Too much stuff suspended in beer after secondary? (Dry hop problem?)

[edlorenz7]

I just completed secondary fermentation of an IPA (~6% abv). Primary went great, I transferred over to secondary and dry hopped it by adding pellets to the wort. I realize it may be best practice to use a paint strainer or other bagging technology, but I read about it being done to just toss them in elsewhere.

So, now secondary completes and I look at the beer: stuff suspended all throughout the beer. Looks like it could be yeast, hops, whatever..

Here's my question: how do I clarify it? Siphon it out through a strainer? Try to cold crash it? (I don't have a lagering fridge but could try to use a regular refrigerator).

Is there anything else it could be?

 

[billl]

If its just bits of hops, using a strainer on the tip of your syphon works pretty well.

 

[bertus_maximis]

How far into primary did you transfer and what yeast did you use? I usually stick it in the fridge for a few days to cold crash and it clears up. I always dry hop with loose pellets and never have much problem with stuff left in the finished beer. Just be careful not to disturb the beer or suck up any hops when racking to a keg/bottling bucket. You'll lose some beer to the hops dry hopping loose, but it doesn't really bother me. I still get beer at the end of the day!


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[Thedutchtouch]

I had the same problem with a recent brew, Amarillo pellets just seem to hang around for me for some reason. Anyhow, I kegged the beer before leaving for a two week vacation, a week after getting back it is 99%clear, I plan to throw in some gelatin to try to capture the few remaining hop particles, but I'd say a cold crash or a few weeks of cold storage does wonders for clarity and dropping hops out of suspension.

 

[edlorenz7]

Hmm ok this is encouraging. I transferred to secondary maybe a bit late (8ish days, Gravity was already 1.012ish), but wanted to dry hop so I racked it over and added the hops. I guess at this point I'll try cold storage for a day or two then move it over to bottle with a filter. You're right: at the end of the day it's still beer!

 

[flars]

How many days has it been in the secondary? How long have the dry hops been in the beer?

 

[edlorenz7]

It's been in for four days. I have heard that if you leave it in too long you will get grassy flavor. True?

 

[flars]

It's been in for four days. I have heard that if you leave it in too long you will get grassy flavor. True?

With a primary time of only eight days there may be CO2 off gassing which is keeping the hop debris from dropping out. I would recommend a longer primary time, until CO2 is not seen in hydrometer samples, before dry hopping. The hops may settle out faster if you are planning only a few days of dry hopping.

Not to experienced with grassy flavors from dry hopping, but this may depend upon the hop and type of hop used rather than just length of time.

 

[bertus_maximis]

I usually dry hop for a week and get no problems with off/grassy flavours. I guess it would depend on the type of hops used, however I'm definitely no expert on the subject! I'm sure the beer will turn out great!


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