Clarity - quicker

[billl]

I'm sitting here drinking a sparklingly clear home brewed IPA. So what's wrong? It's taken 4 weeks at fridge temp to get there and I drank most of the keg before it got to this point! It was respectably after a cold crash, but its just taking too long to get to commercial level clarity.

I know.... patience, blah, blah blah.... but I only have room for 2 kegs. I'd love to expand my cold storage capabilities, but it isn't in the cards right now. Any great tips for speeding clarification along?

Current methods

Whirfloc
Immersion chiller
3 weeks primary with dry hop for the last week
Cold crash to drop the yeast before packaging

The cold crash and fridge temps seem to be dropping the yeast pretty effectively, but I'm left with some mild protein or hop haze (using 10oz of hops here in a 5 gallon batch, yum...)


I've tried filters. That seemed to get to "good" immediately, but didn't speed the time to "sparkling" at all.

Considering a protein rest in the high range to see if that does anything.

Haven't really messed with water chemistry since I haven't had conversion issues, but I'm game if anyone has great insight there.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I have heard from other this stuff works well: http://morebeer.com/products/clarity-ferm-white-labs-5pack.html

My LHBS sells it in the cooler with the yeast.

 

[November]

If you are already cold crashing, then try cold crashing with gelatin. Its the only fining agent I use and my beer is crystal clear. I use the plain Knox gelatin available at the grocery store.

 

[Yooper]

My beer is crystal clear without finings (except for whirlfloc) so I'll mention what I do and then ask some questions about your technique.

I get a really good hot break, and then I use whirlfloc at 10-15 minutes and cold as fast as I can. I get a really good cold break, and the wort is completely clear going into the kettle. Clear wort makes clear beer, except for a yeast haze. so that's important to note- if the wort is cloudy going into the fermenter, it could be a protein haze or starch haze that may not clear or take forever to clear.

For the questions- do you check for starch conversion? Is your wort crystal clear going into the fermenter? which yeast strains do you tend to use?

Since you mention it takes about 4 weeks of cold temperature to clear, my guess is that you've got some chill haze and are not getting a good enough hot break and/or cold break.

 

[bd2xu]

My beer is crystal clear without finings (except for whirlfloc) so I'll mention what I do and then ask some questions about your technique.

I get a really good hot break, and then I use whirlfloc at 10-15 minutes and cold as fast as I can. I get a really good cold break, and the wort is completely clear going into the kettle. Clear wort makes clear beer, except for a yeast haze. so that's important to note- if the wort is cloudy going into the fermenter, it could be a protein haze or starch haze that may not clear or take forever to clear.

For the questions- do you check for starch conversion? Is your wort crystal clear going into the fermenter? which yeast strains do you tend to use?

Since you mention it takes about 4 weeks of cold temperature to clear, my guess is that you've got some chill haze and are not getting a good enough hot break and/or cold break.

Yooper what's your method for getting clear wort into the fermenter? What's you boil kettle drain setup? Do you whirlpool and then drain from the side?

 

[TheKeggingPart]

If you don't want to wait, strategy and finings are your best bet. Plan for the beer to get clear with the quickness. As others have mentioned, strategy includes protein rest, a good hot break, copper finings (irish moss / whirlfloc), a fast cold break, ClarityFerm (aka Brewer'er Clarex). Chose a particularly flocculant yeast strain such as London WLP013. Gelatin & cold-crashing is great, as is isinglass or Biofine CL.

Actually, scratch that. Brew with wheat. It's not your fault, wheat is always a touch hazy. It may not be true, but it won't hurt your mindset as you enjoy your beer.

The best strategy is more beer. Get yourself another keg (or 2). Fill them. Let your rotation allow for the beer to sit at room temperature essentially secondary-ing while waiting for kegorator space. Be careful when you move it to reduce stirring up the yeast. If you'd rather waste the time, rack keg-to-keg, giving up a drop (until clear) for your friends who won't be having any of this batch. Just remember to keep an eye on the transfer and cut it off if it starts to get chunky.

One goal. Lots of options. You can do it!

 

[Yooper]

Yooper what's your method for getting clear wort into the fermenter? What's you boil kettle drain setup? Do you whirlpool and then drain from the side?

