Help! Is something wrong with my beer?

[jaybagley]

So I recently brewed a 10 gallon batch of an APA and split the 10 gallons into two fermenters. I used Safale SAF-04 on one and Wyeast 1968 on the other. The SAF-04 was cloudier when I transferred to secondary to dry hop. I started cold crashing on Sunday and the 1968 has cleared up great, but the SAF-04 is still really cloudy. I was planning on bottling Friday (12 days), but now I'm thinking I might need to transfer the one batch to tertiary in order to clear up.

Any thoughts out there on what it could be and what I should do?

 

[alane1]

04 is more attenuative than 1968, it may just need a little more time to clean up.

 

[day_trippr]

You definitely don't need a "tertiary" vessel, just let that one crash-cool until it clears. There's no advantage to moving the beer again, and plenty of risk...

Cheers!

 

[jaybagley]

But it's already been dry hopping for 10 days, I don't want to leave it on longer than 14. Wouldn't that be a concern?

 

[day_trippr]

If you're still cold-crashing that cloudy carboy, the temperature will be too low for grassy notes to occur, in my experience. Keep it cold long enough and it should clear up fine.

fwiw, I frequently dry hop in serving kegs with whole hops in a muslin bag which goes in on Day One and stays there until the keg kicks - which has been as long as a month. No grass...

Cheers!

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

If you just 'have' to get it off the hops...it will clear in the bottle also. Just a matter of how much sediment in the bottle is acceptable to you. I agree that a tertiary isn't worth the risk of oxidation or infection.

 

[zachattack]

I think it's strange that S-04 is taking so long to flocc. That stuff drops like a rock IME.

 

[highgravitybacon]

Too little calcium in your water will slow or arrest flocculation. I had a lot of issues until I pulled a water report and saw how little was in my water. I add some calcium chloride to all my batches now and have no further issues.

 

[nufad]

Too little calcium in your water will slow or arrest flocculation. I had a lot of issues until I pulled a water report and saw how little was in my water. I add some calcium chloride to all my batches now and have no further issues.

Any idea why low Ca slows flocculation?

 

[highgravitybacon]

Any idea why low Ca slows flocculation?

Unfortunately, I only understand the most basic of basic idea behind this.

The best I can muster is that for yeast to clump together, their cell membranes need to be prepared for this. In order to correctly prepare their membranes, calcium ions are required.

But the role of calcium plays a significant role in the entire process beyond just yeast.

http://www.beoir.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=142&Itemid=46

That link has some good information.

 

[jaybagley]

I took a sample and it was still hazy, but it didn't look as bad in a glass, so I went ahead and bottled. Tasted great.