How long for beer to begin to clear?

[Micheletti]

I racked my Irish Red Ale to the secondary 5 nights ago and haven't seen any clarity beginning. Wondering how long it takes for it to start clearing up. I have heard 2 weeks and bottle, but I couldn't imagine this being completely clear in 2 weeks saying that after 5 days it hasn't started.

 

[Righlander]

when i used to secondary i would do it for 14 days.

 

[Micheletti]

So how long did it take to start to clear up?

 

[birvine]

I have found that the clearing is slow until I chill the beer. This speeds it up but even then it can take a few weeks to get really clear.

B

 

[Calder]

Some yeast flocculate (drop) quicker than others.

Until the ferment is over and the yeast activity stops, it will not start clearing. Low pitch rates will take a long time to finish the last sugars making it longer to clear too.

Lots of variables; Some might clear in 5 days, but other's could be a couple of months, or more.

 

[billf2112]

Had mine in the secondary (after 2 weeks in primary) for 2 weeks, it looked clear, but after I bottled it and carbed it for 3 weeks, It clouded back up a bit, should have gone another week or 2 in the secondary. Go longer, a Red should be clear so you can see the carbonation bubbles throughout.

 

[Micheletti]

Thanks guys!!!! My first brew so I haven't aquired patience yet.

 

[Righlander]

So how long did it take to start to clear up?

not really sure. when doing a secondary i would just bottle the beer when it cleared up. sometimes it would take 14 days, and sometimes i would leave it for 30 days. but then a few years ago i started doing long primary (3-4 weeks in primary) and had better results. no need to be impatient, just chill out. beer can be very moody. sometimes it will do one thing, and sometimes it will do another. you just have to wait and see what it does, assess the situation, and go from there. so...i'd say, when it looks like its cleared up to your liking bottle it!