Beer will not clear..

[brewman42]

It’s been in the keg for 3 weeks. I’ve done 2 rounds of gelatin. One after I pulled the hops. One a week later. Then I tried a tablespoon of biofine.

The beer was brilliantly clear from my conical to the keg.

It smells fine and tastes fine but looks extremely murky.

The beer doesn’t clear as it warms.

Do I have an infection?

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Some beers are just not going to clear no matter what you try. If you post your grain list and yeast, we might be able to assist more.

 

[brewman42]

16 lb pale malt 2 row
12 oz honey malt
8oz carapils

Galaxy, simcoe, lupuln2 citra and wai-iti hops

Wyeast 1272 1600ml starter

 

[November]

It’s been in the keg for 3 weeks. I’ve done 2 rounds of gelatin. One after I pulled the hops. One a week later. Then I tried a tablespoon of biofine.

The beer was brilliantly clear from my conical to the keg.

It smells fine and tastes fine but looks extremely murky.

The beer doesn’t clear as it warms.

Do I have an infection?

How much beer did you run off after the gelatin? If they gelatin dropped a bunch of stuff you may need several pints to clear it out.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

My first thought is the carapils vs chill haze. I know you said it doesn't go away, but let it come up to room temp (like 68 or 70) and see if it clears. I have a few recipes that I use carapils in, but I think they use a protein rest so that very much changes things. The 1272 should be fine.

It could be that whatever brand of 2-row you used, has a "wort clarity rating" that is kinda high relative to other brands of 2-row (they do differ). One of the grains may be a brand that is higher protein. The other issue may be water chemistry. Off the top of my head, I think it's low calcium can negatively effect clarity and haze. Maybe one of the water guru's can chime in on that.

You may also be settling still in the keg or have not cleared the bottom. I have an irish red that goes brilliant clear, but it takes about 4 pints pulled before all the gack leaves (I use gelatin on that one).

Your next batch may clear great. Hate to say it but sometimes what is labled on bins, might not be what you want or what you expect it to be. I have one local shop that swears that C120 is identical to Melanoidin and will substitute on a whim. I found this out when a batch went way south on me.

Some of the basics to consider about haze include:

Inefficient boil/chilling (crappy protein binding / coagulation, did you get a good robust hot break? did lots of gloppy looking cold break form? don't do wimpy boils)
Over sparging (tannins, lipids, starches, husk particulates, polyphenols, other caca)
Mash temp control (beta glucans, residual starches, maybe consider trying it with a protein rest - 122F for 15 or 20 minutes)
Protein % and clarity ratings of grains used (sometimes its hard to find out the brand of malts the local shop put into the bins)

Hope something there may help

 

[brewman42]

Thanks for you info!

I’ve pulled off atleast 7 pints over the past 3 weeks thinking the next one will be clear.

I added 7grams of gypsum per brun water. So I think my calcium levels should’ve been fine.

I’ve used this exact grain bill many times with no clarity issues.

I haven’t let it come to room temp. I’ll try that.

It’s possible I got grain from a mis labels bin at the homebrew store.

The only other thing I did different in my process was I used the lupunl2 cryo hop citra in the keg. I’ve never used those before AND I never tried keg hopping while carbonating before either..

Ever keg hopped with cryo hops before with any of these issue?

 

[passedpawn]

I've hopped in the keg and got very dirty beer. Great hop flavor though. I like clear beer, so I don't do that anymore.

 

[brewman42]

I was wondering if that was the the issue .. I won’t be doing that again either.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Aha... maybe onto something now

 

[brewman42]

Ya I’m kinda thinking that’s it... I’ve never had this problem before..

 

[helibrewer]

Did you chill it at all before adding finings? Clarity is a time/temperature thing....the colder the beer, the faster it clarifies. Also, Biofine is good but it is a one and done, if you disturb it at all before racking off of it, it will go back into suspension and cloud the beer and not settle again.

 

[brewman42]

Ya I had it in the kegerator for 4 days with dry hops and on co2 before I added the first round of gelatin.

 

[brewman42]

Biofine has been in 2 days now Undisturbed.

 

[ong]

When I keg hop, it does clear within a week or so. But some beers are just more turbid than others.