Cloudy Beer During Lagering?

[whenindoubtpilsout]

Hey Everybody,

So I just racked a Bavarian Pilsner into a secondary fermenter 2 days ago (primary temp was 50F, secondary 40F), and the previously clear beer is now cloudy (with suspended yeast, I suppose). Will this just take some time to re-flocculate or is this not normal?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Sounds like chill haze. It'll fall out with some time lagering.

 

[whenindoubtpilsout]

Thanks. Planning on lagering for at least a month... the pilsner was nice and clear during primary fermentation (chilled the wort w/ an immersion chiller) and I suspect siphoning into a secondary probably re-suspended the yeast.

 

[michael.berta]

I suspect siphoning into a secondary probably re-suspended the yeast..

Yet another reason to skip doing a secondary...

 

[whenindoubtpilsout]

Interesting... I was actually listening to a Basic Brewing podcast with John Palmer speaking on lagering, and he mentioned that resulting off-flavors from autolysis really don't happen. However, I wanted to knock out a quick witbier while the pilsner was taking it's sweet-ass time in the lagering stage, so I had to free up another fermenter.

 

[Bensiff]

They had an expirement in BYO a few months back looking at flavor differences resultant from letting beer sit on the yeast for prolonged times. There was a difference but nothing that would be attributed to autolysis or considered an off flavor.

Make sure to lager at or slightly below freezing if you can.

 

[z987k]

Make sure to lager at or slightly below freezing if you can.

Yes. 40F is rather high.

I usually secondary lagers though. I never secondary ales. It's to do with the yeast though. I don't want the yeast that I am going to wash to be sitting around at 30F for months waiting for the beer to finish. I could be putting them to use!

 

[whenindoubtpilsout]

Is it too late in fermentation to add isinglass? I have about 3 weeks of lagering left, is it safe to add at this point?

Thanks!

 

[Bensiff]

Bob's rundown on isinglass in this thread is well worth reading:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/how-so-i-use-isinglass-79327/