Just moved to secondary, isn't settling like I had hoped

[zeb]

Making an Orange Pale Ale that sat in my primary for a month. I added hops and dried orange peel for an additional 4 days, then strained and moved to my secondary for a settling period.

The first week after I had moved it into my primary, I saw the beer get really clear, which only got better as the time went on. But now that I have dry hopped and moved it, it hasn't cleared up like I thought it would. It has been in my secondary for a week now and still no change.

Can I expect it to be cloudy now that I have dry hopped or should it get better as time goes? I'm not in a rush by any means, it is just strange that it isn't clearing up even though I have removed all excess hops and yeast cake at this point.

What ya think?

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

put it someplace cold for a couple of days.

 

[Brewnoob1]

^^^ Try cold crashing if you can. You can also try gelatin...

 

[Homercidal]

Dry hopping can often lead to a bit of cloudiness. Try the above and see what happens. But it won't TASTE any different...

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Can someone please explain what cold crashing is?

Context: I'm about to move a double IPA (made from a combo DME and LME kit) to a secondary and dry hop (with pellets from the kit as well as some fresh hops from my local store). Second batch here, first one is in bottles for another two weeks...

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Kahler]

Cold crash is when you chill the fermenter down so that excess yeast drops out.

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Cold crash is when you chill the fermenter down so that excess yeast drops out.

Thanks. So...I gather this can be done with either the secondary or primary? When it gets cold, things settle, is that the idea? (Sorry, I suspect these are dumb questions, but it's so hard to sift thru all the info out there...).

How cold and for how long? If it's 40 degrees out, and I just carry the bucket outside and leave it for a couple of hours, does that typically have the effect? Or longer?

Thanks!

mark

 

[3sheetsEMJ]

Cold crashing is a great way to settle particles out of the beer. I always cold crash. In my opinion it not only makes it look better, but it tastes better as well. You can put your carboys in the fridge or if that option is not available, surround your primary/secondary with ice for a couple days( do this after fermnting is complete, on a basic pale ale i primary for 14-21 days and Then cold crash) Try to get the beer to 40 degrees, that seems to be the magic number. Then when you transfer to your bottles or keg, use an autosyphon so you dont stire up the trub.

When brewing do you use whirlfloc or irish moss added toward the end of the boil? This will also help to coagulate the particles allowing them to settle. I actually use both but that may be overdoing it- dont really care bc its cheap and my beers always turn out crystal clear.

Remember not all beers will completely clear up, but using these two methods will certainly help.

 

[3sheetsEMJ]

One more thing, make sure when youre brewing you chill the completed wort feom boiling to room temp as soon as possible, I would use a wort chiller or just an ice bath for your brewpot. The faster the better. This is because bacteria will grow ib your wort between those two temps if you cool over a long period of time. This may not ruin your beer but it can cause fogginess. Best rule of thumb is to cool wort after brewing from boil to room temp in no longer than 20 mins.

 

[mmoran903]

This may be a stupid question, but if i moved it outside (say, to my garage) while we have a 40-degree streak for a few days, would that work?

I too would be interested in clearing up my beer, and I fear using gelatin would be too much of a pain to clean out of a glass carboy.

 

[Jwood]

If you use a Whirlfloc tablet in the boil, and get a nice cold break when chilling, you will have no problem having clear beer. I have clear beer just doing that and i don't secondary (of course it isn't commercial filtered clear, especially with my dry hopped beers). Well, i kind of secondary. I leave it in the serving keg at room temperature for 2-3 weeks before chilling and carbonating, but still it goes straight from primary to serving vessel and it is still clear after a couple of pints have been poured.

And also OP you said you dry hopped and added orange peel and then strained. What was your process for that? You really want to avoid oxidation at that step so i hope your process was ok.

 

[mlyday]

If you do the gelatine correctly there is no jello chunks in the bottom of the carboy. You dont get the water hot enough to set the gelatine.

 

[Homercidal]

Cold crash anywhere you like. Just get the temp down to around 40. I've used gelatin one time and it didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but other say it's amazing. The procedure doesn't make a jelly-like mess, it just adds the gelatin molecules, which attract the particles suspended in the beer. Their combined weight allow them to drop quickly to the bottom.

 

[mmoran903]

Cold crash anywhere you like. Just get the temp down to around 40. I've used gelatin one time and it didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but other say it's amazing. The procedure doesn't make a jelly-like mess, it just adds the gelatin molecules, which attract the particles suspended in the beer. Their combined weight allow them to drop quickly to the bottom.

Thanks - I was envisioning a layer of jello at the bottom of my carboy lol. I was thinking "man, that must be difficult to clean out".

 

[3sheetsEMJ]

If you use a Whirlfloc tablet in the boil, and get a nice cold break when chilling, you will have no problem having clear beer. I have clear beer just doing that and i don't secondary (of course it isn't commercial filtered clear, especially with my dry hopped beers). Well, i kind of secondary. I leave it in the serving keg at room temperature for 2-3 weeks before chilling and carbonating, but still it goes straight from primary to serving vessel and it is still clear after a couple of pints have been poured.
.

You should try cold crashong, thats essentially what you are doing in your keg anyway. Doing this you will have more drinkable beer out of your primary, and you wont have to let it settle in your keg. I used to do the same thing and it always pissed me off that i had to waste beer and wait for it to clear. Also you can syphon off of the top of the primary whereas the keg pulls from the bottom where everything settles, so i just figured id rather it clear in the primary than my keg. Just my 2 cents.