No, not really. I don't really have a good setup for straining/separating the wort, except when I use a ton of leaf hops I use a bazooka screen (to not clog my pump).

I get a really good hot break, so that the wort looks like egg drop soup, and a great cold break (in the fermenter, since I have a CFC).

I no longer test for conversion, but I used to. If you have a starch haze, or a protein haze, that could be a part of the clarity issue and the wort wouldn't be clear.

 

[Whalewang]

If you are already cold crashing, then try cold crashing with gelatin. Its the only fining agent I use and my beer is crystal clear. I use the plain Knox gelatin available at the grocery store.

This.
Follow cold crashing with gelatin. Perfectly clear beer very fast assuming the rest of your process is sound.

 

[bd2xu]

No, not really. I don't really have a good setup for straining/separating the wort, except when I use a ton of leaf hops I use a bazooka screen (to not clog my pump).

I get a really good hot break, so that the wort looks like egg drop soup, and a great cold break (in the fermenter, since I have a CFC).

I no longer test for conversion, but I used to. If you have a starch haze, or a protein haze, that could be a part of the clarity issue and the wort wouldn't be clear.

I get the idea of getting break, and I make sure to boil pretty good at first so it foams a lot before bringing it down to a more gentle rolling boil, and I chill ASAP. I do see the egg drop soup look you described but how do you keep that break in your kettle vs draining it into the fermenter? Hops can be strained but the break too?

 

[Kayos]

To answer your question, it drops to the bottom just dont' transfer to the fermentor. Also try whirlpooling before transferring.

Also, try buying a recirculator for your chiller. That made a huge difference in the clarity of my beer, DMS presence (or lack thereof) and time to fermentor

 

[bd2xu]

To answer your question, it drops to the bottom just dont' transfer to the fermentor. Also try whirlpooling before transferring.

Also, try buying a recirculator for your chiller. That made a huge difference in the clarity of my beer, DMS presence (or lack thereof) and time to fermentor

Ok my pickup tube goes right to the bottom of my keggle in the middle so I would be better off twisting it to be up off the bottom? Or whirlpool and then make the dip tube pull from the side? I am using an IC and no pump, gravity fed.

 

[chumpsteak]

Pulling from the middle kind of defeats the purpose of the whirlpool. Whirlpool it really good then put the lid on and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to let all the hops and break settle to the bottom of the kettle. Then pull from the side a little off the bottom. The longer you can wait to pull from the kettle the clearer the wort will be going into the fermenter. I also build 1 gallon of kettle loss into my recipes so I can get plenty of wort out without getting all the hops and break.

 

[Yooper]

Break material doesn't have to be strained out- it will all end up in the bottom of the fermenter. I don't whirlpool, as my system as an electric element and it's not effective anyway. Break material in the fermenter won't impact beer clarity.

I wouldn't use gelatin or other finings, because I want my beers vegetarian friendly.

 

[afr0byte]

Break material doesn't have to be strained out- it will all end up in the bottom of the fermenter. I don't whirlpool, as my system as an electric element and it's not effective anyway. Break material in the fermenter won't impact beer clarity.

I wouldn't use gelatin or other finings, because I want my beers vegetarian friendly.

Biofine clear, dosed at about 1/2 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon per keg works well as a vegan fining agent, should you need it.

 

[billl]

"For the questions- do you check for starch conversion? Is your wort crystal clear going into the fermenter? which yeast strains do you tend to use?'

Yes, I test for conversion. I was previously just using an iodine starch test. That was "clear" after about 30 minutes, but I always gave it 60 anyway. For the last couple of brews, I've used a refractometer to make sure I'm close to 100% conversion efficiency. It was in the 90's after 60, but I gave it an extra 30 minutes and it got up to 99%.

I use whirfloc, so my wort is a floating mess of eggdrop soup going into the fermenter. I'm straining through a paint strainer to remove the hops and some break, but I'm basically just dumping everything in the strainer. I've tried to whirlpool by hand, but that was pretty much a flop.

