Clarity
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Clarity can tell some things about your brew process. It also helps impress your friends who have never seen homebrew before and when you pour a glass with perfect clarity for them it makes them think it's like the big boys brew.
Simple. Cause everyone is different. Some like it warm, some like it cold, some like it clear, some don't mind it cloudy, some don't like it all.
We now know one of the things that you don't care about. That leaves a whole lot of others that care about what you do not. Not good, not bad; just different.
We now know one of the things that you don't care about. That leaves a whole lot of others that care about what you do not. Not good, not bad; just different.
LakesideBrewing
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I hate clear, filtered beer. I get real bummed out when my homebrew clears up too much.
As humans we use all our senses when eating and drinking. Ever see the experiment done on the Discovery channel where they added food dye to drinks and had people taste them? The red drink everyone said was cherry juice....it was grape, and so on. I dunno. If you serve your beer in a ceramic mug, it won't matter. But, I want my beer to be the same/better than commercial. But, that's my sickness....
cluckk
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Another reason, besides personal taste is brewing to style. Some styles are supposed to be cloudy with yeast in suspension (hefeweisen) others are totally opaque (many stouts, and others). Most other styles are expected to be clear when judged.
When I give a Pale Ale to a friend, I prefer it to be crystal clear. It is not a choice between cloudy live beer and clear pasteurized and filtered to death beer. You can have very fine clear Hebrew that has not been filtered.
When I give a Pale Ale to a friend, I prefer it to be crystal clear. It is not a choice between cloudy live beer and clear pasteurized and filtered to death beer. You can have very fine clear Hebrew that has not been filtered.
cluckk
Well-Known Member
My stupid phone thinks homebrew should be Hebrew!
cluckk
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This is my ESB without filtering. It was fined with Irish Moss in the kettle and Isinglass in secondary.
forstmeister
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I like my beers clear and clean. Personal preference I guess. I like to pour a clean pint for friends and impress them.
SteveM
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I'm less particular than some - I like my beers to have clarity but it's definitely a secondary consideration (no pun intended...well, not exactly intended anyway). If it's something you want to have, giving a bit of extra time in the fermenter, using a secondary, careful siphoning, using Irish moss and in general displaying a level of patience in every step will serve you well.
The flavors will also be cleaner with clear beer. My partial mash beers have gotten a lil hazy of late,so I ordered some super moss to get'em clear again. Needed a new capper to,low carbonation was tough to trace down with so many possibilities.
Transamguy77
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unionrdr said:
Union, you are also using a bag right? I found my BIAB beers took forever to clear, now I'm using a mad tun and a good vorlof my beers are clear much sooner. Like this one, its my IPA been in the bottle about a month maybe 6 weeks.
I personally don't care if my beers are clear but it's nice when you get one that is.
Yup,that's the way mine were after a couple days in the bottles. Till my 2nd PM batch when I started using a fine crush to get better efficiency. Problem is the LD Carlson 5G paint strainer bags the lhbs had were course weave. And the 18 x 32" size isn't wide enough to go around the lip of my SS stock pot I use for a BK/MT. Maybe if I could find a medium weave 20 x 32" paint strainer bag it'd be better with a decent regular crush.
It's the poofy,floury stuff from the fine crush that must be the problem. I ordered some Five Star Super Moss with my brewing supplies this time. 1/4tsp in at last 10 minutes & clarity problem should be solved. Red Baron wing capper's bell was a bit stretched,leaving the caps leaking under positive pressure. So I had to order a Super Agata bench capper to solve that problem.
It's the poofy,floury stuff from the fine crush that must be the problem. I ordered some Five Star Super Moss with my brewing supplies this time. 1/4tsp in at last 10 minutes & clarity problem should be solved. Red Baron wing capper's bell was a bit stretched,leaving the caps leaking under positive pressure. So I had to order a Super Agata bench capper to solve that problem.
cluckk
Well-Known Member
wjohnsen said:
The one I showed earlier had a chill haze at a lower temperature but it cleared when raised back to proper serving temperature. Are you serving at the right temperature?
Mine is at 40 degrees.
I simply don't like murky beer, and find it unappetizing. Hazy wheat beers are fine, but they should never look like mud or be murky.
My beers are crystal clear, although I don't filter them. I like it that way. People use all their senses to enjoy food and drink. I don't like to eat food that is unappealing, either.
cluckk
Well-Known Member
I serve most at 50 deg F. I prefer stouts closer to 55.
gcdowd
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My ESB. No finings, just let it clear in the keg. The writing is on the opposite side
ILoveBeer2
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To me clarity is the next thing to fix after figuring out how to make good tasting beer. If everyone made clear beer, somone would be trying to figure out how to make it cloudy.
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A clear brew shows control over the process, except I like cloudy wheat beers 
O-Ale-Yeah
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I had the same question.
So some cloudy beers are cloudy for bad reasons?
And some cloudy beers are cloudy but not for bad reasons?
I don't care about drinking a pretty beer so I guess I wont worry about trying to make clear beer.
So some cloudy beers are cloudy for bad reasons?
