Troubles with Haze

[TeflonTom]

Happy new year everybody,

Recently I've been back to improving some recipes. I am not much a fan of making Hazy/NEIPA beers, but I have a few people to impress. In the past couple months I have created and adjusted my recipe over 6 times and each time I'm not very impressed with the haze. With some reading and other research I've been thinking about really going deep with a >30% oat grist, but I thought I'd actually talk it out with some wise minds before firing up the system again. My goal is a strikingly thick, yellow haze. I want the thing to almost look like if orange juice was yellow. The first few recipes you'll see do not have very many grains that produce the haze I would desire, but even later grist additions are leaving me stumped. For context, I am listing the recipes only in the additions that contribute to the haze of the beer. All brews have been made with pale ale malt as the base malt in 5 gallon batches. The recipes went as followed:

1st attempt:
7% flaked oats
7% flaked wheat
Wyeast 1318

2nd attempt:
4% flaked oats
7% flaked wheat
7% white wheat
Voss Kveik

3rd attempt:
13% malted oats
7% flaked oats
Wyeast 1318

4th attempt:
18% malted oats
6% flaked oats
Wyeast 1318

5th attempt:
18% malted oats
12% golden naked oats
Wyeast 1318

Latest attempt:
13% malted oats
6% flaked wheat
6% flaked wheat
Wyeast 1318

Looking at it all compiled the three questions I have are:

1. Am I not getting sufficient haze from the Wyeast 1318 despite it practically being synonymous with the style?
2. Could it be the base malt?
3. Do I really need to increase the oat contribution?

Every time I have brewed this batch of beer it has fermented well, finished well, kegged well, and tasted great. Despite the multiple changes in the amounts or types of oats/wheat, nothing offensive has come of it. Water is filtered and adjusted accordingly to have a good chloride to sulfate ratio. This is strictly a battle for a better appearance. The answer may be right in my face, but I'd like some thoughts before I have another bittersweet moment of brewing a good beer but not getting the result I wanted.

 

[wepeeler]

Drop the flaked adjuncts. 2 Row and White Wheat, along with a touch of honey if you fancy, and the right hops/yeast combo will get you haze for days. Believe it or not, but the flaked stuff falls out of suspension. 70% 2 Row, 25% WW and up to 5% of carafoam/honey with 1318/Coastal Haze/London Fog/Verdant and Citra/Mosaic/Simcoe/Galaxy/Strata/Idaho 7 or any NZ hop will get you what you want - nice stable haze. Just be sure to keep it away from oxygen or you'll get muted hop flavor and browning of your neipa.

 

[day_trippr]

This hazy was brewed in June of 2023. I took this picture a week ago Thursday.

7% malted oats, 7% malted wheat, London III, 150:75 ppm C:S.

Cheers!

 

[TeflonTom]

Drop the flaked adjuncts. 2 Row and White Wheat, along with a touch of honey if you fancy, and the right hops/yeast combo will get you haze for days. Believe it or not, but the flaked stuff falls out of suspension. 70% 2 Row, 25% WW and up to 5% of carafoam/honey with 1318/Coastal Haze/London Fog/Verdant and Citra/Mosaic/Simcoe/Galaxy/Strata/Idaho 7 or any NZ hop will get you what you want - nice stable haze. Just be sure to keep it away from oxygen or you'll get muted hop flavor and browning of your neipa.

This hazy was brewed in June of 2023. I took this picture a week ago Thursday.

View attachment 838120

7% malted oats, 7% malted wheat, London III, 150:75 ppm C:S.

Cheers!

S'pose I just had the wrong idea about the flaked adjuncts from the beginning; This would explain a lot about why it would always look great in fermentation and then just look half-assed after kegging. Thanks for clearing (heh) things up. I'm all for trying new adjuncts and experiments, so I'll see what new direction I can take this. Cheers.

 

[wepeeler]

S'pose I just had the wrong idea about the flaked adjuncts from the beginning; This would explain a lot about why it would always look great in fermentation and then just look half-assed after kegging. Thanks for clearing (heh) things up. I'm all for trying new adjuncts and experiments, so I'll see what new direction I can take this. Cheers.

All trial and error! Took me a long time to figure it out myself! I was using upwards of 30% flaked adjuncts. I don't use any anymore.

 

[Jag75]

This hazy was brewed in June of 2023. I took this picture a week ago Thursday.

View attachment 838120

7% malted oats, 7% malted wheat, London III, 150:75 ppm C:S.

Cheers!

That looks delicious!