Cleaning up my ale...

I've kind of hit a wall in my brewing. I have about 17 batches under my belt...all ales! I've done Pliny the Elder, Sierra Green, Sierra Celebration, Bells Two Hearted, Three Floyds Alpha King, Zombie King, etc...

I'm an alehead, I only brew ales, as I only drink ales.

My question...I've really struggled recently controlling the sediment at all levels. I have brewed most of the above using all grain and or extract methods. I only use recipes that have been vetted by great sources, and in many cases I brew the recipes from the brewers themselves.

I expect to have a certain amount of residue, that's fine...but the last couple have been really bad--it's impacted the yield, it's made bottling difficult, the beers have been very cloudy even after 3-4 weeks bottle conditioning and a week or two in the fridge.

Any insight would be appreciated, I employ most of the Papazian techniques from the Complete Guide to Homebrewing, I have watched videos, I have read this forum, and then I have read more books!

I have done tastings with each of the beers listed above, and I have come reasonably close on taste and they've been enjoyable, but clarity has been an issue. I don't expect to get brewery quality clarity, but I'd like to clean up my beers. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would work on your own designs instead of cloning others...just my .02 because your own designs is where your brewing ability and knowledge begins to shine through.

do you add whirfloc or irish moss during the last 15 min of the boil? It helps a bit.

agree with Toga. whirfloc or irish moss last 10-15 minutes of the boil

next suggestions would be

• gelatin or bio-fine
• cold crash
• rack to a secondary

don't think formulating your own recipes is going to solve anything. instead of cloudy clones, you'll have cloudy originals.

I've had the same problem with the fine crush needed for my PB/PM BIAB recipes. Def need a proper crusher,as the fine crush seems to be to blame for the stubborn chill haze at fridge time. As much as 3 weeks in the fridge,& still a lil hazy. On this batch,I tried fivestar super moss hoping to solve the problem. It's the one bad thing I've noticed about BIAB...you can't vorlauf to set the grain bed to run clear.
The bottles are clear by fridge time,hazed like mad after they cool down. So it's my concidered opinion that some kind of Irish moss & the right crush will go a long way to clear them up with BIAB.

There are a couple of things that can really impact clarity. First, when you're brewing all grain or partial mash, make sure the wort gets converted. You can try an iodine test, but generally just make sure it's at the right temperature for long enough.

Then, when you bring your wort to a boil, you want a good "hot break". You want to have the heat full on, until after the hot break. A good hot break means that your wort will look like egg drop soup- but it's a good thing. After the hot break, you can turn down the heat to just maintain a rolling boil and start adding your hops.

I like to use whirlfloc at 15 minutes left in the boil- it makes a big difference in clarity for me.

After the boil, I try to chill the wort quickly. With the quick chilling and the whirlfloc, I get a really good "cold break"- great big huge goobers of coagulated proteins fall out of the wort when that happens.

If at that point, the wort is clear, the beer will be clear. If you get a really good cold break, the beer later on will not have chill haze either- so chilling quickly is a nice easy way to get clear beer.

Another thing that impacts clarity is the yeast strain. I really like certain yeast strains for their flavor, but some of them never want to clear the beer. (Denny's Favorite 50 is such a yeast). Some yeast strains are known to be well flocculators, and they will produce very clear beer very quickly, forming a super tight compact yeast cake. Normally, those tend to be English strains.

Cold crashing an ale, by sticking it in a place 30 degrees colder than it is currently, works well to clear beers too- especially those with a yeast haze. You can do that for 48 hours before packaging, and the beer will be much clearer than just leaving it at room temperature.

I hope those ideas help!

Hmmm...looks like I'm going to have to crank the electric stove up to "high" again till the grain wort boils,then turn down to my usual 8.5-8.8. Maybe that's part of the equasion. Besides super moss & getting the crush just right.

Thanks everyone, a quick reply to all replies...

I have done a couple of "unique" things, they were fine...clarity is still an issue with such hop forward beers especially when dry hopping.

I'm to try the heat break idea, that was the one thing listed here i haven't tried. I have used both gelatin and whirfloc and those work, but the gelatin worked beautifully...for whatever reason the guy at my homebrew store told me not to do that again when bottling, he said I lucked out and the next time it would likely be a disaster. I listened, when I should have trusted my own work.

+1 on using Irish Moss during the last 10 minutes or so of the boil. Drops out tons of stuff. Cool your wort and pour it off the sediment and you can have pretty clean wort going into the fermenter. You might want to pour it through a collander and/or a BIAB bag to catch most of the hop gunk and chunks.

Second recommendation would be to look hard at the yeast that you use, maybe consider a higher flocculating variety. I'm a fan of Nottingham dry ale yeast as it is a great attenuator and drops out into a nice firm cake off of which it is easy to rack your beer. Given time most yeasts will settle out, but Notty does it fast. But if you're doing styles where your yeast flavor matters then you will have to shop around and experiment.

Are you bottling straight out of primary? If so, start using a bottling bucket. Check Revvy's bottling tips sticky, and take a look at this post in particular for an easy-to-build-and-works-great design:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/index16.html#post4519979

Hi, a quick question...I have been reading (Palmer, I think...) that straining the wort after it has cooled and before I pitch the yeast h is a good strategy. My question is will I retain enough grain, etc...to obtain full flavor?

Having brewed about 17 batches, I have no problem with the "sediment" that I get in homebrew, but my last attempt at Pliny the Elder was simply unacceptable, in many cases it was undrinkable and when it was I was getting about 8-10 ounces out of a 22 ounce bottle.

I have never strained before and never had much need to...

Plinythelderphan said:

clarity is still an issue with such hop forward beers especially when dry hopping.

Click to expand...

It's hard to imagine as much sediment from hops as you're describing, but dry hopping is well known to add haze to beers. That's one reason why the big boys filter their beers.

Plinythelderphan said:

straining the wort after it has cooled and before I pitch the yeast h is a good strategy. My question is will I retain enough grain, etc...to obtain full flavor?

Click to expand...

You generally don't want anything but clear wort going into your fermenter. The flavor compounds are locked into the wort by the process of the boil; you don't need grain, etc., in your fermentation vessel.

Given the sort of sediment you're talking about, and given your most recent post, it sounds to me like you're dumping your entire boil pot contents into your fermenter. Is that true?

If so, the main solution is easy: siphon the wort out or install a ball valve above the trub line, and leave the bulk of the trub, hops, and other waste matter in your boil pot. Then when you go to bottle, rack the clear beer off the trub and cold break matter at the bottom of your fermenter.