And some cloudy beers are cloudy but not for bad reasons?
I don't care about drinking a pretty beer so I guess I wont worry about trying to make clear beer.
O-Ale-Yeah
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Ok, so this begs the question, is Whirfloc pointless then if someone doesn't care if the beer is cloudy?
Does Whirfloc affect taste, or effect the beer making process in any way other than making the beer pretty? Making it clearer?
Does Whirfloc affect taste, or effect the beer making process in any way other than making the beer pretty? Making it clearer?
The only time I'd really worry about cloudiness is in a lager. Other than that - if it tastes good, then it's good.
I agree with @b-boy. I only tend care about clarity when the style calls for it ie lagers, blondes etc. I have a blonde ale in the keg now that I used Irish Moss in the boil, gelatin in the primary, and it still has some haze. Been in the keg about 2 weeks, and it's starting to clear, but I won't share it until it's brilliantly clear. It tastes fine right now, but to people who know blonde ales, they know it's clear.
Well this is a bit of a necro thread that seems to predate the haze craze.
These days too many care about NOT clarity.
You see it on Untappd or the like in beer reviews.
"Omg tastes and smells amazing but it's too clear! *1 star*".
These days too many care about NOT clarity.
You see it on Untappd or the like in beer reviews.
"Omg tastes and smells amazing but it's too clear! *1 star*".
I 100% understand where you're coming from. After falling into this neipa craze, my boss refuses to drink clear beer. But on the flip side, I've been drinking this style for 5 years, and I have not tasted a clear neipa that was even close in flavor and aroma to a hazy neipa. That's not to say clarity doesn't have a role in IPAs, but it just doesn't work in neipas. You miss the mouthfeel and actual juiciness. Although, many brewers have taken this to the extreme and literally brew hop juice. I had one last night that was almost chalky. Unfortunately, that's what is selling. I prefer my home brew neipa to be slightly hazy, but not thick.
I've had some of the classics (Heady Topper and Sip of Sunshine come to mind) that were just old enough to have dropped clear. They were still delightful (and as I've also had both fresh, they were virtually indistinguishable between clear and not clear).
The problem is that OMGHAZEBRAH fad has gotten so insane that people are serving things so young in such small batches (or artificially inducing haze) that if you don't drink it so young its still laden with hop burn they're not satisfied because it doesn't look like mud.
Yup. I understand the problem. Every brewery I go to understands the problem too, but people drink what they want, and at times are forcing the brewers to brew the haze. I have a local brewer who I visit probably 3-4 times a month, and he doesn't even like hazy ipas, but he says they sell 3 to 1 to his other beer. He loves pilsners and lagers and berliner weisses, but he understands the business aspect of brewing. "Ya gotta pay the bills!"
The big problem, like you said, is young beer. The market is so saturated right now, at least where I live (New England), that it's impossible to stay afloat of you don't have at least 2 hazy ipas on tap, and you aren't distributing as fast as possible. Someone is right there to take your glory! Brewers are pushing out beer way too soon, and I see/can taste the difference. I had a neipa on tap last night which I believe to be 2-3 weeks old tops. It was a 5% haze bomb, that literally tasted like hops and yeast. I've never had any 5% beer with that much flavor. Pounds of hops at probably all flameout and a double dry hop of even more. Hop soup smh...
jack13
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^^^^^^ THANK YOU ^^^^^^
(To be clear, I'm not anti-hazy beer, I'm pro flavor and aroma and mouthfeel, and I also like clear beer, but I'm fine with hazy when the other parts are there when haze is the byproduct, not the goal.
What I am anti is people putting flour or the like in their beer to make a permanent haze, or other stupid aesthetic gimmicks to appease the hipster neckbeards)
What I am anti is people putting flour or the like in their beer to make a permanent haze, or other stupid aesthetic gimmicks to appease the hipster neckbeards)
O-Ale-Yeah
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Ok, so with certainty, Whirfloc is just for looks?
If you care about separating kettle trub, it seems to help drop trub out in the whirlpool.
If you just dump it all then yeah, i guess it's just for looks.
O-Ale-Yeah
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AHhhahahahaha hop soup, lol
O-Ale-Yeah
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That's good, because I drank one of the beers I brewed and an hour later I had to take a Benadryl for an allergic reaction and the only new thing I had was a beer where I used Whirfloc.
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It helps a lot if one is going for a clean clear style of beer. Looks and taste; cloudy beer and clear beer do taste different, I know, 'cause I forget the Whirlflock once in a while. No problem drinking the cloudy stuff, so not to worry if you don't have any.
I guess it’s akwsys possible to be allergic to the stuff it’s made from. Which I think is basically a couple forms of seaweed?
Carageenan. I know it was at least originally seaweed-derived. Wouldn't surprise me if it's synthetic these days.
A carageenan allergy also wouldn't shock me. But it's used as a thickening agent in a LOT of food products.
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That is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen
Thanks. You can thank @Braufessor for his base neipa recipe. I've since tweaked it to make it more personal, but he's the man with the plan. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/northeast-style-ipa.568046/page-146#post-8203827
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