Ever had a beer that has not cleared up at all?

I just kegged a batch of Strawberry wheat that I made. I used a White Labs Hefe slap pack for the batch. It was in the primary for a week and then into a secondary for 2 weeks with 4lbs of frozen strawberries. My questions is that while it was in the secondary it did not seem to clear at all and the beer from the keg has a heavy hefe yeast smell to it. Is it possible there was more yeast then fermentables? And the keg is in the fridge now, will that help to seperate the yeast out and normalise the taste? Thanks

Cold crashing will help settle out some of the yeast, but a wheat beer, by design will remain cloudy to give that "unfiltered wheat" look and flavor.

Especially using a hefe yeast, you won't get a clear beer.

If you look at the yeast stats, you'll probably see "floculation:low". That means it doesn't like falling out of the beer at all. Avoid those yeasts if you like clear beer.

BierMuncher said:

Especially using a hefe yeast, you won't get a clear beer.

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thats not entirely true.....

Ive made a few really great crystal weizens using WLP380. Irish moss, whirflock, and cold crash a secondary for a few weeks and there you go

Depending on how the "strawberry" aspect came to be, there's the possibility of a pectin haze as well.

Im more concerned about the heavy yeast smell and taste. Will that mild out as the yeast settles. Im not to concerend about the clarity I have just never seen a beer that has not cleared out at least a little bit.

the_bird said:

Depending on how the "strawberry" aspect came to be, there's the possibility of a pectin haze as well.

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This is especially true if you add the strawberries to the boil. This is why wine/cider makers generally at sulfates to sanitize the wort instead of boiling it.

They don't even necessarily need to be boiled for a haze. Some people (including me) have added fruit to the secondary after pasteruzing it at a temp lower than boiling for ten minutes. If that temp's too high, that can also contribute to pectin haze.

Most likely is the yeast, though. If so, it'll clear on it's own (eventually); I'm drinking a Kristall-rauchweizen right now.

Hefeweizen translates literally to "yeast wheat." The yeast is intended to stay suspended, providing strong estery flavors.

Yah the fruit was pastuerized for about 15 mins and then added to the secondary with the beer racked on top of it. Im sure its probably just a combo of haze and yeast. Ive just never had a yeast stay this apparent for this long.