Cloudy Wort

[ElKabong]

Hi:
during the brewing process at the end of the 60 min boil I added 1/2 tablet whirl floc for a 5 gallon batch. Precipitation occurred as expected. When i transferred the cooled down wort to the carboy about 50% of the precipitant was transferred as well. (At the time i was more worried about saving as much wort as possible). I did not have a strainer or large enough funnel (I do now!)for the transfer. during fermentation the wort continued to look "clear as a bell" until the 3rd day when it became cloudy. since then it remains in the primary fermenter until probably saturday. OG was 1.048 current reading today was at 1.016 and steady for 2 times sofa. will the addition of the precipitant affect the taste? this was a partial extract/grain brew

 

[bacchusmj]

I would say it might be too early to tell if you have a problem.

Ive had beers do all kinds of stuff as far as clarity goes. I brewed an amber a few months ago that was crystal clear after 5 days, then got cloudy a few days before I put it in the keg. I drank 2 gallons before it cleared up and now I could read the letters off a coin thru the beer its so clear. just give it time.

 

[bacchusmj]

and I wouldnt worry about your funnel. Some of the best brewers I know dump the entire kettle full of crap into their primary. I dont, but it works for them.

 

[feinbera]

You're probably fine. You didn't get anything that people who don't use whirlfloc don't get every batch, and I've made plenty of clear, tasty beer without using it.

A lotta folks will "whirlpool" before transferring -- give the chilled wort a quick, gentle circular stir with a sanitized spoon to set up a circular current in the wort, then let it sit for about half an hour, after which the circular current plus time will cause most of the gunk to collect in the middle of the kettle, so you can get your auto-sipon all the way to the bottom as long as you stay close to the side.

 

[stratslinger]

Chances are that the "cloudiness" you saw in your fermenter was just the yeast doing their work. Once you reach FG, give it another few days to a week or so and they'll drop out again, leaving you with clear beer.

And no, you should have no problems from transferring everything over to your fermenter that you did, just like bacchusmj says.

 

[YeastHerder]

In your original post, it sounds like you added the whirlfloc *after* the 60 mins of boil time. If you really added it right at flame-out, I suggest adding it a bit earlier. I use it in every batch at 15 minutes left on the boil.

 

[diS]

I you had good rolling boil (hot break) and chilled wort fast enough (cold break) then this cloudiness comes from yeast.
Nothing to worry about, leave it 2 weeks and if you can cold crash it, it will be bright clear in glass.

 

[unionrdr]

I've noticed that steeping produces less cloudines than PM BIAB in my batches. But I got some five star super moss for next batch on. Any clearing agent should be added 10-15 minutes from the end of the boil. It seems that mashing can produce a lot of protien or "chill" haze come fridge time. Extract with steeping grains or a very small mash do not so far...

 

[RmikeVT]

Im not sure why no one has mentioned anything but the cloudiness in your beer after three days was probably the yeast. It will ferment the beer and drop out, just like all the other trub and protiens etc. Your beer will be fine. Sometimes I dump my whole kettle into the fermentor, sometimes I strain, sometimes I let it sit for a while and try to only siphon off the good stuff. I've never noticed anything bad flavors in my beer.

EDIT: I see previous posters have mentioned it

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,yeast & whatnot will settle out,but sometimes the real fine floury stuff will stay in suspension till a couple days after bottling. That slight mistiness will settle out. But come fridge time,I've noticed the finer crush needed for BIAB tends to leave more dissolved proteins in the beer. This clouds up when the beer cools down in the fridge,& can take a while to settle out.
But extract with steeping grains seem to have less of this effect.

 

[seckert]

I've noticed that steeping produces less cloudines than PM BIAB in my batches. But I got some five star super moss for next batch on. Any clearing agent should be added 10-15 minutes from the end of the boil. It seems that mashing can produce a lot of protien or "chill" haze come fridge time. Extract with steeping grains or a very small mash do not so far...

i agree with you. every extract beer i have made came out crystal clear, however the all grain beers i made seem to be hit or miss with the clarity. I am thinking it is because i am not getting all the grains strained out properly, but not totally sure since the setup is the same and some are cloudy but some arent. I am not too worried about it though as the beers still taste great and i am not going to competitions with them. not sure why everyone is so worried about the beer being so clear anyway since the majority of us are just drinking our beer and not competing anyway...

 

[unionrdr]

i agree with you. every extract beer i have made came out crystal clear, however the all grain beers i made seem to be hit or miss with the clarity. I am thinking it is because i am not getting all the grains strained out properly, but not totally sure since the setup is the same and some are cloudy but some arent. I am not too worried about it though as the beers still taste great and i am not going to competitions with them. not sure why everyone is so worried about the beer being so clear anyway since the majority of us are just drinking our beer and not competing anyway...

Clear beer tastes a bit cleaner to me,besides looking better. With the PB/PM BIAB I do,you can't vorloff like in a regular mash tun. to set the grain bed & get clear runnings. Plus BIAB needs a bit finer crush for good efficiency. I can't wait to get a crusher to experiment with the minimum crush for BIAB efficiency. Seems to me a minimum crush to do the job without going too fine will make it a bit clearer. Plus I got some five star super moss to aid in clarity come next batch.

 

[seckert]

I am going to have to save a beer from something i have made that was clear and see if the next time i make the same it comes out cloudy and do a side by side comparision of the two. i have never noticed a cleaner taste from clearer beer before.