Flocculation problems?

[BigdogMark]

I have brewed the AHS Miami Weiss Ale all-grain a couple of times and both times have had significant problems with yeast clumps and other nastiness that doesn't settle out in the fermenting bucket. When I go to transfer, either from the bottling spigot in the buckets or from an auto-siphon, I get a lot of grey sludge looking stuff coming through the hose. When I used the siphon, it happened while pulling from the mid depth of the bucket, nowhere near the usual cake at the bottom or the stuff that sometimes floats on the top. That tells me stuff is floating around in the brew. The beer had been in the fermenter 14 days and achieved the final gravity 10.012 in 8 days. It started at 10.50 and I used the Whitelabs American Hefeweizen Ale #320 yeast. While transferring, I also noted a lot of bubbles in the line and the filter which has a clear housing. I purged the filter of air when starting the transfer, and after a couple of gallons a pocket of gas has built up in the filter that I suspect is CO2. When we take gravity readings of the beer in the fermenter I see a lot of bubbles in the thief as well.

With the first batch I wound up losing ten or so glasses while trying to clear the beer. That was painful. On my second batch I filtered the beer during the transfer using a 30 micron pleated filter. That was working great for the the first couple of gallons until the filter clogged up from the gunk. I had to stop, clean the filter, sanitize, then continue. Even after the filtering I did find a bit of gunk in the keg that came out in each glass and noticeably affected the flavor of the beer as I got closer to the bottom of the glass. I resolved that problem temporarily by cutting off about one inch from the dip tube in my keg. Now the beer pours cloudy as expected from a hefe, but without any residual stuff in the bottom of the glass or funky flavors. I am planning to decant the beer off to another keg to get the beer off the gunk.

I did use Irish moss as always in the boils. I haven't used gelatin in the fermenter as this is a hefe and cloudiness is expected. I have brewed other hefe's with the WL #300 yeast with no problems at all. I also have great luck with the WL #001 in blonde and pale ales.

Any ideas on what could be going wrong?

 

[chode720]

Most wheat beer strains do not flocculate well at all so its not surprising there is a lot of that yeast that is settling out, even after fermentation is done. There are a few things you can do to help.

I see that you cut the dip tupe on the keg, always a good solution.
Also, try leaving it in the fermenter longer. I know most of us homebrewers are impatient, but if you let it age longer, more of that yeast will settle out. Also, try cold crashing the beer before you transfer to a keg. After a couple days, most of that yeast will settle out and you can siphon the beer off of it. There would still be plenty of yeast in suspension to give it that traditional haze.

FYI, most people dont use irish moss or any other clarifying agents in wheat beers. They get rid of the proteins that cause haze, but you want that in a wheat beer. I know some people that still use irish moss in theirs, but i switched away from using it in my wheat beers and have not noticed any differences. Just saves me from having to buy irish moss more often

 

[BigdogMark]

So you are saying that the clumps of grey stuff floating in the middle of the beer is yeast that hadn't fallen out in the 14 days? That I should have kept waiting? How would I have known it was dropped out until I tried to transfer?

I guess I didn't get my point across. I know a hefe style beer will be cloudy and have yeast in suspension. Heck, one of my regular brews and favorite styles is the hefeweizen. I guess I just won't be brewing this recipe or with this yeast again.

 

[Saccharomyces]

WLP320 is the German Alt yeast variant which is less flocculant. It is a weird strain in that when it's done fermenting the yeast will float to the top rather than settling out at the bottom. You can then rack from under the yeast. It sounds to me like you didn't let it sit long enough after the primary was finished, so you ended up with big chunks of yeast.

I would recommend letting it sit for 2-3 weeks in the primary and racking straight to the keg. Or you could use a different yeast strain. WLP029 Kolsch would be a good choice.