Methods for the clearest beer?

Hey all - n00b here. I'm a few batches in and have been happy with the flavors, but the clarity is driving me crazy. I know it's almost purely aesthetic, but when I pour a beer for someone who is new to homebrew I'm tired of explaining that the cloudiness is OK.

So, what methods have the most impact on clarity? Whirlpooling, adjuncts, cold crashing, double fermenters, primary only ferments, etc?? I don't want to add complexity to the brew process, but I will be happy to do something that has some serious impact on clarity.

Right now I use only the primary for fermentation (thanks revvy), and I bottle condition for two weeks then another week in the fridge. I do not cold crash, I do not whirlpool and I don't add adjuncts or moss.

Thanks in advance!

whenever I add moss and rack into secondary for a few weeks, my beer comes out really clear. I don't do anything really special besides that. I know there is a disagreement about secondary but it's always worked for me.

Whirlfloc is by far the easiest to use. It will help coagulate the haze-producing proteins in your beer.

Cold crashing will clear a beer better than anything.

Gelatin works for many. I do it myself. Search on this.

Revvy wouldn't like my answer.

Forrest

Whirlfloc in the boil.

Primary only.

Gelatin into the keg.

Even the dry hopped beer comes out clear.

Eric

koppafloc (kettle finings) plus i vorlauf with a pump so the wort is crystal clear when it goes in the kettle,never a problem,always looks as clear as commercial beer to me.

what yeasts do you use?

I always mix up a little yeast nutrient with irish moss and toss it in the last 15 min of boil and than let it sit 3-4 weeks in primary. other than that, I let it sit in the fridge a week before opening and my beers come out pretty darn clear.

martinworswick said:

koppafloc (kettle finings) plus i vorlauf with a pump so the wort is crystal clear when it goes in the kettle,never a problem,always looks as clear as commercial beer to me.

what yeasts do you use?

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Thanks for all the replies!

I use whatever yeast comes with the brewer's best pack, I'm not beyond extract brewing yet. What is vorlauf? Never heard of it...

Yooper turned me on to S04. It is very clean at low temps. I am rushing a beer now and for less than two weeks in primary, no gelatin, and no cold crash it is clearer than most.

It depends on your yeast. What are you using?

ylee21 said:

What is vorlauf? Never heard of it...

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It's an all-grain thing, don't worry about it. Have you tried just refrigerating the bottles for a few weeks?

The last beer I did came out perfectly clear (one of the first times I've been able to pull it off, actually). It was a blond ale. Irish Moss, a little over 2 weeks primary, and a week in the keg was all it took (used US-05 on that one BTW).

lschiavo said:

Yooper turned me on to S04. It is very clean at low temps. I am rushing a beer now and for less than two weeks in primary, no gelatin, and no cold crash it is clearer than most.

It depends on your yeast. What are you using?

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most brewers best kits use safale 05

Austinhomebrew said:

Revvy wouldn't like my answer.

Forrest

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How is that reason to not post your answer? Unless you're just eluding to using a secondary.

I think that the cheapest method that works is cold crashing. But you do need a dedicated fridge/freezer with temp. controller for that.

I know people that use gelatin, but I have never been impressed by the clarity of their beer.

I personally think that keeping the trub out of your fermenter helps, always followed by cold crashing (which can be done in a keg too, just pouring off the first pint or two)

You can cold crash in the bottles, but you will have a larger yeast cake in the bottle, making it harder to pour off of it. Also, diff. yeasts flocculate differently.

superjunior said:

most brewers best kits use safale 05

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I have gone through my share of 05 with never a bad beer. Just saying my 1st experience with 04 has made me happy with the clarity.

Kettle finings and either the use of a flocculent yeast or cold storage work to give beer that is clear by homebrew standards.

Add gelatin and polyclar (or other post ferment finings) and you'll get something clear by brewpub standards.

The clearest beer will be the result of filtration. Get the beer cold and push it through a 3 micron absolute filter and you will have star bright beer. I don't think this is necessary. My typical standard is that if I hold a printed page behind a glass of beer the edges of the letters look crisp. I can achieve this most of the time and I do not own filtering equipment.

ylee21 said:

What is vorlauf? Never heard of it...

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"German word referring to the process of recirculating wort through the grain bed." Meaning, this process uses the grain bed as a filter to get clearer wort in to the boil kettle.

lschiavo said:

I have gone through my share of 05 with never a bad beer. Just saying my 1st experience with 04 has made me happy with the clarity.

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cool I've done lots of bb kits and never a problem with clarity. I mostly use 1056 smacks now and my beers are still clear as a bell. guess I never really put much thought in associating different yeast with clarity

Gelatin will (probably) rock your world.

There's a few really good threads on this forum on when/how to use gelatin for clearing.

I've tried Irish Moss. I've tried leaving it in the fridge for weeks - still have chill haze.

Don't want any more chill haze. Researched gelatin for clearing for a few days, I think it's the way to go (for me). Am cold crashing the Belgian blond I brewed 3 weeks ago and plan on racking it to a secondary on top of gelatin. Then let it chill for a few more days, then a few more, then into the tap-a-draft it goes (and bottle the rest).

