Reducing Beer Haze

[warra48]

I keep telling you guys three days at -1C at the end of lagering

But no one listens to me

Aaaawww Kev, we listen but we don't always communicate it.
I have a broad shoulder for you to lean on and have a little cry, if that will help you to feel better and more appreciated.

[Kevnlis]

Hahaha, cheers for that Warra! It truly is the most effective way I have found to clear beer, if you wanted to add isinglass and filter you could, but I do not find it necessary. I used this method on a Bo Pils which I triple decocted and stuffed up royally, came out clear as a bell without the isinglass or filtering

In fact I will say so far every beer I have made that has been left at -1C for 3 days has come out perfect!

[racer]

How do you combate chill haze with kit beers that way? Is poly the only way?

[Kevnlis]

You should not have chill haze in a kit beer unless you have improperly steeped grain into it. Perhaps some very low quality liquid malts may have some but I have never seen it myself. Mostly your only concern is dropping the yeast from suspension.

[racer]

You should not have chill haze in a kit beer unless you have improperly steeped grain into it. Perhaps some very low quality liquid malts may have some but I have never seen it myself. Mostly your only concern is dropping the yeast from suspension.

Original series coopers & ldme, no grain.
Beer is clear as a bell after secondary with gelatine before trans to keg.
Has hase in glass but will clear when heated.
Maybe its time to go full extract or BIAB

[Trough Lolly]

...In fact I will say so far every beer I have made that has been left at -1C for 3 days has come out perfect!

Interesting...Do you give your perfect lagers a diacetyl rest before bottling/kegging?

Cheers,
TL

[Ed]

I'm finding pretty much the same as Kev, in that my lagers are not suffering any haze related problems after slowly bringing them down from ferment temp to lager temp and then giving them some time there. Ales have been a different story though, and I suspect any cloudy beers I've had are yeast related (but that's partly guesswork).

One thing I found to help clear up yeast related haze is to allow the beers to fully ferment and take them well into the post primary period, drop them down to conditioning temp, and not to force carbonate the keg until the period of cold conditioning has finished. Why the carbonation has anything to do with conditioning is something I don't fully understand as yet but it seems to be working. Got onto this because I noticed my keg overruns, which I stick in bottles, were turning out very clear well before the kegged beer.

I don't transfer to secondary fermenter, just to the keg. And I use what most would call a very gentle boil of usually just over 60 minutes unless doing a Scottish Ale. I'm also using very old malts that I bought in bulk in 2006, so may not have come across poorer quality as yet.

Another possible linked cause of haze is the disputed HSA though

Cheers, Ed

[Kevnlis]

...In fact I will say so far every beer I have made that has been left at -1C for 3 days has come out perfect!

Interesting...Do you give your perfect lagers a diacetyl rest before bottling/kegging?

Cheers,
TL

Ummm... sorry that may have come across wrong! My lagers are far from perfect, but are perfectly clear

The process I have used for the last few lagers is, 2 weeks at 8C, 24 hours out of the fridge at room temp, 3-5 days at 4C dry hopping (if need be), then 3 days at -1C.

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Another possible linked cause of haze is the disputed HSA though

What is this 'HSA' thing of which you speak?

[Ed]

Got this pocket full of spanners I carry around Spills

Cheers, Ed

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Got this pocket full of spanners I carry around Spills

Cheers, Ed

Very witty... Now, on yer bike!

[rwh]

One thing I found to help clear up yeast related haze is to allow the beers to fully ferment and take them well into the post primary period, drop them down to conditioning temp, and not to force carbonate the keg until the period of cold conditioning has finished. Why the carbonation has anything to do with conditioning is something I don't fully understand as yet but it seems to be working. Got onto this because I noticed my keg overruns, which I stick in bottles, were turning out very clear well before the kegged beer.

Interesting; I find much the same thing. My beers generally go like this: 1-2 weeks primary, rack to keg with leftovers going into a few bottles. 1-2 weeks sitting in the keg at room temp, then into the fridge to chill and carbonate. What I'm finding is that once they get into the fridge, they don't clear up at all quickly, say 1-2 weeks. Given the amount of time these beers are getting in primary and secondary, I'm quite surprised about this; I guess I might need to add an additional cold-conditioning phase.

As for why the carbonation level might affect conditioning, I guess it could be something to do with carbonation level affecting yeast metabolism, or beer pH?

As you condition then force carbonate separately, I'm going to assume that you don't shake your kegs during carbonation? I'm guessing that might resuspend everything you worked so hard to drop out.

I might get more in to priming the kegs with sugar, see what kind of effect that has as I guess it's closer to what's happening in the bottle.

[Ed]

Yeah I'm figuring the same rwh.

I'm still shaking the keg after the cold conditioning period as it all seems to drop out again quickly. Have tried sugar priming as well with ales, quite like the result but the extra sediment increases the cloudy pour for a bit.

I get to a much faster clear result when using lager yeasts over ale yeasts, the favourite being Budvar which settles out very nicely in the primary. Maybe I'll go 100% lager brewing

Cheers, Ed

[Kevnlis]

Maybe I'll go 100% lager brewing

Cheers, Ed

Life is to short for Lagers

Ed 2006

[Ed]

The story is; Dogger couldn't remember who was the originator of the quote so I put it in text so he could quote. Never actually thought it myself And to top that, his spelling of "too" is wrong

Cheers, Ed

[Kevnlis]

The story is; Dogger couldn't remember who was the originator of the quote so I put it in text so he could quote. Never actually thought it myself And to top that, his spelling of "too" is wrong

Cheers, Ed

Yeah mate, I know the story, just havin a bit of fun! Life is two short not too

[gregb]

I wonder if I can move posts between entire forums? hmmmm.....

Guys, beer haze.

Cheers,
Greg

[lethaldog]

I wonder if I can move posts between entire forums? hmmmm.....

Guys, beer haze.

Cheers,
Greg

Poor bugger you have this problem to

[drsmurto]

On topic and sarcastic as hell - I like it a lot