How cloudy should homebrew be (or not be)?

[Showdown]

Just held a few bottles of a batch of IPA to the light. Looks like there's some stuff floating around. Then I turned the bottle upside down and HOLY BAJEEZUS THE STUFF THAT DROPPED! Amongst the swampy darkness, I could actually see some larger chunks of hop.

Is this normal? I used a Secondary for this batch. Secondary is where I did the dry hop, and just pitched the pellet directly into the carboy. So I can imagine some debris, but looking through those brown bottles it looked like a lake bottom after you take a few steps through it.

I did not cold crash. And just to clarify, I'll chew through a good beer if I have to. But wasn't sure I was dealing with anything unusual here. Maybe holding the siphon too close to the bottom?

 

[Showdown]

Just a quick edit, I went through my notes and I did not strain this batch between kettle and primary. So that might be contributing. But I would have thought that the move to secondary would have helped clean it up a little.

 

[unionrdr]

I use sanitized hop sacks for dry hopping. That keeps the pellet & leaf chunks out of the beer. & letting the beer settle out clear or slightly misty in primary works fine. I even dry hop in primary, although you can use a secondary if you want to. And try not to get the siphon too close to the bottom. Just tilt the fermenter to get the last bit of beer out.

 

[Iseneye]

Just held a few bottles of a batch of IPA to the light. Looks like there's some stuff floating around. Then I turned the bottle upside down and HOLY BAJEEZUS THE STUFF THAT DROPPED! Amongst the swampy darkness, I could actually see some larger chunks of hop.

Is this normal? I used a Secondary for this batch. Secondary is where I did the dry hop, and just pitched the pellet directly into the carboy. So I can imagine some debris, but looking through those brown bottles it looked like a lake bottom after you take a few steps through it.

I did not cold crash. And just to clarify, I'll chew through a good beer if I have to. But wasn't sure I was dealing with anything unusual here. Maybe holding the siphon too close to the bottom?

If you bottled with priming sugar there will be yeast residue at the bottom of the bottle. That would go into suspension if you tipped the bottle upside down.

 

[Showdown]

If you bottled with priming sugar there will be yeast residue at the bottom of the bottle. That would go into suspension if you tipped the bottle upside down.

Yes, this is what it looked like. Since I hate yogurt, I'm assuming this will make up for lack of probiotics?

 

[beergolf]

Just a quick edit, I went through my notes and I did not strain this batch between kettle and primary. So that might be contributing. But I would have thought that the move to secondary would have helped clean it up a little.

That really has nothing to do with final clarity. I never strain and just dump it all in and get good clear beers. Bottle conditioned beers will have some yeast in the bottom of the bottle. Let it sit undisturbed and then a few days in the fridge and it should compact down in the botton. A careful pour until you see the yeast leaving the last part in the bottle and you should have good clear beers like this.

 

[Gavin C]

Homebrew doesn't have to be cloudy, nor does it have to be clear. It boils down to your personal preference. I try to get my beers bright and clear as I can because it gives me great satisfaction in doing so. In the same way I would self critique the flavor of a beer I make I would critique it's clarity.

Other folks are not so bothered by some haze. Nor should they be bothered. This is a hobby. Having fun and making tasty beer are paramount. Making clear beer is less important.

As an aside, clear homebrew is readily achievable if it's what you want

 

[exileonmainst]

Is this your first batch?

Like Iseneye said, there will inevitably be sediment from the bottle carbonating process. No way to avoid it. If you chill the bottle in the fridge for at least a day (but it can help to go several days) it should all settle to the bottom. Then be careful not to knock the bottle around and pour carefully while leaving the last sip or two in the bottle. You shouldn't get any floaties in your beer. That said, there's a good chance it will still be quite hazy for a variety of other reasons, but you shouldn't have visible chunks floating around.

 

[firerat]

I'm assuming this will make up for lack of probiotics?

Unfortunately no.

Yogurt uses bacteria. Hence the "biotics".

Beer uses yeast. You may get a bit of gas.

 

[Showdown]

This is my first IPA, I've done darker brews before and have seen sediment left from yeast at the bottom of the bottle. But with this first IPA, I'm new to dry hopping. And it's the first time I've ever looked through the bottle during conditioning and then tipping them over - so maybe it was the same with my first batches and I just wasn't aware.

