did this turn out? I have a young IPA that looks very similar to the one in your picture and I'm hoping a week or so in the fridge will fix it.
 
IPAs do not have to be inherently 'cloudy' or hazy. I hate when I see posts like that. Here's a picture of my double IPA with 17oz of hops in a 6 gallon batch. There's even a little condensation on the the glass.

My point is, there's probably another reason your beer is hazy other than the fact it's an IPA. It might be starch haze, suspended proteins that didn't fall out as break, chill haze, yeast in suspension, etc, etc. My money is on starch haze, which are nearly impossible to clear.

How do you eliminate starch haze in the first place?

how can you eliminate haze (other than Irish Moss) in the first place?
 
I eliminate chill haze by chilling the hot wort down to pitch temp in 20 minutes or less. My APA was crystal clear,my IPA was just a hair misty. Same basic recipe,only difference is the hop schedule. The APA uses 2oz hops in 2 late additions,the IPA 4.5oz in 3 additions,with 1.5oz dry hop for 6ozs total.
 
I'm guessing the reason mine is cloudy to begin with is because I used so many hops that it was almost impossible to siphon, so I poured it into the fermenter through a strainer so I would lose as little wort as possible. I had a mesh grain bag around my autosiphon and it would clog up after about 5 seconds of flow. I figured a lot of the proteins would fall out if I just cold crashed a few days before bottling, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Anyway...is there anyway this haze goes away or will I have to live with it? Tastes delicious either way.
 
How do you eliminate starch haze in the first place?

how can you eliminate haze (other than Irish Moss) in the first place?

Starch haze comes from:
Extract: Steeping grains that needed to be mashed
All-Grain: Incomplete conversion of the starches to sugar. This could be for a number of reasons, but the main culprits are: Not stirring the mash well enough to break up dough balls, resting at too low of a temperature, or not resting long enough.

Performing an iodine test is the best way to make sure you've fully converted your mash. Starch haze is easy to prevent, but impossible to clear.

As for chill-haze, check this blog post: http://bertusbrewery.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-fix-and-prevent-chill-haze.html Those are some best practices to prevent chill haze.
 
Back
Top