Beer Clarity...

I've continued to be baffled by the clarity of my beers. I ran the latest batch through a 5 & 1 micron filter, and the clarity was crystal clear. It's been in the frig for the last 5 days, and is at around 40 degrees. So I have a few questions...

What is it about the beer that causes it to get hazy at colder temps, but the commercial beers still appear crystal clear (unless you get an uber dark beer)...is that the chill haze?

Next time, should I chill the beer first, and then filter it?

If its clear beer in the bottle and gets cloudy when you chill it... yes, that's chill haze.

There are threads all over this site with suggestions for getting rid of chill haze. Just do a search.

You'll find that you can either fix it or prevent it. My thought is that you should prevent it but trying to figure out what is causing it may take you a while to figure out. There are many things that can cause it and the true cause will be specific to your brewing set-up/practices.

jdlev said:

Next time, should I chill the beer first, and then filter it?

Click to expand...

yes, to remove chill haze by filtration it needs to be cold. i crash to 32*f two days before kegging, then use 7 micron pads -- it works great

Exactly- chill haze only shows up in cold beer, so it must be filtered cold to get rid of it.

You can prevent it to begin with (which is harder to do at first, but easier in the long wrong), or filter it out.