Clearer beer?

[pwkblue]

How are you able to lose only a little wort volume by leaving most of the trub in the pot? By the time I reach pitching temperature, the protein solids have not even dropped halfway out of suspension in my pot -- I can still see them within a few inches of the top of the wort. Are you just waiting until it settles before transferring and pitching?

I don't stress about it....some makes it into the fermenter. I usually stir my pot for about a minute at flameout, then use a wort chiller. I don't stir during cooling, and it takes about 15 to get down to pitching temps. I try not to agitate the pot...and I pour through a stainless mesh strainer. For me the first few gallons pour clear...gallon 3 and 4 have more hop particles in suspension that get caught in the screen. Once I hit the thicker junk...I stop pouring for a moment to allow the last gallon or so to settle...then pour slowly until I hit the thick stuff.
Clearly IPA's and heavily hopped beers have more....and I'll let more stuff get through if my volume is really short. The remaining wort is the heaviest (bummer), but my efficiency is good...and I know I'll be leaving a quart or two in the pot with all the gunk...that is offset by the reduction in trub in the fermenter later.

 

[Varmintman]

My brew in a bag bag fits nicely over the lip of my fermenter and I pour the entire contents of the brew pot through the bag into the fermenter. That filters a ton of the hops and protein out of the wort before it even hits the fermenter. That does not help with the chill haze but makes harvesting the yeast much nicer

You could filter the beer but that opens another can of worms. For me I just admit that my beer is going to beer awesome tasting and awesome looking in a black glass. And if it is important to have the very best looking clear beer a couple of weeks in the fridge and careful pouring will give you a beer as clear as any brewery.

But for me after a sixer or so I really do not care what it looks like I am just happy to be drinking a beer I made

 

[Clonefan94]

Since starting to use Whirlfloc, I've noticed an increase in clarity of my beers. And I don't do anything special other than that. I have notice a much better cold break when using it, but I just lift the pot and pour through a stainless steel strainer, into my fermenter. I don't really worry about whirlpooling or catching too much, I just try to keep as much hop gunk out as the strainer will allow. I have had friends comment lately on how clear my beer has been, "I thought homebrew was supposed to be cloudy."

As others have said though, basic cold crash and time will clear the beer. These are just all little additions that will allow it to do it faster.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Totally off subject but this has come up a few times in the post already. I've been siphoning my wort to my fermenter. Most of you actually POUR your entire pot into your fermenter!?

I siphon and try to leave most of the break behind in the kettle. But there's no harm in dumping it all into the fermenter, you'll just end up with a lot more trub in the fermenter at all.

 

[jongrill]

Just returned from my LHBS with some new airlocks and a bottle of whirlfloc!

 

[julioardz]

I'm gonna chime in here again about something I've been noticing in my batches.

I don't always use gelatin to clear. I'll use it depending on the beer I'm making. Now that I have a combination of many batches that have aged for different periods of time in the bottle and many of which have been cold conditioned for periods of weeks and months, I am noticing that the batches that were treated with gelatin have inconsistent carbonation between bottles.

My process for bottling is the same for every batch. I make a corn sugar syrup and add it to the bottling bucket as I'm racking from the fermentor. I'll swirl the beer around and let it rest for a bit so that the priming sugar mixes well throughout the entire batch. The only difference is that some batches were treated with gelatin before bottling and others weren't. The ones with gelatin have inconsistent carbonation while the ones without gelatin are equally carbonated from bottle to bottle. Also, the ones with gelatin leave a loose, gunky sediment in the bottle, while the ones without gelatin have a hard packed sediment. I can pour more beer out without sediment in the bottles that were not treated with gelatin. The ones with gelatin require me to leave more beer behind, if I do not want to get sediment in my glass. However, the ones with gelatin always pour clearer, no matter what.

 

[BansheeRider]

I'm gonna chime in here again about something I've been noticing in my batches.

I don't always use gelatin to clear. I'll use it depending on the beer I'm making. Now that I have a combination of many batches that have aged for different periods of time in the bottle and many of which have been cold conditioned for periods of weeks and months, I am noticing that the batches that were treated with gelatin have inconsistent carbonation between bottles.

My process for bottling is the same for every batch. I make a corn sugar syrup and add it to the bottling bucket as I'm racking from the fermentor. I'll swirl the beer around and let it rest for a bit so that the priming sugar mixes well throughout the entire batch. The only difference is that some batches were treated with gelatin before bottling and others weren't. The ones with gelatin have inconsistent carbonation while the ones without gelatin are equally carbonated from bottle to bottle. Also, the ones with gelatin leave a loose, gunky sediment in the bottle, while the ones without gelatin have a hard packed sediment. I can pour more beer out without sediment in the bottles that were not treated with gelatin. The ones with gelatin require me to leave more beer behind, if I do not want to get sediment in my glass. However, the ones with gelatin always pour clearer, no matter what.

So what's more important, clear beer or more beer?

 

[julioardz]

So what's more important, clear beer or more beer?

What's important is good beer.

There are some batches where I just don't want the taste of yeast that has not flocculated and others where I like the yeast flavor to be part of the beer. The aesthetics influences the taste for me, but a flat beer is never as good as a properly carbonated beer. I think chill haze can be easily controlled without gelatin, especially when I use whirfloc or irish moss and properly cool my beer after the boil. In my opinion, serving temp should not be near freezing for most beers. Served at 40F or above and most problems with chill haze disappear for me. The problem with hazy beer for me has been using mostly US-05, which is a poorly flocculating yeast. I'm talking about 1 month in the primary with a cold crash and there is still some haze from the yeast. Lately, I have been playing around with English strains which flocculate much better. I'm enjoying WLP005 right now. WLP002 and WLP007 are nice strains too when they are fermented cooler at around 58-62F and pitched at the proper pitch rate. Above 65F, and I just don't like the esters they kick off, but maybe that's me nitpicking.

I have an English bitter dry hopping right now. I used whirfloc during the boil and cooled quickly but I'm staying away from the gelatin this time. I'm hoping the WLP005 will produce a nice clear beer.