Cloudy Yeast Goodness

Joshua Peterson

Joshua Peterson

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.... how do you accomplish such a feat? I've had a couple excellent brews handed to me that once poured into a pint left a cloudy haze of awesomeness that left me wanting more. Most have been sours, but i recently ran into a Utah X Brand IPA that was cloudy as a Seattle Sky! Hows that pulled off?
 
I hate to say this but bright beer - clear - is what's hard to achieve. Cloudiness is quite easy. Chill haze is protein that's soluble when the beer's warm and insoluble when it's cold, there's yeast haze (found in hefeweizens) caused by low flocculant yeast strains, there's starch haze from unconverted starches or introduced intentionally. Dry hopping can cause haze. Fruit or other late additions can cause haze through pectin or other particles. I've had beers completely clear in the fermentor go cloudy in the bottle, likely due to some protein instability, flavorless but not wanted. And then there's haze caused by infection - no bueno. Simply google the haze you want and make sure you do what the causes say, you'll get haze, easy enough.
 
Yeah...Cloudy is easy...just rush the beer to the glass before it has time to properly clear.
I think it's being marketed more now as a desirable thing. The general public knows next to nothing about what beers are supposed to be so it's easy for a Brew Pub to keg up beers early (less time, less money) and tell folks that the lack of clarity is a feature rather than a flaw. Truth is, once an ale has reached a certain point in its fermentation cycle, it's ready to drink whether it clear or not and IPAs in particular benefit from a certain freshness. Yeast-related cloudiness really doesn't detract from the flavor too much if the yeast is flavorful or clean-tasting and chill haze/protein haze has zero effect on flavor, as far as I know.
Regarding traditionally cloudy beers, if you want to brew a good, quick beer with lots of yeast flavor, do up a Hefeweizen or Belgian Ale. Ferment a couple of weeks, prime and bottle and let it carb. You'll have plenty of cloudy goodness. But be aware that temperature range has a huge effect on the actual flavor that the yeast yeast contributes to the profile - from subtle fruitiness to spice, banana and bubble gum.
 
One of the most popular beers in my state is often rolled along the bar to get the yeast into suspension , they only sell bottle /keg conditioned ales
Before tapping a fresh keg they're instructed to shake it up a bit .
You can get most homebrew cloudy by pouring 2/3 rds of the bottle then swirling the rest to bring yeast up .
 
Mark D Pirate said:
One of the most popular beers in my state is often rolled along the bar to get the yeast into suspension , they only sell bottle /keg conditioned ales
Before tapping a fresh keg they're instructed to shake it up a bit .
You can get most homebrew cloudy by pouring 2/3 rds of the bottle then swirling the rest to bring yeast up .
Click to expand...
I've never quite comprehended why Mark seeing as us home brewers are doing all we can to get the yeast and cloudiness outta our brews. It goes against my conventional home brewing knowledge.

Tell me Mark would you roll me one of your bottle conditioned home brews :p nope you'd chill then decant that sucker into a tilted glass watching for that yeasty line of dregs making sure they don't end up in the glass.

Yeast flavour hmmm must be why?
 
I just poured a Hefe for a guest yesterday evening. Those beers have been sitting a good long time and this one was in the fridge for weeks. With even a relatively casual pour, it's absolutely water clear. In order to get it to get the yeast into it I have to pour most of it and then swirl the bottle and pour the yeast in. That particular beer benefits from the yeast flavor. Others just don't really benefit.

If you really like the flavor of a particular yeast (for instance US-05 is okay, S-04 not bad but a little bitter, S-33 has a pleasant fruity note) swirl away. I wouldn't try it with a bottle-conditioned lager...that yeast tends to be bitter and a little unpleasant.

I'm happy with very clear beers except styles that traditionally incorporate the yeast as part of the flavor.
 
Be careful, now...:rolleyes:
 
Mark D Pirate said:
One of the most popular beers in my state is often rolled along the bar to get the yeast into suspension , they only sell bottle /keg conditioned ales
Before tapping a fresh keg they're instructed to shake it up a bit .
You can get most homebrew cloudy by pouring 2/3 rds of the bottle then swirling the rest to bring yeast up .
Click to expand...

As are just about every Weizen drunk in Germany - it even has a name, rousing.
 
Point of clarification: Weizens depend on yeast flavor. Yeast is not the most common form of haze, it's chill haze, proteins that are soluble in warmer beer but precipitate out when the beer is chilled. Chill haze is flavorless, a purely aesthetic flaw, if a flaw at all.
 
I've heard breweries are now doing a new England ipa, where the haze and fruitier hop choices are part of the "style"
 
J A said:
Regarding traditionally cloudy beers, if you want to brew a good, quick beer with lots of yeast flavor, do up a Hefeweizen or Belgian Ale. Ferment a couple of weeks, prime and bottle and let it carb. You'll have plenty of cloudy goodness. But be aware that temperature range has a huge effect on the actual flavor that the yeast yeast contributes to the profile - from subtle fruitiness to spice, banana and bubble gum.
Click to expand...

Thank you buddy!
 
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Cloudy beer is one thing a juicy NEIPA is a little different. Ive been working on one that has been tweaked a few times and I'm now satisfied with. I use a good dose of flaked oats and a ton of citra hops.A good amount of whirlpool hops and dry hops.
 
What about your flour I hear some brewers are using this for that style :eek:
 
Trialben said:
What about your flour I hear some brewers are using this for that style :eek:
Click to expand...
Flour or cornstarch would add cloudiness but it would be purely optical. No flavor addition so what's the point? Might as well just bottle condition and rouse the yeast.
 
I don't mean this in a negative way, but I find this subject kinda funny considering that until recently cloudiness was not desirable in most styles. Who started the cloudy trend, Hillshire Farms or whatever the name of that brewery is?

(I know...Hillshire Farms makes sausages and whatnot.):p
 
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