How do I get my beer clear?

[ArizonaGoalie]

After a year of extract brewing, I nailed it to an art form and was able to get my beers very, very clear when pouring out of a bottle (yes, I'm still bottling).

My process was to use irish moss with 10 minutes left in the boil then rack to a secondary 10-20 days into fermentation, leave in a secondary 2-3 days, then bottle.

Minus my stouts and porters, all my ales came out nice and clear.

Now I've switched to all grain and trying to follow the same process and my beer is cloudy as all get out.

Any recommendation on getting clearer ales???

 

[Conman13]

We need more information.

Are you vorlaufing properly? What type of yeast and beer style has come out cloudier than expected?

Can you cold crash?

Try letting it sit in primary on the high end of 10-20 days, and let it sit in secondary longer. There's really no point in racking to secondary if you're only letting it stay there for 2-3 days.

 

[Gunfighter04]

Usually the switch from extract to all grain includes going from partial to full boils. This may require an improvement of your heating or cooling system. Having a strong boil, and then a fairly rapid chilling process does a lot (IMHO) towards the clarity of my beers. It's very obvious to me during the chilling steps as to whether the cold break was reached.

 

[cjgenever]

It would help to know the type of clarity issue your having. My first suspicion would be a poor cold break leaving chill haze proteins in suspension. The secondary is helpful if your pulling off the primary via a valve (bottling bucket), but pointless if you siphon top down. What odds your cooling method?

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[Yooper]

There are several things that go into making a beer clear. The first is to make sure you have complete conversion in the mash. The wort should be clear- that's one sign, but if you can use a bit of iodine to test for starch that's an easy way to see. A starch haze will not clear.

Proper mash pH and enough calcium in the water is important for clarity as well. What is your water like, and do you check mash pH?

Then, as was mentioned, getting a good hot break and then a good cold break will ensure a good clear beer. Once the hot break occurs, the wort will have floaties like in Egg Drop Soup. That's a good thing, and the protein globs won't resuspend in the wort later. Then the cold break (and using some whirlfloc makes a great cold break!) really coagulates the proteins and makes a clear wort.

If the wort is clear, the beer will be clear in the end (depending on yeast strain of course).

 

[paperairplane]

Cold crash, siphon carefully.

 

[hawktrio]

Adding gelatin, cold crashing and time work wonders for clearing.

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[Grannyknot]

Good Boil
Kettle Finings
Rapid Cooling
2 weeks at 40* temps (in bottles or a fermenting vessel after fermentation has finished)