How to brew cloudy beer?

[dgrabstein]

How do I brew cloudy beer without having sediment? All my favorite beers (Mack and Jacks African Amber, Hazed and Infused, etc) are cloudy. I've tried adding carapils malt for unfermentables but it still ends up clearing out when it ages. All my beers are crystal clear and I hate it!

I thought of adding oatmeal to my amber on the next run because I read that it adds protein haze, but I'm not even sure if protein haze is the cloudiness I'm looking for. Could suspended yeast be what I'm looking for? How do all these microbreweries produce such cloudy beers without sediment? I'm lost...

p.s. i brew extract with steeping grains

 

[downinit]

Very low flocculating yeast are the usual culprit in cloudy beers like hefeweizen (this means they don't drop out readily)

 

[arkowa]

Flaked wheat will give a ton of cloudy-ness.

 

[weirdboy]

Yeah, wheat helps a lot.

 

[erock2112]

Want? Cloudy?

I'd say start with yeast, but the beers you mention shouldn't be cloudy for the same reason that, say, a hefeweizen should be cloudy. So maybe it is protein haze. You could try a weaker boil, and maybe no-chill. That should leave in solution a lot of what usually precipitates out.

 

[azscoob]

When I brew a hefe I add a tbsp of all purpose flour to the boil, the beers NEVER clear, even after a couple months in the keg, so when I pour a beer for friends, it looks like a hefe should, even if the yeast has settled out long ago.

 

[Elshupacabra]

Wheat is the way to go.

Unfiltered commercial wheat beers pride themselves on being cloudy.

 

[brettwasbtd]

When I brew a hefe I add a tbsp of all purpose flour to the boil, the beers NEVER clear, even after a couple months in the keg, so when I pour a beer for friends, it looks like a hefe should, even if the yeast has settled out long ago.

+1 I was just Listening to the Jamil Show Archives on witbier the other day and they say that adding flour is a great trick to keep it hazy!

 

[camus]

Rack to a secondary as soon as your hit your OG, then bottle after 7 days.

Serve 10-14 days after bottling. Guaranteed to be cloudy.


I am not so sure Hop and Infused wants to be that cloudy, I picked some up and couldn't stand it, after sitting in my fridge for a couple weeks it settled and is much better, still not my personal favorite though. You would be the better judge of though being in Boulder, is it cloudy off tap?

 

[trigger]

I think that the cloudiness you're referring to is from suspended yeast, since they aren't filtering. I don't buy into the aging argument for beers under 1.060, so I usually go about 2 weeks from brewing to tapping the keg, and often the beers pour cloudy like Mack and Jack's. I don't mind it, but when I know that other, more critical people will be drinking I add gelatin at kegging. You could get the same effect from using WLP001 or WY1056 (I've never had those drop absolutely sparklingly clear without gelatin), then just rousing the sediment from the bottom of the bottle. Or try the four thing. You could also use flaked rye. That stuff never clears, and it adds a nice dimension to the malt.