I'm boiling indoors, so that is kinda limited. It's a "professional" style stove and has no problem getting 8 gallons boiling......but obviously it isn't as fast or powerful as an outdoor burner. I could increase boil length but not strength.

For cooling, I've got a 50 ft immersion chiller (with a pre-chiller for summer). It takes 10-15 minutes to get it down to 63F depending on the faucet temp.

For yeast, I've been using WY1056. I cold crash and that "seems" to drop the yeast pretty well. There is still enough yeast to bottle carb from, so obviously I'm not getting 100% out that way.

And just to clarify, I think I'm looking for some minor tweaks. By the time it's carbed, my beer is pretty clear. I'm talking about going from "I can read through that" to "I can see the light dancing in the glass."

 

[Yooper]

"For the questions- do you check for starch conversion? Is your wort crystal clear going into the fermenter? which yeast strains do you tend to use?'

Yes, I test for conversion. I was previously just using an iodine starch test. That was "clear" after about 30 minutes, but I always gave it 60 anyway. For the last couple of brews, I've used a refractometer to make sure I'm close to 100% conversion efficiency. It was in the 90's after 60, but I gave it an extra 30 minutes and it got up to 99%.

I use whirfloc, so my wort is a floating mess of eggdrop soup going into the fermenter. I'm straining through a paint strainer to remove the hops and some break, but I'm basically just dumping everything in the strainer. I've tried to whirlpool by hand, but that was pretty much a flop.

I'm boiling indoors, so that is kinda limited. It's a "professional" style stove and has no problem getting 8 gallons boiling......but obviously it isn't as fast or powerful as an outdoor burner. I could increase boil length but not strength.

For cooling, I've got a 50 ft immersion chiller (with a pre-chiller for summer). It takes 10-15 minutes to get it down to 63F depending on the faucet temp.

For yeast, I've been using WY1056. I cold crash and that "seems" to drop the yeast pretty well. There is still enough yeast to bottle carb from, so obviously I'm not getting 100% out that way.

And just to clarify, I think I'm looking for some minor tweaks. By the time it's carbed, my beer is pretty clear. I'm talking about going from "I can read through that" to "I can see the light dancing in the glass."

Process looks good! I found that WLP001 drops clear better and faster than WY1056, so that could be one very minor tweak and it might make a big difference in "clearer, sooner".

If you're getting a ton of hot break, the boil is hard enough. If not, maybe reduce the size of your boil just a tad so you can boil a bit harder. It doesn't have to be vigorous, but a nice rolling boil is required for all of the reactions to take place.

If the wort is clear going into the fermenter, that eliminates protein haze and starch haze as a possible cause of lack of clarity, but it could be possible that a bit of chill haze could still occur. If you use whirlfloc in the kettle, and get a good cold break, that would eliminate chill haze so that's not likely in your case.

I wonder- what happens when you make English beers? I've noticed that several strains of British yeast flocculate well and the beer is very clear at the end of fermentation.

 

[billl]

The only english beers I usually make are porters and stouts or the occasional brown, so those aren't really good test cases for clarity.

 

[brew2enjoy]

If you want clear beer faster, use a high flocculating yeast. This picture is from a hydro sample I pulled from my 1 week old Citra pale ale. It was a 10 gallon batch, half fermented with US-05 and half with WLP007. The WLP007 is the one on the left. The picture doesn't do it justice, and this is only after one week.

 

[tommysauder]

mine after 6 days looks a tad gunkier than yours on the right... using us-05.

 

[billl]

Just an update:

Brewed an IPA with WY1272 (3 weeks total combined fermenting and dry hopping time), cold crashed and used gelatin. It looked about like 2 weeks at fridge temp. 99% clear but still a touch of what I assume is hop haze.

Brewed a Belgian Golden/Blonde (2 weeks primary), cold crashed and used gelatin. It looks great and the flavors are really clear as well. The pilsner is almost too distinctive at this point, but that should blend with a little more time.

So, for me at least, gelatin dropped the yeast immediately. If I'm going for a fresh taste and short turnaround, it seems like $1 well spent. If its a brew that will sit for a while anyway, I'll probably just skip it and let time do its thing.

Side benefit - the IPA keg poured clear from the start, so I got an extra pint out of the process.