What the F'ing Haze

Wort coming out of my mash tun is VERY clear. Post boil after the plate chiller into the fermenter is also VERY clear. Finished beer in the fermenter is see-through clear. Why is my beer coming out of the keg hazy? I brewed a Kolsch and everything is to style except for the clarity.

I've heard about chill haze but guess I just dont understand it, or more importantly,... how to prevent.

throw some gelatin in the keg....not sure the exact grams/ratio but seen a nice side by side that made me a believer.....
theres gotta be quite a bit of posts here about it...
are you usuing warflock, or irish moss?

jayjaytuner said:

throw some gelatin in the keg....not sure the exact grams/ratio but seen a nice side by side that made me a believer.....
theres gotta be quite a bit of posts here about it...
are you usuing warflock, or irish moss?

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Havent gone down the gelatin route yet. I have another 5gal Kolsch keg sitting in the garage conditioning before going into the keezer while drinking my first 5gals. Perhaps I'll try the gelatin on that.

I am however, using warflock 15mins before flame out on the boil.

gelatin should attach to any haze & drop it out...

You can use 5 grams of gelatin in 5 ounces of water, to treat 5 gallons of beer. Heat to 160 in a microwave. Use short bursts of heat so you don't over heat and go over 160 degrees. You have to cold crash your fermenter, 34 to 36 degrees is good and add the gelatin. Give it a day or two if your patient and then rack to your keg. You will have clear beer after that! If you have beer already in a keg you can add the gelatin to the keg. Problem solved!

John

If your carbed in the keg watch out putting gelatin in. I've read in a few posts on here that it will foam. Definitely read up on how to do it without the mess.

That is true to. I always use it in the fermenter when I use it. I haven't personally used it in the keg, but others here have.

John

I started having a similar problem when I started using FermCap in the boil. I dont know if it was doing something to the break material but it was a very persistent chill haze. Now I have stopped that and even let my wort settle for 2 hours after I finish whirlpooling to make sure break material settles out.

Beers have been clearing much better. I know others have used Fermcap in the boil but for me it did something bad.

I used gelatin in the keg and had good results. Took several days to clear but you can read your monitor through it.

I use Irish moss in my boils and after keeping I often have clear beer after a couple days in the keg. At most the cloudy is gone in a little over week.

If the cold haze really bothers you..then as others have said, irish moss, or gelatin work well. Personally when I've done a beer that needed to be pretty, I chill the beer down a couple days or so with just the a little gas on it (not enough to carb, just purge the head space), then racked into a second keg thru my filter before gassing.

LuckyBeagleBrewing said:

I started having a similar problem when I started using FermCap in the boil. I dont know if it was doing something to the break material but it was a very persistent chill haze. Now I have stopped that and even let my wort settle for 2 hours after I finish whirlpooling to make sure break material settles out.

Beers have been clearing much better. I know others have used Fermcap in the boil but for me it did something bad.

I used gelatin in the keg and had good results. Took several days to clear but you can read your monitor through it.

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It has been found that clear beer and clear wort have little to do with each other. When you whirlpool and leave that wort behind what you mostly accomplish is to get less beer. Yeast seem to like the trub and it may get you clearer beer when you dump all the break material into the fermenter. You also get a couple more beers per batch.

They say don't use Irish Moss if you're using a plate chiller.

Here's my routine: keg the beer and put it in the fridge. Next day when it's nice and cold (the same temp you plan to serve it) pour 1 package of Knox gelatin into 10 oz of water. Let bloom for 60 minutes then slowly heat it until its over 150 but not to 160. Then dump it in the keg, seal and carbonate. This is the result:

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1487593878.736318.jpg

If you have the space and the time, like I do, put the whole damn carboy in the refrigerator and leave it for 4-6 weeks. Longer is better.
I use whirlfloc tablets in my boil, half-assedly screen out trub when pouring wort into the fermenter, rack to a carboy after primary to get it off all the crap on the bottom, give it a couple weeks for secondary, then put it in the beer fridge for about a month. Even if it's clear in the carboy, it always gets chill haze, but I find by keeping it chilled for a long time, that haze actually does settle down to the bottom. Then when it's mostly clear, I keg and carb.

Clarity Ferm from white labs. Specifically designed to get rid of chill haze and it works REALLY well. Also makes your beer "gluten reduced" so you can serve it to your yuppie friends (or in my case, my actually gluten intolerant wife)

Jon: Looks good...QUESTION: Does the gelatin come out of the keg in the first pull or show up in the glass at the end of the keg? I used gelatin in carboys and it floats. I had to rack the beer from under it.

homebrewer_99 said:

Jon: Looks good...QUESTION: Does the gelatin come out of the keg in the first pull or show up in the glass at the end of the keg? I used gelatin in carboys and it floats. I had to rack the beer from under it.

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Drops out, gone in first few pours. When the beer is cold it cant hold stuff in suspension so heavier objects (like clumps of gelatin) fall out

phendog said:

I've heard about chill haze but guess I just dont understand it, or more importantly,... how to prevent.

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Can't prevent chill haze. Chill haze is soluble protein that precipitates when the beer is chilled to serving temperature. I have a Tripel in the keg right now that pours hazy, then clears as it warms up.

+1 on gelatin recommendation. I use a half-packet of Knox when I feel the need. Use the minimum necessary, because it also binds to flavor tannins and protein.

Cheers!

Thanks for the succinct "solution" John