Chill haze is killing me!

[JLem]

Ok, maybe it's not killing me, but it definitely has me frustrated. Let me start by saying that, in general, I do not much care if my brews have chill haze - as far as I am concerned, it is purely aesthetic and, given enough time, my beers all clear up. However, I brewed my first lager, a German Pils, and I thought I would be able to avoid chill haze with the lagering process...but, alas, it's still there. What am I doing wrong!?!?!

Here's everything I did for this latest brew:

• Short protein rest @ 132°F
• Vorlaufed before collecting wort
• Vigorous boil to ensure hot break
• Irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil
• Immersion chiller - chilled wort in 15-20 minutes
• Strained wort going into fermenter
• Pitched a healthy starter of WLP833
• Primaried @ 52°F for 4 weeks
• Lagered @ 40°F for 6 weeks

Is the only way to avoid chill haze to use gelatin and/or filtration?

 

[BigEd]

Chill haze stems from colloidable protein fractions which are more likely to end up in your beer from pilsner malt than ale malts. I like to incorporate a short rest @ 128/132F to help break some of those longer strains down to minimize the problem. Long, cold lagering does help but gelatine is cheap, easy and very effective at clearing chill haze.

 

[JLem]

Chill haze stems from colloidable protein fractions which are more likely to end up in your beer from pilsner malt than ale malts. I like to incorporate a short rest @ 128/132F to help break some of those longer strains down to minimize the problem. Long, cold lagering does help but gelatine is cheap, easy and very effective at clearing chill haze.

I should have mentioned I also did a 10 minute protein rest at 132°F (added to the above list)

Guess I'll have to try the gelatin in my next batch. I thought about trying it this time around, but figured it wasn't needed. Oh well.

 

[Erroneous]

You can also try scooping the foop, the hot break. If you can, try whirlpooling while chilling to keep some cold break from entering the fermenter.

 

[BigEd]

I should have mentioned I also did a 10 minute protein rest at 132°F (added to the above list)

Guess I'll have to try the gelatin in my next batch. I thought about trying it this time around, but figured it wasn't needed. Oh well.

As the old saying goes, your mileage may vary. There is variability between malts and batches of malt and sometimes you just wind up with more haze. Don't feel bad, even very cold Pilsner Urquell has some chill haze and nobody holds that against them.

 

[DSmith]

Is the only way to avoid chill haze to use gelatin and/or filtration?

Your list looks well thought out. I haven't seen 4-6 weeks of lagering help much for chill haze. Gelatin will fix chill haze. EDIT: Here are some procedures I've used a lot and wrote down when researching these same topics, modify as you feel best.

Gelatin Procedures:

Cold crash beer for 24 hours
Mix 1 gram of unflavored gelatin (Knox brand or LHBS) per gallon of finished beer in 1 fl oz of room temperature water per gallon of finished beer. (Boil water first in microwave, cool to room temperature in water bath)
Rehydrate for at least 10 min.
Heat to 160F in short burts in the microwave, do not boil!
Add to cold crashed beer.
Wait 3-5 days keeping the beer at cold crashing temperature.

Re-yeasting Procedures (optional for bottle conditioning after using gelatin):

Yeasting dosing rate: 1 million cells/1 mL of finished beer.

20.0e9 yeast cells/gram of dry yeast.
5.0 gal = 18,927 mL
1.0e6 = 20.0e9*x/18,927, x = 0.95 grams of dry yeast

Boil 3oz of spring water down to 2 oz in a measuring cup in microwave (uncovered), chill to 80F in water bath.
Sprinkle about 1 g dry yeast (Lalvin EC-1118) on water surface and cover with plastic wrap, let sit for 15 min.
(Note: Measure by weighing full package and add gradually and keep weighing)
Swirl yeast, pitch all of prepared yeast into bottling bucket during the transfer.

 

[mjohnson]

I use ceramic cups.

 

[brewinginnc]

I agree no chill haze here

 

[unionrdr]

It also seems to me that the fine crush needed for BIAB that I do contributes to chill haze as well. I used fivestar super moss in this latest batch,& strained out/left in bottom of kettle about 2C of assorted gunk. I'm hoping this helps the wicked chill haze I've been getting with my hybrid light lagers & a pale ale so far. They settle out clear as crystal in the bottles during room temp carb/condition time. But as soon as they chill down in the fridge,they get some tough chill haze that's really hard to get rid of.

 

[StoneHands]

With mine, it's been right at the 6 week mark when they clear up. 5 weeks, still hazy. JLem, my process is nearly identical to yours - short protein rest at 130, immersion chiller, WLP 833 (I don't use whirlfloc). I lager a little colder though, around 35 or so, maybe another week or two? Do you keg or bottle? I'd be willing to bet that if you keg, as you drink the beer it'll clear up as the level drops. As already stated though, gelatin will most likely work. Use it when the beer is already cold obviously.

 

[daksin]

It's not been my experience that a fine crush contributes to haze in the finished beer. I BIAB also and double crush my grains, and end up with a lot of flour in the mash, and plenty of flour in the boil, too. My beers are typically very very clear with just irish moss, although I will gelatin beers that have yeast that refuses to drop out.

 

[highgravitybacon]

I've bottled some pretty turbid looking beers. But a week at 32F will take care of a lot of haze. What takes a few days at 32 takes several weeks at 37 Ive noticed.

Gordon Stongs book talks about chill haze with pils malts. He recommends a rest in the 132 f range as well.