Cloudy beer

Seems that I can always make a cloudy ale. Chill haze or never ever clearing.

What are things that I could be doing wrong?

This is consistent for the past 2 years with MANY batches in a year :)

__Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Russell
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You are probably doing nothing wrong. Have you tried a little Irish Moss?

Reply to
Thundarr

You don't say much about your technique. Single or two stage fermentation?

How long is your stuff in the secondary fermenter?

Do you strain the wort to remove the big particles before you ferment?

Are you mashing or extract brewing?

The only time I have cloudy beer (extract brewing) is when I don't shake the dust from the grain bags before tossing them into the pot. I use two stage, with no finings, I filter the large chunks out before it goes into the carboy with a nylon strainer - but that still leaves a lot of particles (the fine mesh strainer that goes in the funnel plugs too quickly so I stopped using it).

Grinding the grain too fine makes for cloudy beer - it just needs to be crushed not powdered.

From start to finish most of my ales are in the fermenters for a total of two weeks. 3-5 days in primary (just long enough for most of the active fermentation to be over) and the balance at the two week mark. There will be 2-3" of stuff in the bottom of the primary and ~1/2" in the secondary, and nothing visible in the bottling bucket.

I dry hop when racking to the secondary using pellet hops. The hops falls out of suspension before I rack to the bottling bucket, and what does make it into the bottles quickly goes to the bottom.

Yeast has a lot of ability to remove particles from suspension when it clumps and falls to the bottom. Dried Nottingham Ale yeast is very good in this respect..

What are the fluctuation characteristics of the yeast you use?

Reply to
default

Recently as well as airation. The concept of both is better but it's still not REAL CLEAR.

Thanks.

__Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Russell

2 stage a week in priamary and at least a week in secondary. I have done teh irish moss thing with 1 tsp per 5 gal batch in the flavoring hops.
1 week to 1 month depending on clarity.

I use a racking cane with the plastic cap on it.

Mixed. Mash for flavor and muttons extra light for the standard pale malt.

Don't do it but could be easy to put a mesh condom on the end of the racking cane.

LHBS is not having issue with hundreds of other brewers.

Me too.

Only somtiems am I dry hoping

I got/get the Wyeast tubes and I farm out my yeast in a conservation of $$ sort of way. I brew for my barbeque team and that requires a double batch

10 gal a week from Oct through March as weather permitts.

__Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Russell

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 12:20:22 GMT, "Stephen Russell" wrote: Snip

From what you've written, it sounds like you've done it a time or two.

If you're buying crushed grain they are probably getting the right size. I've been crushing my own and there's lots of fine particles in the grain bags. If the stuff is in a container the fine particles settle to the bottom, so buy buying crushed grain you probably get less or no fine particles.

I'd look to your procedure when getting the wort into the fermenter. You want to cool the wort from a boil, to below 80 as quickly as possible - that's supposed to knock proteins out of suspension (they cause haze) and reduce oxidation. If you do a full boil, you almost have to use a wort chiller, if you do a partial boil the cold water will aid in cooling the wort (but the brew pot still needs 10-20 minutes of sitting in a bath of ice water (stir the water as well as the wort so neither is allowed to stratify - if that is your technique)

I use partial boil and that may account for the lack of haze in the beers. The brew kettle goes from boiling to the sink and I stir it a few times and move the pot around to mix up the water in the sink.

From the sink it goes to the primary carboy that has about 1/3 cold, well aerated water in it. I rock the carboy to mix the two then fill to volume with a spray nozzle to incorporate more air. (this stage is done out on my deck because it can get messy), then I pitch the yeast and rock the carboy some more.

Cover it and set the carboy in a cold place with no heater - the yeast will keep it warm. After racking (and dry hop) I monitor the temperature and heat the wort with a pad under the carboy. I leave it undisturbed until bottling time.

Bacteria can cause haze - but that's not often a problem.

Spring for a packet of dried Nottingham yeast and try that in your next brew. It has very good flocculation, and that may be all you need.

Reply to
default

Well... one thing I didn't see mentioned in the other answers is that, if it is chill haze, then just put as many as possible in your fridge as far ahead as possible. Chill haze will form in the bottle and will settle eventually (2 - 4 weeks). It will re-dissolve if the beer warms up and you'll have to start over! :)

Unfortunately this takes a lot of fridge space for a pretty long time. Irish Moss and a good cold break (as mentioned before) should get most of it, though. Time will settle a lot.

Derric

Reply to
Derric

I'm afaraid I have to disagree with this. In my expreience, how fionely your grain is ground makes no difference at all to the finished clarity. I make all grain beers and grind my grian much fineer than most people. My beers drop crystal clear given some time and cold temps.

---------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

That's a hell of a problem for a newbie. Actually given a bit of common sense & care in reading & following instructions, home brewing problems are genuinely quite rare. This is especially so now that good kits are universally available & the gear is similarly cheap & easy to obtain. I suggest you:

1) Approach your local brew shop owner, phone ahead for appointment & they will likely set aside a half hour to go over your methods in detail at a time that suits them ...... or 2) Provide this group with much more detail about your set-up, & methods. Nobody can really comment with the scanty info you have provided. Pete

"Stephen Russell" wrote in message news:BoJRd.47059$ snipped-for-privacy@fe1.columbus.rr.com...

Reply to
<peterlo8

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