Cloudy in primary

[Bones1948]

In a blichman conical I am brewing an ale. Strict sanitation measures were performed. Clarifier added to wort at final 15 minutes. Oxygenated adequately. Vigorous fermentation at 3 hours. Controlled 70 degree temp. Dumped stuff from bottom at 2 days. At end of secondary the Final sp. gr. fell short of the recommended by .007 and the beer was very cloudy with brown crud floating on top. I added the priming sugar anyway and cold crashed 38 degrees for 3 more days. Sp. Gravity plumeted to 1.001. Beer still very turbid so I added another priming sugar and bottled in wire caps to prevent explosions.

Thoughts?
Why still cloudy

 

[billl]

Thoughts? Probably should have spent some money on a few brew books vs the fancy conical.

Dumping yeast at 2 days is short circuiting the fermentation process. Don't touch anything if "crud" is still floating on top. That is the yeast working!

You can't measure SG at 38 degrees, so you should remeasure at room temp.

Wire caps don't keep bottles from exploding. They keep the TOP from coming off.

 

[MotorcycleMatt]

How long did you primary it for, and why did you dump the trub as it was fermenting.

Next you can't get an accurate gravity reading at 38 degrees unless you have done the conversion for that temp. Dumping more sugar into it will cause fermentation to start up again.

If you haven't read Palmer's how to brew or papazians book then I recommend you do so. And please step back from the beer, let it do its thing and then bottle. You very well could have created bottle bombs at this point.

 

[TopherM]

You really shouldn't add priming sugar until right before you are ready to bottle.

Also, you can't really judge the clarity of the beer by the clarity in primary. You really need to go ahead and bottle and the beers will clear up after bottling. Bottle, carb and condition, then let the bottles sit in the fridge for about 2 weeks to get beyond the chill haze phase, and only THEN will you be able to judge the clarity.

 

[Nightshade]

Your beer is still fermenting, 2 days as has been said is not a finished fermentation in the strong majority of cases...in the rare exception some beers finish that fast but not often.

You are going to get a very dry beer with the sugar additions, but give it a week to continue fermenting then do the cold crash.

 

[Bones1948]

I have several brew books and I have read them. This is my second brew of this Alaska Amber and I did not have this problem on 1st attempt. (No claryfier in 1st one)
To clarify: I dumped trub at 7 days which is no different than siphoning into a secondary. At day 14 and at 70 degrees the sp.gr. was short by .007. I added priming sugar (OOPS) then called Austin Home Brew for instructions who said let it ferment for 3 more days at 70 degrees then take sp.gr. which I did at 70degress and it then was 1.001 with lots of carbonation bubbles. The crud floating on top was gone but the turbidity remained. Took it down to 38 degrees to cold crash per his instruction. The Home Brew person guaranteed clarity with that. No worky, the turbidity remained. I added another bag of priming sugar then bottled it in the wire capped bottles. The very thick glass in those rascals by design will not explode like the thin walled metal cappers according to manufacturer.

At issue is why does the turbidity remain despite adding the claryfier pellet in last 15 minutes of boil plus the cold crash?

BTW, it already tastes pretty good without conditioning. Better than most grocery store stuff. I am curious about the turbidity.

I highly recommend you try the Alaska Amber clone by Austin Home Brew in Austin, Texas. Recipe is a little too hoppy for me so I reduced the flavoring hops by 66% and could not taste the hops in the stuff I bottled.

Thanks for the advice and any future pearls of wisdom.

Bones

 

[billl]

Your original post says you purged after 2 days. Is it 2 days or 7?

Either way, you jumped the gun - it's just a matter of how much.

Your beer is cloudy because you've got a bunch of yeast in suspension still. You do not have a proper FG reading and 1.001 is definitely wrong. You are going way too fast and causing yourself totally unnecessary headaches. Trying to rush the primary just makes everything else take longer. You shouldn't be purging any yeast until you confirm that the gravity is stable.

 

[TopherM]

What do you mean by "dumped the trub?" You racked the beer off the trub, cleaned it out, then dumped it back in? That's not particularly necessary. All those transfers could even be adverse to your final beer.

I get very clear beer without that step. I just use whirfloc in the boil, keep the beer in primary for a good 3-6 weeks to allow everything to settle, carefully rack above the trub into the keg, allow another good 2 weeks for the beer to get past the chill haze phase, then serve.

I think the last post was right, you are just going too fast. Irish Moss and a cold crash help coagulate heavy proteins, but gravity still has to have time to work.

You should get in the habit of always doing AT LEAST a 2-3 week primary, 2 week bottle condition, and 48 hours at fridge temps for most styles. You'll make better beer.