Clarifying fruit beers

[vonfatz]

Hi, fairly long time brewer but only recently a poster Lots of great suggestions and tips on here.

I recently upgraded from extract to all-grain by way of BIAB, and my first batch, an apricot pale ale, is in the carboy undergoing a tertiary fermentation right now. The process went like this:

1. One week in bucket for primary fermentation.
2. Added two 3lb cans of apricot puree to carboy, racked beer on top of it.
3. Left alone for one week, then racked to new carboy.
4. Cold crashed for one week.
5. Added SuperKleer KC, waited another week.

Despite the cold crash and use of clearing agent, the beer is still fairly foggy. Looks and smells great, though. I'd like to clear it up a bit more, and am wondering about the use of a filter. My LHBS has plate-style filters with either vacuum or Eurofilter pressure motors. I've used them with good success before with wine, and am thinking about running the beer through a coarse filter to clean it up.

I understand filtration will possibly remove a good portion of the yeast from the beer. Since I'm bottle conditioning, I'm thinking of picking up a pack (or a few) of basic Coopers ale yeast, throwing it in as I add my priming sugar, mixing very well, and bottling then.

Does this sound like a reasonable approach?

 

[Captain Damage]

Try some pectic enzyme. Cleared up my fruit beers very nicely! Your LHBS should have it if they do winemaking too.

 

[vonfatz]

Thanks, I was going to skip PE as I didn't think apricot had that much pectin in it. I will give it a try. If PE fails, is filtering the way I described it a viable option?

 

[jbaysurfer]

Thanks, I was going to skip PE as I didn't think apricot had that much pectin in it. I will give it a try. If PE fails, is filtering the way I described it a viable option?

Yes, but if you run through a coarse filter you really don't need to add the dry yeast. There will still be yeast in suspension, but the general practice is to let them bottle condition for an extra week or two in order to carb up appropriately.

only a sub 1 micron filter can truly strip all the yeast out of your beer (and it still won't get them all!), so I wouldn't mess with a finished product (or risk bottle bombs) by adding dry yeast when it's all said and done. JMHO.

 

[vonfatz]

Roger that, thank you!

 

[vonfatz]

Just want to follow up on this and say the pectic enzyme worked brilliantly (get it?). Research suggested adding about twice the recommended level if using after fermentation is done - so I used 2.5 teaspoons in total for 19 litres. I noticed a change by the end of the next day. By the four day, the beer was brilliantly clear.

The moral of this story? If you want clear beer, even if you're using a low pectin fruit like apricot, pectic enzyme is the answer.

 

[laserghost]

I've been searching around, and am still uncertain how to use this stuff. I just picked some up (dry) at the LHBS.

How much do you use for 5 gal? Do you just sprinkle it in dry, or do you boil it first?

Any tips are much appreciated!

 

[Captain Damage]

I've only used the liquid type before. I just squirted it directly into the carboy. Try Googling "using dry pectic enzyme," or something like that. In general, boiling denatures enzymes, so I would not boil it unless the instructions specifically said to do so. My guess would be that you should dissolve it in boiled-and-cooled water and add it to the beer.