Clearing time

I read everywhere recipes calling for a week fermenting and another week or two clearing in a carboy (some ignorant people call it secondary fermentation)... I own a stainless steel fermenter and it is promoted for being a single stage fermenter and they say in the users manual to bottle or keg after 10 days...

What the $@&* is wrong with the world? I have never had a single batch clear up that fast. Ok, maybe with some stouts that floculated real quick after 3 weeks... But most of my beers are clear after at least 5 weeks, not 3, not 4, but at least 5 and some batches (mostly when using belgian yeasts) takes way more than that. Even when using irish moss. + I only brew part mash most extract brews and I heard it clears up faster than all grain.

Am I doing anything wrong or am I just crazy? What do you guys think?

I don't mind a little haziness in my beer but it does affect the taste when you can taste the yeasts, some are good and some are sour...

I prefer when it's crystal clear. i thought of filtering but I know most filtering techniques are going to oxidize my beer except if I feed co2 along the whole setup before passing the beer through and that would be too much trouble for me to handle, I like to put my beer straight in the keg.

Do you cold crash prior to kegging? That's been the single biggest improvement I've seen with mine. I've thought about filtering, there's ways to do it while you jump from one keg to another, but I just hadn't taken the leap yet.

I ferment for 2 weeks, check my gravity, then give it another week. I only secondary for fruit additions and the like. Generally 3 weeks from brewday to kegging, more or less.

No space to crash unfortunately. I thought of having a 2nd fridge but I don't have enough room for that... My kegerator is a tiny fridge and I can fit 2 cornys... I'm actualy in the process of gathering the cashdown required to buy a house, then I'll have room for a fridge to control fermentation temps + cold crash.

I keg a lot of beers(~5%ABV) at 10 to 14 days if they are at a stable gravity and I have a keg ready. I dont really care if they are completely clear or not as I use gelatin. I dont do a separate cold crash I just rack to the keg and put in the cooler and add gelatin after a couples of days. I use the set and forget method and when the beer is carbed it pours clear after the first couple of pints usually.

I am not sure if it matters, but I do try to limit the amount of break material/trub I put in the fermenter, so at racking time I have a minimal amount of yeast/trub left in the fermenter and hardly any in the bottom of the keg when it kicks.

I usually find that moderate strength beers (even lagers) 'clear' in about 3 weeks without cold crashing. I stopped crashing before kegging so as to prevent air back sucking and oxygenation the beer. Most are still noticeably hazy at the 14 day mark but have started to clear.

I have a batch ready to bottle today. Clarity is the last if my concerns, quality wise. Taste and consistency, period. I'm not making Coors here.

It depends on how clear you want your beer to be. Most of the time, for ale styles that are supposed to be clear, I drop in a whirlfloc tablet and give the beer two weeks to ferment, give it a dry hop if my recipe calls for it, then bottle it and not worry too much about it. For competition beers where clarity counts though, I'll do whatever primary and secondary actions I'm taking, then cold crash the bottle in my fridge for a minimum of two weeks before submitting them. Ten days will get it done for an ale if clarity isn't hugely important, but if you really want it to be clear a week or two of cold crashing is pretty key in my opinion.

I have a gold liquid malt extracts with just a bit of german select hops + 600ml of maple syrup that's been fermenting for almost 3 weeks now. I'll keg it on tuesday, let it cool at least 2 days and drop some gelatin in. (I watched a few videos and the most popular way seems to be the one teaspoon in a cold cup of water nuked 15 seconds bursts in the microwave stirring between each nukes until clear).... I'll then set and forget at a dozen psi for a while... I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Just checked my last lager and after 14 days at 50F it has dropped crystal clear, still in the ferm.

Making crystal clear beer is all process related. I pay a lot of attention to water chemistry (especially pH). Using a RIMS helps make crystal clear wort. And an aggressive chilling routine creates a great cold break.

I don't think i could make a cloudy if i tried.

marcagio said:

No space to crash unfortunately. I thought of having a 2nd fridge but I don't have enough room for that... My kegerator is a tiny fridge and I can fit 2 cornys... I'm actualy in the process of gathering the cashdown required to buy a house, then I'll have room for a fridge to control fermentation temps + cold crash.

Click to expand...

If you are buying a new house - if you can - make them leave the fridge (no matter how old). That is a great way to pick up a extra fridge. But I have had great luck finding standing freezers, chest freezers etc... on Craigslist for under $100. If you cold crash - that is one of THE best ways to create a super clear beer.

You said you have a stainless fermenter - what kind? Is it a sanke? Is it a conical?

maierhof said:

If you are buying a new house - if you can - make them leave the fridge (no matter how old). That is a great way to pick up a extra fridge. But I have had great luck finding standing freezers, chest freezers etc... on Craigslist for under $100. If you cold crash - that is one of THE best ways to create a super clear beer.

You said you have a stainless fermenter - what kind? Is it a sanke? Is it a conical?

Click to expand...

Answering 5 months later hahahaha! sorry
http://mangrovejacks.com/products/craft-series-stainless-steel-fermenter
that's the one