My personal choice would be to get them super clear, as I want to be proud to share with family and friends. They might not think my new hobby is going well if there's a ton of sludge at the bottom of their glass. Seriously, the pics above look amazing and that's what I would want.

Curious to the above pictures - are those bottled beers or tapped?

 

[Gavin C]

I want to be proud to share with family and friends....

Curious to the above pictures - are those bottled beers or tapped?

I share these thoughts. I keg my beers and bottle from the keg if needed. The beer in the pic was on tap.

The same clarity can be achieved with bottling however.

 

[Clonefan94]

For fermentation, I don't really worry about what goes into my bucket. I do use a strainer, but it's more to help the aeration than anything. I also dry hop without any bags. What I've found works for a good clean transfer, is to cold crash before you transfer to you bottling bucket (or keg in my case). Nothing is every perfectly brite right off the bat, but usually after a week, my beers are as clear as any commercial example of that same beer. In my experience, cold temps and time work as well as anything for clear beer.

 

[unionrdr]

I let my beers settle out clear or slightly misty in primary before priming & bottling. Here's a couple of my pics;
ESB

Dampfbier V2

They get really clear & good carbonation 5-7 days fridge time.

 

[Showdown]

Just went through a ton of cold crashing threads. This post jumped out at me and just made me clear a space in my second fridge for cold crashing! :rockin:

I discovered the benefit of cold crashing my IPA's. I've brewed / bottled 9 batches of IPA to date. All 3 week primary, dryhop in primary and then bottle.

The first 3 batches turned out drinkable, but not that great.
Batches 4 and 5 were better, due mostly because I used more hops and I've learned to be a better brewer.

Batches 6,7 and 8, were cold crashed. These beers were considerably better. Partially for the same reasons 4 and 5 were better, but I believe it's also due to having less trub and sediment in the bottle.

The beers poured very clear with practically no sediment. Not like the black junk that sits in the bottom of the bottle in NON-crashed beers. The cold crash is dropping out the nasty stuff and it's not getting into my bottles.

My most recent batch #9, I chose to skip the crash and as a result, the beers again have that black sediment in the bottle. In the glass the beer is cloudy, darker than it should be and lacking the flavor that is should have. (This is repeat brew of the same recipe as batch 8.)

 

[masaba]

If you want to dry hop and don't want to get any hop material into your bottling bucket, buy a 5-gallon paint strainer bag from the hardware store. When you rack your beer from primary to the bottling bucket, put the tube of your racking cane inside the paint strainer bag before you stick it in your beer to rack. I have dry hopped two different five gallon batches with 4 oz of whole leave hops each by just throwing them into the fermenter bucket, and have not found a single fleck of hop debris in my bottles by filtering with this paint-strainer bag method.

Yeast and chill-haze also impact the beers final clarity. For bottle conditioning, you need the yeast, but as others have mentioned, if you cold crash your beers and then refrigerate the bottles for a few days before drinking them, you can keep most of the yeast out of your beer. If you want to get rid of the chill-haze, then you can try fining with gelatin during your cold crash.

Also, if you ever pour yourself a commercial beer that has been bottle conditioned, you can see the little yeasties floating around in your glass. So this isn't really something that is a homebrew only phenomena.

 

[1977Brewer]

Just went through a ton of cold crashing threads. This post jumped out at me and just made me clear a space in my second fridge for cold crashing! :rockin:

If he was getting black sediment he has more problems than cold crashing will solve.

 

[adamdillabo]

I can't get rid of my chill haze but I don't fridge for very long.
At room temp I can see right through the bottles.

For dry hopping I put them in a nude stocking with s few marbles to keep it together and under the beer.

 

[unionrdr]

Try to chill the hot wort down to pitch temp in 29 minutes or less if you do full boils. For partial boils, I chill down to 75F or so as quick as I can. Then strain into primary & top off with well-chilled spring water. When the bottles are carbed & conditioned, I chill them 5-7 days. Ant chill haze will form as soon as the bottles cool down to fridge temp. Then settle out like a fog in 3-5 days on average. This will depend on how good of a hot break & cold break you got as well.