last pint clear [from keg]... dumbfounded

[parabellum]

so i emptied the last 4 pints of an IIPA from a 3 gallon keg into bottles so i could keg a pale... the whole keg has been hazy and yeasty (low floccing S05 and 3/4 pound of hops in an 8.3 brew). I cold crashed before kegging but every pint i have poured thus far has left me alittle perturbed due to to haze and the yeast. when i floated the keg i had less than a full pint bottle left. so as not to store a beer that would flatten, of course i poured it into a glass and drank it. what do you know... the last pint was crystal clear and tasted AWESOME! I checked the other 3 pints through the glass of the bottle and they are all unclear. That last 3/4 pint was just pristine and tasted beautifully. it validated the whole batch... recipe and all, which is nice because i have about 6 pints set aside that i bottle carbed to age at room temp [which im now sure that in a month or two will be amazing]. im just dumbfounded and excited that something like this happened and has me perplexed. perplexity is one of the things that i really savor in life [being the raging genius that i am]. so... has anyone got a reasonable explanation for this? something to do with how the gas enters solution from the top, forcing the yeast down....? gravity taking its sweet a$$ time handling the yeast and protein? WHAT!?

 

[fishkid]

Good things come to those who wait...or to those who have had a few homebrews before pouring that last half pint

I have no useful explanation, happy holidays!

 

[buzzkill]

This is how I know when my keg is about to kick, I will get a few pints that are clear as a mega filtered budmillercoors.

 

[JRems]

I just built my kegerator but the 2 kegs I have put through so far have done this too, but it is usually more than 1 pint that comes out super clear at the end.

 

[samc]

How long since you brewed it before it ran out?

 

[parabellum]

It was a 1.075 - 1.013 (8.3 % v/v) IIPA brewed October 28, 2010. Top Fuel I guess. Gives new literal meaning to "...there's no pint better than the last pint."

 

[parabellum]

I think was sober when I floated the keg, however unlikely the convergence. Truly a pint apart.

 

[MBasile]

I've experienced the same thing. I was working on a keg of pale ale that was a little hazy I think from dry hopping and lack of a fining agent in the boil (I blame the Scotsman in me for always forgetting the Irish Moss). One night I poured a pint and it was CRYSTAL CLEAR! I was overjoyed! I drank it and poured another pint, again crystal clear! I went to pour a third and pfffffft..... keg was done.

This was a beer that neither cold crashing nor gelatin could clear.

 

[p-nut]

I'll take a stab at this. When you keg a beer and put it in your kegerator to carbonate/age things will begin to settle/precipitate out and fall to the bottom. This can happen faster or slower depending on style, yeast used, temperature, and I'm sure lots of other factors. As you serve the beer, you are dispensing it from the bottom of the keg. The beer you are drinking is the last to have cleared in the keg. If you were to wait 3 more months more of the keg would be clear, but that seams almost impossible at my house. I try and have one small glass a day until it clears and begins to taste good and then go to town and enjoy.

 

[IrregularPulse]

How long ago was it put on gas? I use the 2 week carb method. That combined with gelatin in the fermenter gives me a gunky first pour (all the sediment that's settled over the past 2 weeks) then clear pours.

 

[parabellum]

I tapped the keg ~3 weeks before. I really do think that it is just the top fuel effect. This ale did not clear after 3 days cold crashing to 33*F and has a permanent chill haze. Lighter alcohols and lighter proteins in the top methinks. I'm just hedging my bets on the bottle conditioned ones aging well. All bottles become clear in 3 or 4 months in my experience. I always bottled 1 pint in a clear bottle when I started brewing, and all my brews, even the cloudiest, have cleared.

 

[MBasile]

I tapped the keg ~3 weeks before. I really do think that it is just the top fuel effect. This ale did not clear after 3 days cold crashing to 33*F and has a permanent chill haze. Lighter alcohols and lighter proteins in the top methinks. I'm just hedging my bets on the bottle conditioned ones aging well. All bottles become clear in 3 or 4 months in my experience. I always bottled 1 pint in a clear bottle when I started brewing, and all my brews, even the cloudiest, have cleared.

That was my theory as well.