Strange Cloudiness in Fermenter

[chimchim5040]

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what went wrong with my latest batch. I did a few things this time 'round than usual, so I'm not sure which step may have caused the problem.

1. 16# grain bill in MLT, mashing as usual with 168 degree water
2. I added a gallon of boiling water after 30 min, because I thought my temp dropped too low. (Never did this before, but I have been thinking my efficiency was low the last few times due to bad temp control in my MLT)
3. After 60 min of mash, temps were almost 160 which is a bit high but not too drastsic...
4. 90 min mash done, batch sparge as usual to get 8.25 gal pre boil volume
5. Boil down to 5.5 gal
6. Last two min, I tossed in about 10 rosemary leaves, which I haven't used before. I figured two min was just enough to get some piney essence.
7. In a case of bad timing, the wife had dinner ready during my wort chilling task. I let the cold water run without stirring the wort for about five min at one point before chilling it down the rest of the way.
8. Once I got the wort into my primary, I started getting all these clumpy cloudy bits forming.
9. Pitched and aerated as usual.
10. A week in primary and NO clearing at all... hit FG though.
11. A week in secondary, still bubbling a bit... still no clearing.

Any ideas guys and gals?? It tastes good when checking gravity, but I've never had this problem before.

 

[PorterIV]

What color are the cloudy, clumpy bits? Whitish cloudy or cloudy like a vorlauf is cloudy?

The only thing I can think of is the rosemary. Mash temp and not stirring during cooling shouldn't matter here. hmmm. Did you have any sanitizer still in the carboy?

 

[chimchim5040]

I should have pointed out that the clumps eventually changed into a uniform cloudiness. The beer has been sitting a full two weeks now, with no apparent clearing. The density of the murk seems to be the same from top to bottom...

I'm going to take a gravity reading today, since it's still bubbling a little bit.

Has anyone else had this happen when using a bit or rosemary? Does it release oils or something?

What about protein haze? I've seen this term on the boards a few times, but I don't know enough about it just yet.

I always let my sanitized carboys dry for several hours. I suppose there were a few drops stuck to the inside, but nothing unusual.

 

[PorterIV]

If it lasts through primary you might want to try gelatin to see if it clears it out. I am curious to see what others say as to what caused it though. It doesn't seem like protein haze to me...

 

[chimchim5040]

Well I let it sit for a week in the primary and two weeks in the secondary... Didn't really see any change in the cloudiness, except for a quarter inch of clear at the very top.
I decided to bottle on 3/29 and gave it a taste. The texture was a bit syrupy and sweeter than I expected.

My recipe from memory is this:

16# Maris Otter
1# Biscuit
1# Munich
2# Belgian Candy sugar

Since the beer was syrupy, it got me thinking that maybe all that sugar saturated the beer a bit. Does that seem likely?

I tasted one last night after waiting only two days. (I can usually hold off for a week, but I'm very curious about this batch) The sweetness is not as apparent, maybe due to another dose of Belgian Ale yeast a day before bottling. It's carbonating pretty well already, so we'll see what happens in a few more weeks.