I trust the collective wisdom of this forum - I think it's probably what I've been missing.

superjunior said:

I mostly use 1056 smacks now and my beers are still clear as a bell. guess I never really put much thought in associating different yeast with clarity

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I think US-05 and 1056 are the same stain. Sorry, US-05 resembles 1056. At least that is what it says in the NB catalog.

Whirl floc, month in primary, into keg into fridge on gas, 3 - 4 weeks later, I jump the contents to a new clean keg. Clear beer.

I have gelatin but I will only use it if I can't use the proper amount of time in primary and in the fridge.

lschiavo said:

I have gone through my share of 05 with never a bad beer. Just saying my 1st experience with 04 has made me happy with the clarity.

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S04 is like a miracle yeast for "I need a beer done and carb'd in 5 weeks". Of course the pitching rate needs to be accurate but I did an amber ale that way. 1 week primary, 3 days secondary, 18 days in bottle and 1 week in the fridge.

EDIT: And it finish clear with the most compact yeast cake I've ever had. You can set the racking cane on top of the cake and it won't pull anything but clear beer.

I too am battling chill haze. I've tried almost everything, and still have it. It seems to be in the beers I leave in the fridge a long time, or ones I put in the freezer to cool quickly.

I think there is a temperature threshold. If the beer stays in the high 30s, it will be crystal clear, if it gets closer to freezing, chill haze develops and will not go away until it has warmed up above 50 F.

I trying something new and would like to know if anyone else has tried it. Just had the first few bottles using this method, and it seems to be working, but want to do a few batches before claiming success. I am adding a half ounce of black malt to the end of the mash (or with steeping grains). I came across the idea in one of Papazian's books.

Here is a BrewStrong interview with Charles Bamforth, formerly of Bass, currently teaching at UC Davis all about haze. One thing he mentions is that the colder you get your beer, the faster the chill haze will drop out.

Thanks for all the responses!

I am going to look into the S04 yeast, whirlfloc and gelatin, as well as some general whirlpool action and cold crashing the whole fermenter along with cold storage of the bottles. Thanks for all the insight.

It seems like if I switch over to kegging, I can get clearer beer by dumping the first few pours, is that generally true?

I may just be less bothered by chill haze, but I've had what I consider pretty clear beer over the years with just using irish moss or whirlfloc, a nice long primary and then cold storage of the bottles. YMMV I guess.

I think I read somewhere that the trick with gelatin is to cold crash first, at which point you will see the chill haze proteins, and then add the gelatin, and that's supposed to do a pretty good job. If you search on gelatiin, that ought to pop up.

One thing you should know about gelatin that I haven't read in this thread is that you will need to add more yeast for bottling. S-04 is a good choice for that.

Jmat said:

One thing you should know about gelatin that I haven't read in this thread is that you will need to add more yeast for bottling. S-04 is a good choice for that.

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Not true. Yes gelatin does take some yeast out of suspension, but not all. Carbonation may take longer, but it will still carbonate in a reasonable time. I use gelatin a lot, and have never had to add yeast back, and always carbonated.

Calder said:

Not true. Yes gelatin does take some yeast out of suspension, but not all. Carbonation may take longer, but it will still carbonate in a reasonable time. I use gelatin a lot, and have never had to add yeast back, and always carbonated.

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Right. Me too. I use it tons, and you do NOT need to add more yeast. I use it on lagers that have been sitting at freezing temps for a month, on gelatin, and they still carb fine.

OK, I'm going to go crazy with this I think. I researched gelatin and whirlfloc and irish moss. Next weekend I intended to brew three batches, two american ambers and an IPA. I think I'm going to brew three batches of american amber and use three different combinations of the recommendations in this thread and do some good ole fashioned trial observation to see what combination not only produces the best result, but also which methods fit best into my brew process/experience. SCIENCE!

This wil be awesome!

ylee21 said:

OK, I'm going to go crazy with this I think. I researched gelatin and whirlfloc and irish moss. Next weekend I intended to brew three batches, two american ambers and an IPA. I think I'm going to brew three batches of american amber and use three different combinations of the recommendations in this thread and do some good ole fashioned trial observation to see what combination not only produces the best result, but also which methods fit best into my brew process/experience. SCIENCE!

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On another forum someone was asking about having a blow out setup instead of just a lid and an airlock to remove the foam during fermentation and whether that could add to clarity by not allowing that material to fall back into the beer. Another suggestion was to scrape that material off the sides of the fermenter if you didn't have a blow out tube setup.

Anyone here have an opinion on that?

I have not had a problem with cloudy beer. Chill haze is caused by coagulated proteins if I remember correctly. Watch your mash temps if you're doing AG. Make sure you get a good hot break when boiling and a good cold break when chilling. I always leave the cold break behind when transferring to my carboy. Let it ferment out completely. I then rack to secondary and leave it until it is clear. The yeast will fall out of suspension when they have finished cleaning up after themselves. I usually then cold crash (it makes it easier to transfer) and then keg. If you get inpatient then the yeast will still be in suspension, if it only happens when you cool the beer then it is a protein issue. I do not use any additives or clarifying agents although I have used Irish Moss several times in the past and it helps with the cold break. As far as gelatin dropping the yeast out, I believe Isinglass does that not gelatin. And as far as the blow off tube, as long as you don't stir the material back into the wort it should collect on the sides of the fermenter or gather as trub and not really effect anything.

This thread is continued here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/beer-clarity-experiment-206778/