Clear beer goes cloudy after Fridge

[WiscoMan]

I put an IPA that has been bottled for 6 days into the fridge. The beer was very clear to begin with and I figured chilling it would cause everything to drop down but now that I look at the IPA...it is all cloudy.

What is the reasoning behind this?

I did a very very good job of chilling the wort down after the boil. It was the fastest I have ever been able to chill a beer.

If it is chill haze, why and will it affect the taste?

 

[ChrisJPassarelli]

Chill haze, indeed! The polyphenols and remaining proteins in the brew form complexes and come out of solution at lower temperatures. They hide really well at room temp, but make themselves known after sitting in the fridge. You are right to look at the chilling; cold break is a great way to get rid of the phenols. Besides that, make sure you're boiling nice and hard to get out as much hot break as possible. A protein rest will also reduce the proteins that rear their head later in haze. Finally, make sure you're using kettle finings like whirlfloc/irish moss.
You can add gelatin finings in the fermenter during conditioning to help with this, I think -- I haven't tried, but I imagine it would work.

Here's a good old article from BYO: http://***********/stories/techniques/article/indices/23-clarity/490-conquer-chill-haze

Thankfully, it doesn't affect taste to speak of. I imagine if it's really bad there might be a tannin character, but if you're not noticing that then it's probably fine. The presence of the protein in there would be bad for shelf life, but hopefully that's not much of a concern! The hop character of your IPA will die out before the chill haze components ever create problems, I imagine.

EDIT: Also, to solve it for this batch: Leave 'em in the fridge for a while, as cold as possible, and it will eventually clear as these complexes fall to the bottom of the beer. It might take several days or a week, though. If you let them warm up again, however, all these goodies will re-enter solution and you'd be back to square one.

 

[unionrdr]

In my experiences,chill haze takes 3 days to a week to dissipate. It shows up as soon as the beer is chilled,slowly settling like fog over a few days. After it settles the 1st time,it won't come back.

 

[WiscoMan]

Well the beer certainly did not have any difference in taste. I was actually really surprised how good that IPA tasted after only a week in the bottle. I will try to improve my techniques and add some clearing agents next time. Thanks!

 

[estricklin]

I use a chemical called polyclar to rid that problem. It works very well and it's cheap.

 

[unionrdr]

The biggest thing to eliminate chill haze is chilling the hot wort in 20 minutes or less. The other clearing agents are for yeast & silty trub that wanna stay in suspension to my knowledge.

 

[WiscoMan]

I had chilled my wort very fast. Probably under 5 minutes. Will clearing agents eliminate a yeasty flavor in the beer or is that from fermentation being to warm?

 

[estricklin]

Sorry I can't help you with the yeast flavor question. The chemical I mentioned above, polyclar, only removes polyphenols that contribute to chill haze.

Here is a link

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/polyclar-1-2-oz.html

 

[billl]

The yeast flavor is ...... yeast. You need to let you beer sit long enough for the yeast to drop out. 6 days is too short for proper bottle conditioning.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah billl. I was gunna say the same thing. Gotta let things settle out first. It'll take any off flavors & other by products of fermentation to the bottom with it given time.
Interesting about the polyclar. Polyphenols also carry off flavors. Some of them anyway. Have to look at that.

 

[WiscoMan]

My IPA that has only been bottled a week now actually has no yeasty flavors, but my other beers that have been bottled for several months do. That is why I was asking.

The IPA was fermented at a lower temperature than the others and also went through a cold crash. Both things probably helped it alot.

 

[unionrdr]

The ones that are months old have little hop flavor left,so you'd taste themalts more. I've noticed when I didn't smoke for a while that I could taste the fermented yeast sorta flavor. Smelled like a musty basement. Didn't matter what beer or whose. Maybe that's what you're experiencing?

 

[feinbera]

I think it depends on what you mean by "yeasty" flavors.

If you're literally tasting suspended yeast, fining agents will probably help -- but so will time. If you're talking about beers that have been bottled for months (and you're pouring carefully so as not to re-suspend the settled yeast), you've probably achieved through patience anything you would've achieved through fining agents.

If you're talking about flavors produced by a warm fermentation -- clove, banana, other fruity estery flavors -- fining agents won't help, and time will only do so much. But it sounds like you've improved your temperature control, so, you can at least rest assured that you won't have to worry about these flavors popping up in future batches...