Hazy beer

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Permalink Reply by Michael on February 7, 2012 at 9:03pm

Do you use koppafloc, whirfloc or iris moss? I see you mention irish moss...

Try giving one of these finings a go, and if you want it more clear, try crash cooling your beer. If you want it even more clear, you can always move to filtration. (You probably would not need to do this.)

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on February 7, 2012 at 9:11pm

What yeast you are using can make a difference too. Something with high flocculation can make for clearer beer.

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Permalink Reply by Grant R Baker on February 8, 2012 at 1:12pm

As mentioned.. Irish Moss or Copper Tun beer finings (added to the fermentor before bottling, never used them myself) and wort chilling, but you may also want to try leaving the fermention longer (no duration mention here) or using a secondary fermentor to tranfer your maturing beer to.

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Some brerwers will leave their brew for 5-10 days in a fermentor then move to a seconday for +2weeks, some even longer depending on the brew or style. There are other options too.

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One book I read detailed the Ale fermention process as 2 weeks in the fermentor then siphoning only the beer to a barrel for aging (maturing) until the 'Drop' (a point where you believe all the solids are sitting on the bottom) after at least a month, then siphoning off to a carbonation barrel or bottles (old book).

The whole point was to mature the taste (so that the first and last bottle taste the same) and your finished beer is rather clean.

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Oh and when you are draining your mash do a 'runnings'... ie run the sweet wort into a jug until it run clear(ish) and carefully return the cloudy sweet wort back into the mashtun. This makes a big difference to the finished product. (I use a plastic contain with tiny holes to drip the cloudy sweat wort back into the mashtun.)

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Permalink Reply by Dougal on February 8, 2012 at 3:40pm

Since you mention that they've got much hazier since moving to all grain, it's probably not suspended yeast.

The two things that should make the biggest diference are kettle finings (koppafloc/whirlfloc is best as it's a refined form of irish moss), and mash pH.

Get some test papers, or borrow a pH meter and use acid (I use lactic) to correct it to somewhere within 5.2-5.5. Once you've done this a few times with different coloured beers (darker grains increase acidity), you won't need to test as you can generalise the pH correction from similar recipes. There should be other info on here about testing pH and where to get supplies. Most haze drops out over time, or with fining, but the best way to prevent non-yeast haze forming in the first place is correcting pH. 

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Permalink Reply by mattd2 on February 8, 2012 at 10:17pm

Could gelitine be used after fermentation also?

Found some info here, http://www.brewerylane.com/finings.html, but it seems more aimed at wine making with beer as a side note.

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Permalink Reply by Dan on February 8, 2012 at 7:50pm

Thanks for all the replies.

I just found a good section in "How to Brew" on beer clarity also. It does mention that some finings, such as Irish Moss  are not recommended in brews that are  extract based. Since Im doing partial mashes (about 1.5kg extract and 3-4 kg grain) is this a problem?? Anyone using Irish moss / koppafloc/ whirlfloc for partials with good results??

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Permalink Reply by MrC on February 9, 2012 at 7:51am

I'd start by using using kettle finings (irish moss or koppafloc) and ensuring that mash conversion is complete by testing with iodine.  I forgot to use kettle finings in an AG beer recently and it's a little hazy and gelatine didn't help.  It still tastes great though.

Have a listen to this: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/819

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