clean, crisp, clear beer

[knockout350]

sorry if this is posted somewhere else on the board i haven't had time to really look around. anyways....

i am relatively new to home brewing but i have brewed my fair share in the few months i have been doing this (its actually above Alabama's, my location, "legal" limit for home brewing per month). but from what i have learned i have made leaps and bounds in my education but i am still having trouble with cloudy beers.

i am trying to get the same clarity you find in a good lager/ipa where its nice and clean with a crisp after taste. to achive this a rack into a secondary fermenter (every week actually), use irish moss to clarify and have a converted mini fridge as a laggering chamber. yet i am still unable to get a clear beer....Why?

this is just one of my problems but the rest i can explain (i think) and fix (hopefully). so if anyone has any insight that might be able to help me i would much appreciate it.

this is a list of beers i have done so far,

*oatmeal stout
*american wheat
*magic hat #9 clone
*dos equis clone (yes i have seen all of your hate on this style, walk on. there is nothing better than a cold dos equis/corona with a lime in it when your at the beach)
*standard dry hopp IPA
*german hefe

 

[reinstone]

sorry if this is posted somewhere else on the board i haven't had time to really look around. anyways....

i am relatively new to home brewing but i have brewed my fair share in the few months i have been doing this (its actually above Alabama's, my location, "legal" limit for home brewing per month). but from what i have learned i have made leaps and bounds in my education but i am still having trouble with cloudy beers.

i am trying to get the same clarity you find in a good lager/ipa where its nice and clean with a crisp after taste. to achive this a rack into a secondary fermenter (every week actually), use irish moss to clarify and have a converted mini fridge as a laggering chamber. yet i am still unable to get a clear beer....Why?

this is just one of my problems but the rest i can explain (i think) and fix (hopefully). so if anyone has any insight that might be able to help me i would much appreciate it.

this is a list of beers i have done so far,

*oatmeal stout
*american wheat
*magic hat #9 clone
*dos equis clone (yes i have seen all of your hate on this style, walk on. there is nothing better than a cold dos equis/corona with a lime in it when your at the beach)
*standard dry hopp IPA
*german hefe

Use whirlfloc, cool fast and make sure calcium is over 50 ppm. If you keg the proper administration of gelatin works wonders. It's not need if all else is right. Also if all grain....do a starch test.

 

[eastoak]

you are brewing all grain beer i assume? clarity problems can start in the mash tun with conversion problems or Ph and water composition. with a lot of practice and attention to your process your beer will get better in every way not just clarity. your post does not include many details about your process so it's hard to guess what the problem could be.

 

[brdb]

Use whirlfloc or irish moss in the boil
If bottling, cold crash primary or secondary before bottling for a day or two, add gelatin and let sit in fridge another day, bottle as normal.

If kegging, rack from primary or secondary into keg, purge oxygen, cold crash for a day or two, add gelatin, carbonate.

It's important to add the gelatin after you have chilled the beer because this allows chill haze to form and then the gelatin can remove this haze along with other proteins/yeast.
As far as how much gelatin to use, I usually add a teaspoon of unflavored gelatin to 3/4c water and then heat in microwave for 30 seconds at a time until the temperature reaches 150F, then dump that into fermenter or keg.

 

[day_trippr]

How many weeks of "cold" does your typical batch see before consumption?
That would include lagering time, cold crashing, and cold conditioning. Also, do you dry hop extensively - and if so, do you go straight to packaging thereafter, or do you cold-crash first?

Between lagering, cold-crashing, and cold-conditioning while force carbing, by the time I put most batches on tap they've seen close to a month of "cold". Typically it takes less than a pint pulled from a new keg for bright beer to follow - and an empty keg usually shows just a coating of dropped debris on the bottom. In my bottling days it was pretty nearly the same (if I had the patience through the process).

I prefer not to use clarifying agents, and to be honest wouldn't get cranky about a bit of haze. But, assuming the original wort was fully converted of course, given time and cold it seems all beers will clear...

Cheers!

 

[brdb]

given time and cold it seems all beers will clear...

I've definitely noticed this for my own beers as well. The longer it sits in the bottle or keg, the clearer it gets. I had a blonde stout I had made that was pretty hazy at first but after a few weeks it was as clear as a commercial beer. That one was only using whirlfloc in the boil as well.

 

[TxBigHops]

Thanks for posting this. After 3 brews down, I've been thinking this is one of the next issues I want to tackle. My third brew, an IPA looks nice and clear after 9 days of bottle conditioning. But after 24 hours in the fridge it appears much cloudier looking through the bottle. I assume this is what is referred to as chill haze. The same thing happened with a blonde ale that was my second brew. However, I noticed last night that one bottle that has been in the fridge close to 2 weeks is now much clearer than several others that have only been in there a few days. So is that the trick - longer time in the fridge to get rid of the chill haze?

 

[randomgnarkill]

Is this for just for Lagers and IPAs or will this work with all beers?

 

[eagle83]

The hefe has a low flocculent yeast. It is supposed to be hazy. The wheat is supposed to be hazy as well. The IPA could be hazy from the dry hopping.

The only one I see you've brewed that I would be concerned with is the lager (XX). Like everyone else has said the longer at fridge temps the clearer. Also if you are bottling be sure to pour slowly into a glass and leave the last bit in the bottle. The last bit will be mostly yeast which will haze the beer.

 

[brdb]

However, I noticed last night that one bottle that has been in the fridge close to 2 weeks is now much clearer than several others that have only been in there a few days. So is that the trick - longer time in the fridge to get rid of the chill haze?

That seems to do the trick for most of my beers. After they finish carbonating in the bottles, I'll stick all the bottles in the fridge and if I open some within the first few days of sticking them in the fridge they will still be a little cloudy. After a couple weeks it seems like all of the remaining bottles get much clearer so I would say yes, the longer they sit in the fridge, the clearer they will get.

 

[TxBigHops]

That seems to do the trick for most of my beers. After they finish carbonating in the bottles, I'll stick all the bottles in the fridge and if I open some within the first few days of sticking them in the fridge they will still be a little cloudy. After a couple weeks it seems like all of the remaining bottles get much clearer so I would say yes, the longer they sit in the fridge, the clearer they will get.

Cool, thanks a lot. So you must have a huge beer fridge! I have over 5 cases of bottled beer in my closet. I've been putting 4-6 bottles at a time into the fridge to chill. Only reason I had one in there for so long is I went out of town for a week. I've been told in another thread that the beer will keep just fine, and may even continue to condition and improve if I store them at room temp rather than putting them all in the fridge once they are carbed up. Have you had a different experience?

 

[brdb]

Cool, thanks a lot. So you must have a huge beer fridge! I have over 5 cases of bottled beer in my closet. I've been putting 4-6 bottles at a time into the fridge to chill. Only reason I had one in there for so long is I went out of town for a week. I've been told in another thread that the beer will keep just fine, and may even continue to condition and improve if I store them at room temp rather than putting them all in the fridge once they are carbed up. Have you had a different experience?

Yeah they will be fine at room temp. The only reason I started putting all of mine in the fridge is because I started noticing that the chill haze would go away after they sat in there for a while. I have a wine cooler that has room for the bottles to stand up in the bottom so I just stick as many in there as possible and usually by the time I drink them they have been sitting in there long enough to clear up quite a bit.