Cloudy Beer when cooled?

[beau_cephus]

I just put my first liter of NB Phat Tyre in the fridge and noticed that the beer become cloudy after it cooled. Anyone know what would cause this and how to prevent it?

 

[SouthernCross]

Chill haze I believe and as far as I know time will cure it. I've also seen mentioned storing bottles non-chilled and cooling just before drinking.

Great username BTW. My all-time idol. My wife and I have had backstage passes numerous times but never got to shake a hand...

 

[Nateo]

Chill haze I believe and as far as I know time will cure it. I've also seen mentioned storing bottles non-chilled and cooling just before drinking..

I don't think time will fix chill haze. Here's an article with some ideas:
http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/23-clarity/490-conquer-chill-haze

 

[SouthernCross]

How did your boil go? From my understanding, it has a lot to do with boil temps, and the timeframe from boil to cool. Though my bottles typically have some so I'm no expert on eliminating it by any means...

 

[SouthernCross]

I guess I had some bad info. For what was already bottled I thought I understood that over time it would settle.

 

[JefeTheVol]

Best be watchin' yer back if yer homebrewin' in 'Bama! The government don't like it.

Plus...

"Bud light drink purtty good, dont it?"

Dont worry, chill haze does not affect the taste of your brew. You can use some clarifying agents like poly-clar, etc to clear it up in the secondary if its an issue for you.

 

[SouthernCross]

Hmm. From that article I now understand why I was taught to use Irish Moss. I'd stopped, which maybe explains why some of mine have haze...

 

[Nateo]

Hmm. From that article I now understand why I was taught to use Irish Moss. I'd stopped, which maybe explains why some of mine have haze...

I use whirlfloc now instead of irish moss, but whirlfloc is just a concentrated form of the carageenan found in irish moss that precipitates positively charged proteins.

It's also supposed to result in more compact trub and lower racking losses.

 

[SouthernCross]

Hmm. Well, in my box of goodies I have both. I had gotten out of the habit of using either. Brewing this second, and will try 1 or the other. Thanks much!

 

[Yooper]

I guess I had some bad info. For what was already bottled I thought I understood that over time it would settle.

It will. Extending cold conditioning WILL get rid of chill haze.

Preventing chill haze is not really hard, though. A good hot break, using kettle finings (I like whirlfloc) and getting a good cold break will result in lots of coagulated proteins at the end of the boil. It's those proteins that cause chill haze, so the more that fall out during the hot/cold break, the less likely any chill haze will occur.

From howtobrew.com: Rapid cooling also forms the Cold Break. This is composed of another group of proteins that need to be thermally shocked into precipitating out of the wort. Slow cooling will not affect them. Cold break, or rather the lack of it, is the cause of Chill Haze. When a beer is chilled for drinking, these proteins partially precipitate forming a haze. As the beer warms up, the proteins re-dissolve. Only by rapid chilling from near-boiling to room temperature will the Cold Break proteins permanently precipitate and not cause Chill Haze. Chill haze is usually regarded as a cosmetic problem. You cannot taste it. However, chill haze indicates that there is an appreciable level of cold-break-type protein in the beer, which has been linked to long-term stability problems. Hazy beer tends to become stale sooner than non-hazy beer.

 

[Nateo]

It will. Extending cold conditioning WILL get rid of chill haze.

How long is "extended"? I've cold conditioned beer with chill haze for probably 10-12 weeks and not noticed increased clarity.

 

[Elweydoloco]

In all honesty it's even happened to the professionals. Stone brewery had it happen to their IPA recently.

There are tons of different ways to get rid of it and it all depends on your personal preference

Irish Moss - The old school way of doing it grabs the proteins brings the trub to the bottom but it's not as compact a trub

Whirlfloc - As stated above it makes use of carageenan and gives you a more compact trub giving you higher racking volumes (more beer)

Polyclar - Uses some sort of plastic microsphere that grabs all the crap and brings it to the bottom. Some argue not all the plastic spheres settle and you end up drinking some

Gelatin - Makes for extremely clear beer takes a little more know how to use. Not more know how than doing anything inolved in brewing though. Just add the Gelatin to warm water and stir it in any hotter and you get Jello! Then throw it in the secondary and let it sit 4 to 5 days.

Cold Crashing - Throw it in the fridge while in your secondary for a few days. Don't worry there will still be plenty yeast to bottle with.

 

[Yooper]

How long is "extended"? I've cold conditioned beer with chill haze for probably 10-12 weeks and not noticed increased clarity.

That's unusual, at least in my experience. I've seen greater clarity in 3-4 weeks, and usually crystal clear beer by week 4. I haven't had chill haze in about 3-4 years (maybe longer), though, since I switched over to whirlfloc.

 

[beau_cephus]

I cooled the wort in an ice bath. Probably took about 10 mins to get it down to temp to pitch my yeast. The beer tastes normal, I was just interested in what caused the cloudiness since its just my second batch.

 

[Nateo]

That's unusual, at least in my experience. I've seen greater clarity in 3-4 weeks, and usually crystal clear beer by week 4. I haven't had chill haze in about 3-4 years (maybe longer), though, since I switched over to whirlfloc.

It's possible my beers didn't have chill haze per se, but some other clarity issue. Protein-polyphenol interactions can create insoluble (permanent) haze. Initially just small protein-polyphenol particles form in beer, but as the beer ages, oxidative reactions for more polyphenols, and as the level of polyphenols approach the level of proteins, they link together in large enough particles to be visible.

Professionally brewer Belgian and German weizen beers tend to have clarity problems, which I think are partially the result of the phenolic character of those yeasts.

 

[Yooper]

It's possible my beers didn't have chill haze per se, but some other clarity issue. Protein-polyphenol interactions can create insoluble (permanent) haze. Initially just small protein-polyphenol particles form in beer, but as the beer ages, oxidative reactions for more polyphenols, and as the level of polyphenols approach the level of proteins, they link together in large enough particles to be visible.

Professionally brewer Belgian and German weizen beers tend to have clarity problems, which I think are partially the result of the phenolic character of those yeasts.

I think protein haze is more likely in weizen beers, rather than the yeast- although they are often non-flocculant strains that can cause a haze as well.

 

[Nateo]

I think protein haze is more likely in weizen beers, rather than the yeast- although they are often non-flocculant strains that can cause a haze as well.

I wasn't saying the yeast themselves make the haze. Yeast haze should decrease with extended cold conditioning, as the yeast falls out of suspension. So any yeast haze would be non-permanent haze.

Most beer yeast are phenol off-flavor negative, with the notable exceptions of weizen and Belgian yeasts. Those yeasts are characterized by the phenols they create during fermentation. It's those phenolic byproducts, not the yeast itself, that I'm suggesting may cause the colloidal instability in highly phenolic beers.

There are a number of American wheat beers brewed with netural or British yeasts that don't have the same colloidal instability that German or Belgian wheat beers have.

Here's another link I found regarding haze stability, that I thought was interesting:
http://online1.ispcorp.com/en-US/Me...nsequences For Haze and Flavour Stability.pdf

 

[LightBeerKevin]

Nateo/Yooper.....Great explanation, which is why I'll add to it because I have experienced this and believe in my case it was caused by a change in process I made one time. After priming my beer i normally let it sit at 75f for a week then move to my cold storage at about 55f to 60f. This time I did not wait, because i knew it would sit for about a month before I got to drinking it and figured it would just take longer to ferment. It did ferment and has resonable carbonation, however once in the fridge for at least a day it clouds up. I believe combined with your explanation it makes sense of the cause in my case. Thoughts, make sense?