How long in fridge to see menaingful clearing bottles?

[MrBJones]

I've heard it and believe it -- just haven't seen it. Problem is that I don't have room to put dozens of bottles in the fridge...so none of them are there long enough to show any clearing, before being consumed. How long - on average - does it take?

 

[Yooper]

I've heard it and believe it -- just haven't seen it. Problem is that I don't have room to put dozens of bottles in the fridge...so none of them are there long enough to show any clearing, before being consumed. How long - on average - does it take?

It depends on what is causing the haze. If it's a chill haze, it might take weeks. If it's a flocculant yeast that is stirred up, it might take a day. For other things, it really depends on the cause of the haze.

If the beer is clear when bottled, but only gets a haze when cold that is a chill haze. If the beer isn't clear when bottled, all the junk that is in suspension ends up in the bottle when it does clear, so my preference is to bottle a clear beer to have it be clear and without so much sediment in the bottle.

 

[homemaltster]

It depends on what is causing the haze. If it's a chill haze, it might take weeks. If it's a flocculant yeast that is stirred up, it might take a day. For other things, it really depends on the cause of the haze.

Is the chill haze always caused by protein? I just harvested some six-row barley that has 13.1% protein, which is on the higher end, so I'm a little worried about chill haze or other off-flavors.

 

[A2HB]

Chill haze does not make "off flavors" it just means your beer is not see through clear. It's not really a big deal unless you're obsessed with making beer you can read newspapers through.

 

[unionrdr]

Yes. Chill haze has no flavor of it's own. As the beer cools down in the fridge, the excess proteins start sticking together to make the beer appear foggy, or hazy. Usually overnight. Buy day 3-5, it starts to settle out like a fog bank.
That said, if it's foggy going in, & refuses to settle out, even after a couple weeks in there, it is likely starch haze, from incomplete conversion in the mash. That won't settle out.
Either way, it's strictly cosmetic with no distinguishing off-flavor. Unless it's turbid with trub & yeast, then it''ll definitely taste better after a week or so in the fridge. The cold temps will crash out all the trub & yeast, compacting it on the bottom of the bottles. This also makes the pouring off of clearer beer easier too.

 

[mattdee1]

I've got a pale ale that went into the bottle very clear, but initially developed a significant haze when first placed in the fridge. It is now crystal clear, but it took 3 weeks of chilling to get there.

 

[MrBJones]

Are there any factors that might impact the time it takes to clear, or the degree to which it does? For instance, putting a bottle in the freezer, and moving it to the fridge just before it freezes, would drop the beer temp quicker than putting it in the fridge to start. Would that provide a benefit?

(And if it does provide a benefit, what if the beer inadvertently freezes and then thaws in the fridge?)

 

[mattdee1]

Are there any factors that might impact the time it takes to clear, or the degree to which it does? For instance, putting a bottle in the freezer, and moving it to the fridge just before it freezes, would drop the beer temp quicker than putting it in the fridge to start. Would that provide a benefit?

(And if it does provide a benefit, what if the beer inadvertently freezes and then thaws in the fridge?)

Unfortunately, I think the clearing of chill haze in the fridge is just one of those processes that will take the time that it takes, with intervention on your part in hopes of expediting the process being mostly in vain. I highly doubt that using the freezer will do anything other than, as you say, create a risk of frozen bottles [side note: I have accidentally frozen bottles by turning the fridge thermostat too low. Since the caps did not pop or leak, I let them thaw out, and eventually drank them; they seemed fine.]

One thing I have done is, when I'm not using my temperature controller for fermenting, I've attached the STC-1000 probe to a "sample" bottle and placed it at the back of the fridge. This allows me to set a low temperature setpoint and ride the bleeding edge of freezing without worrying about creating 100 beer-cicles.

 

[unionrdr]

I've found it's more a function of time versus temp with chill haze settling time. Some things in brewing can't be short-cutted, in my experiences.

 

[el_caro]

I must be getting old but I care not about clear beer and in fact find it almost loses some of its character. Bit of haze is like make up on a woman.