Eliminating chill haze

[Kate00]

How do I go about getting rid of chill haze in my beers? I started with extract brewing about 9 months ago and jumped to all-grain two months ago.

My extract batches are all crystal clear in the bottle until they're cold then they're hazy. My all grain I just tried is less hazy but still has it.

How do I stop it? Longer boils? Other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[eastoak]

how fast are you able to chill your wort? the faster the better. do you use whirlfloc? that also helps. the boil does not have to be longer than usual but you do have to have a good roiling boil.

 

[zenyl]

I've found keeping the bottles ice cold for a few weeks helps. I had a partial mash Christmas Ale that conditioned for 8 weeks before I stuck a few in the fridge. At room temperature the beer was pretty clear out of the bottle. I poured one after 2 days in the fridge and it was murky looking. I tried others after 10 and 15 days and each one was so much better. My pale ale is looking much better too with a few weeks in the cold and I even dry hopped that one with loose pellets. I usually turn the fridge down to the mid-30s when I chill my conditioned bottles.

 

[DeafSmith]

The only way I've been able to get rid of it is to stick the beer in the refrigerator and leave it there for 2-4 weeks. It's a lot better after two weeks and crystal clear after a month.

 

[Captain Damage]

Chill haze will drop out of the beer after 2 weeks or so in the fridge. That said, +1 to what Eastoak said. Also, don't just chill down to 70F, or whatever your "pitching temperature" is. If you can get your wort down to 60F or lower, the clarity of you beer will improve dramatically. You can pitch (ale yeast) at that temperature and just let the wort/beer warm up to room temp, or whatever your fermentation temperature is.

 

[DeafSmith]

Chill haze will drop out of the beer after 2 weeks or so in the fridge. That said, +1 to what Eastoak said. Also, don't just chill down to 70F, or whatever your "pitching temperature" is. If you can get your wort down to 60F or lower, the clarity of you beer will improve dramatically. You can pitch (ale yeast) at that temperature and just let the wort/beer warm up to room temp, or whatever your fermentation temperature is.

Thanks for the tip - I'll try it on my next brew. In the past I have always just chilled to pitching temp.

 

[Kate00]

To answer Eastoak:

I use an immersion chiller to cool my wort, and the water here in Denver is cold enough that it only takes ten minutes or so to cool to pitching temp. I use a pretty steady rolling boil, but nothing too violent. I use Irish Moss, but havent tried Whirlfloc yet. Ill give it a shot.

Thanks for the pointers all, I'll have to find me a cheap fridge on craigslist to cold store

I was also wondering if filtering would help. I've seen a couple filter systems online that are affordable, and may give one a shot if it would help.

 

[eastoak]

To answer Eastoak:

I use an immersion chiller to cool my wort, and the water here in Denver is cold enough that it only takes ten minutes or so to cool to pitching temp. I use a pretty steady rolling boil, but nothing too violent. I use Irish Moss, but havent tried Whirlfloc yet. Ill give it a shot.

Thanks for the pointers all, I'll have to find me a cheap fridge on craigslist to cold store

I was also wondering if filtering would help. I've seen a couple filter systems online that are affordable, and may give one a shot if it would help.

irish moss is the same as whirlfloc but i switched to whirlfloc and never looked back. a good hot break/cold break should take care of the proteins that cause chill haze. my first 2-3 all grain brews suffered from chill haze but as my process got better it went away. filtering is an option but i think it's too early to go that route, i would work on the hot/cold break and it will go away.

 

[Kate00]

irish moss is the same as whirlfloc but i switched to whirlfloc and never looked back. a good hot break/cold break should take care of the proteins that cause chill haze. my first 2-3 all grain brews suffered from chill haze but as my process got better it went away. filtering is an option but i think it's too early to go that route, i would work on the hot/cold break and it will go away.

I pour everything from the brew kettle into the fermenter, didn't really know not to (read a few things saying i should googling a bit). What's the easiest way to remove the cold break, if it should be removed? I skim the hot break i get during the boil.

edit: I pour straight out of the brew kettle through a funnel with a screen. I dont have a valve in the kettle, or a whirpool or anything yet. trying to keep things simple cuz funds are a bit limited.

 

[eastoak]

I pour everything from the brew kettle into the fermenter, didn't really know not to (read a few things saying i should googling a bit). What's the easiest way to remove the cold break, if it should be removed? I skim the hot break i get during the boil.

edit: I pour straight out of the brew kettle through a funnel with a screen. I dont have a valve in the kettle, or a whirpool or anything yet. trying to keep things simple cuz funds are a bit limited.

i dump the kettle into the fermentor sometimes when i use whole hops because my valve drain invariably gets clogged, it makes no difference to the clarity of your beer or with chill haze. that break material contains nutrient for yeast and removing it has no benefit that i've heard of.

 

[Kate00]

Cool. I'll just keep Pouring everything in.

Thanks all!

 

[scottland]

Whirlfloc + quickly chill your wort well into the 60s + leaving your bottles in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, will typically = crystal clear beer.

 

[BrewThruYou]

PVPP (Polyclar) should take care of it. There are no-chill brewers who get crystal clear beer, so quickly chilling the wort to 60° isn't a sure-fire recipe for eliminating chill haze.

The easy answer is to keep all your bottles chilled before serving for 2+ weeks.

The hard answer is to listen to Dr. Charlie Bamforth's interview on chill haze on the Brewing Network and follow what he says (if you can decipher what he's saying half the time).

 

[eastoak]

PVPP (Polyclar) should take care of it. There are no-chill brewers who get crystal clear beer, so quickly chilling the wort to 60° isn't a sure-fire recipe for eliminating chill haze.

The easy answer is to keep all your bottles chilled before serving for 2+ weeks.

The hard answer is to listen to Dr. Charlie Bamforth's interview on chill haze on the Brewing Network and follow what he says (if you can decipher what he's saying half the time).

clear beer starts in the brewhouse, period. the easy answer is to get a good hot/cold break. i usually open one of my beers after 3 days in the bottle and 30 min in a freezer and i don't have chill haze problems. polyclar can strip more than chill haze out of your beer if used incorrectly.

 

[terrapinj]

you can try clarity ferm (Brewer's clarex) as well - but with proper technique it shouldn't be necessary

also reportedly reduces gluten content

http://www.whitelabs.com/enzymes/Clarity-Ferm.pdf

 

[bdknuc2]

I am struggling with chill haze right now and I know part of it has to do with cooling the wort. I do not have an immersion chiller and that is part of the equation. I had a question about the hot break. When the proteins are building up on top of the wort during the hot break is it a good idea to skim that layer off or is it acceptable to simply boil that off??

 

[Yooper]

I am struggling with chill haze right now and I know part of it has to do with cooling the wort. I do not have an immersion chiller and that is part of the equation. I had a question about the hot break. When the proteins are building up on top of the wort during the hot break is it a good idea to skim that layer off or is it acceptable to simply boil that off??

You can if you want, but after the hot break (when it totally breaks up), if you look in the wort, it looks like egg drop soup. That's the "hot break". It won't go back into the beer, as once it's out, it's out. You can skim it off, or leave it.

Chill haze may also be attributed to lack of a cold break. Since you've had chilling issues, this could be why you have haze. Have you tried whirfloc in the kettle? It works amazingly well, better than Irish moss in my opinion.