Chill Haze, for realz

[BonnieJ]

I guess it's immaterial to say that somehow without trying too hard I get crystal clear beers at temps down to low fridge temps. I don't know what temperature exactly. The things I've changed are using Whirlfloc 15 minutes before end of boil, getting a cold break (I pour the wort over ice), letting it sit in the fermenter longer (from 2 weeks to up to 6 weeks), letting it bottle condition longer (sometimes it's a month before I really start drinking stuff). It seems like I don't have any cloudy beers anymore. It's kind of strange, considering how worried I was that I'd never have clear beer.

It will definitely be interesting to watch this thread. I don't know how there can be such different results at relatively the same process. It's fascinating!

 

[ajdelange]

I don't do many ales (other than Kölsch and Weizen neither of which drop clear) but when I do they drop clear without Whirlfloc or carageenan in any other form as long as I do a protein rest. The reason I don't use Whirlfloc is because, being a lager brewer, I never remember to buy it when getting ready for a brew. I think I remembered once. Nonetheless I do think it is a good idea.

 

[drummstikk]

I guess it's immaterial to say that somehow without trying too hard I get crystal clear beers at temps down to low fridge temps.

Thanks for reporting the temperature along with the clarity!

BonnieJ, how long do your bottles typically stay in the fridge before you pour them? I have noticed that some bottles I left at my parents house for a year were crystal clear when I poured them, even though I didn't try especially hard to get them clear a year ago when I brewed them. Time in the cold seems to always do the trick!

In my limited time thinking about this topic, I think I'm beginning to get a rough idea for how to get clarity. Let me know if you think this is right. Clear beer can either be:

1. Warm
2. Cold conditioned for months
3. Cleaved with a protease (Clarity-ferm), then fined

If anybody gets clear beer with an option not on this list, please post a short description of all the relevant methods (just report everything if you can) along with a photo of the clear beer and the temperature of the beer in the photo.

I think it would be really interesting to add to the list if we can. For example, I heard from many people that filtering -1C beer with a 1uM filter was going to get my last batch of beer clear, but when I tried this with a 1uM nominal filter, it improved the clarity, but wasn't anywhere near crystal. So, I can't put it on the list. But if somebody else has gotten this to work, post the photo and the temperature and the technique, and let's expand the list!

Plus, by reporting our results, we can get a nice collection of clear beer porn!

 

[drummstikk]

I used to have problems with haze until I started kegging. Now, within a couple weeks they are brilliantly clear. It looks clear when I rack to the keg, but you'd be surprised how much more stuff settles out while it cold conditions. There's always a big layer of brown gunk at the bottom of the keg when I go to clean it. Here's a pic of a freshly poured pint.

Thanks for the pic! What temperature was the beer at in the photo you posted? That looks like a freshly-poured pint, so the temperature your kegerator is set to would be close enough.

Are you careful not to disturb your kegs once they go into your kegerator? I regularly have my kegs on tap for a month or more, but they never got as clear as the pic you posted. And will your beers get even more clear than the pic if you leave them for longer?

 

[drummstikk]

I just started using gelatin either in the keg or right before transferring to the keg. Makes my beer crystal clear in just a few days.

Now this is very different from my experience. If I fine warm beer with gelatin, it will clear to crystal clarity. But then I'll get a haze once I chill. If I fine cold beer, then the gelatin makes a big improvement in clarity, but never achieves crystal clarity. Maybe we are doing something differently. I use 1 tsp gelatin in 3-4 oz water per 5 gal -- soak gelatin in cold water for 10 min, heat in microwave with short bursts until gelatin just dissolves -- never boil, dump straight into cold beer and gently stir.

I know the thing to do is a series of fining concentrations to see if your improvements in clarity have plateaued or not...maybe I would try this if the Clarity-ferm hadn't already worked so well.

But just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, would you mind posting a pic of your clear beer along with the temp it's at?

 

[HappiBrew]

One factor that has not been mentioned is pH. pH controls the charge on molecules and the charge is a major factor in the formation of clumps. This applies to yeast and haze. To my great surprise when I got religion WRT controlling pH an unanticipated benefit was that the beer cleared faster.

I know this is old, but what is "religion WRT controlling"? You mentioned PH but not what the PH should be or what PH tends to cause chill haze (higher/lower than normal). Could someone elaborate on this a bit more. Thanks

 

[pjj2ba]

"religious with respect to".

I'm assuming that once he got his pH dialed in (mash and sparge, pH 5.2 - 5.4 typically) that the beers cleared much easier and faster.


I guess kinda along the lines of "do it right in the first place, and it will be better in the long run" Most homebrewers don't have the equipment to keep EVERYTHING ideal like the mega brewers do (pitch rate, O2, temps etc.). As a result byproducts produced during mashing, boiling and fermenting are minimized so their beer matures faster. We must do other stuff to deal with less than perfect brewing conditions. Fortunately, most of the time, what we must do is simply wait longer to allow for the byproducts to clear up, including haze producing materials