Clarity

[nwroadie]

I've been brewing for a little while and would like to see if I can gain some additional clarity to my beer without filtering, can anybody give me some hints as to the best way to achieve that?

Thanks,
-Paul

 

[nwroadie]

I'll give the cold crashing a try....question about the gelatin, does it change the mouth feel at all?

 

[ChilliMayne]

I've been brewing for a little while and would like to see if I can gain some additional clarity to my beer without filtering, can anybody give me some hints as to the best way to achieve that?

Thanks,
-Paul

Leave the secondary sit cold for 4 weeks and you'll be amazed at the clarity. Much slower of course but more organic. I get great results from doing this. The only hard part is the wait. But in the meantime you can be working on your next brew :twisted:

 

[Blackmuse]

I've been brewing for a little while and would like to see if I can gain some additional clarity to my beer without filtering, can anybody give me some hints as to the best way to achieve that?

Thanks,
-Paul

Leave the secondary sit cold for 4 weeks and you'll be amazed at the clarity. Much slower of course but more organic. I get great results from doing this. The only hard part is the wait. But in the meantime you can be working on your next brew :twisted:

I agree with Chilli - I "lagered" a Kolsch once (dropped the temp to 45 for two weeks and then down to 36 for another two (the difference in temp was just due to the weather)) and it was the clearest beer I have had by far! Absolutely beautiful!!

 

[LarryBrewer]

I'll give the cold crashing a try....question about the gelatin, does it change the mouth feel at all?

It should not change the mouth feel appreciably as the idea is it will bind to other particles in solution and settle to the bottom.

 

[Dan.Castanera]

Irish moss 15 minutes from the end of the boil makes a big difference. I use this for my RyePA and can get very delicious, very clear beer in just over a week.

 

[nwroadie]

One more question, once I put the carboy into cold storage, it seems like I can take the airlock off and just stick a stopper in the top....is that correct or do I need to keep the airlock in place until my cold crash is complete?

 

[LarryBrewer]

I would leave the airlock on during the cold crash. Racking or bottling semi-carbonated beer doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

 

[sbaclimber]

I know I am a bit late, but another thing worth considering for clear(er) beer is the strain of yeast you are using.
Yeasts with a higher flocculation should give you a clearer beer. I have been using WLP007 with no crash-chilling and only a bit of gelatin in the secondary and have crystal clear beer after 1.5-2 weeks of bottle conditioning. Because I don't crash-chill or use irish moss, the beer will get a chill haze at about <15°C, but as others have already said, 2-3 weeks in the fridge and even that settles out.

 

[BrewHop]

There are various enzymes you can use too to help clarify. White labs makes one called clariferm I beleve that you throw in when you cool the wort and pitch to primary. Also there are ones you can pitch in after you keg...

 

[sbaclimber]

White labs makes one called clariferm I beleve that you throw in when you cool the wort and pitch to primary.

Great tip! I wasn't even aware of the enzymes that White Labs offers.
Here is their info page about them: http://www.whitelabs.com/DSM.html
Clarity-Ferm does sound quite good for reducing chill haze...
I even found a pretty good video of someone trying it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86EfzU88lV8

 

[BrewHop]

There are also enzymes you can use to aid in this. I know one is clariferm which you put in right when you pitch yeast into the wort. There is another that you can put in post fermentationwhich is supposed to help also. If you are just worried about particles floatin around then secondary or cold crash. Should clear pretty well in a keg/bottle though on its won. The enzymes are supposed to help with things like chill haze I believe. They are made by white labs...

 

[nwroadie]

Thanks everybody, I just opened the first bottle of the IPA that I crashed, clarity was good, not quite that of a production beer, but I was happy with it.

 

[BrewHop]

If you do leavevthe airlock in just be aware that the liquid in your airlock might get sucked into the beer because I have seen a suction created from the air inside the fermenter cooling down. I would just be aware of this and be prepared to top off.