Hazy brew

Discussion on brewing beer from malt extract, hops, and yeast.
Post Reply
Pegasus
Steady Drinker
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 5:24 pm
Location: Garden of Eden, Kent

Hazy brew

Post by Pegasus » Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:34 pm

Hi,
I've just started brewing and bottled the 1st brew today. However, I noticed a significant haze in the brew and not sure if this is normal at this point or if I've done or omitted something I shouldn't have. Briefly, this was the recipe/process:

Heated 8 litres water (Ashbecks bottled) to 50-60C then added Pale LME : 1000g, turn off heat and stir in;
raised temp to 60-70C and added grains in bag (Crystal: 150g; Black: 10g) for 30 mins then removed;
raised temp to rolling boil and added hops (Challenger, Golding, Fuggles) - EBU 31;
kept rolling boil for 90 mins then added a few more Golding and Protofloc - maintained boil for another 15 mins.
Turned off heat allowed to cool to ~80C (about 60mins later) then transferred, through a sieve, into fermenting vessel (OG 1.036).

The 'hot break' had settled and was discarded although the liquid was still very turbid.

Allowed the brew to cool overnight (to 23C) before pitching the yeast starter: 4g Nottingham (Muntons dried) with 50g DME in 450ml tap water (Thames Water) started 2 days earlier. Pitched on 19 Dec, vigorous bubbling a day later and continued until 28th, bottled 2 Jan. Temperature throughout was fairly steady at 19-21C. The SG is now 1.006 (so 4% ABV - just nice)

The yeast sediment was very compact - almost jelly like.

So I now have a very hazy brew. I've put bulk into a gallon demijohn and remainder into capped primed bottles, and put somewhere dark for the rest of the month.

Is the haze normal at this stage? Did I do something wrong or have I missed something out? If the haze remains will it affect taste or my insides :wink: ? Anything else I could do?

Cheers

Paul

Charles1968

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Charles1968 » Sat Jan 03, 2015 9:45 am

It's quite normal. Once the beer is bottled it will start to clear. Unbottled beer takes longer to clear as tiny CO2 bubbles are still rising in it. The bubbles lift sediment particles causing haze and, when fermentation is vigorous, krausen. When bubbles stop rising (due either to end of fermentation or pressure), large sediment particles drop first, then smaller haze particles fall more slowly. The beer will be completely clear in time. You might still have some chill haze though - a kind of haze that appears only when beer is very cold.

Pegasus
Steady Drinker
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 5:24 pm
Location: Garden of Eden, Kent

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Pegasus » Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:58 pm

Thanks for that Charles - that's a relief. Noticed clarity is already slowly improving.

Harmergeddon

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Harmergeddon » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:59 am

Charles1968 wrote: You might still have some chill haze though - a kind of haze that appears only when beer is very cold.
Is your dark place where your storing the beer cold? If not then it's probably just sediment that will settle out as already mentioned.

Pegasus
Steady Drinker
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 5:24 pm
Location: Garden of Eden, Kent

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Pegasus » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:30 pm

[quote="Harmergeddon"][quote="Charles1968"] You might still have some chill haze though - a kind of haze that appears only when beer is very cold.[/quote]

Is your dark place where your storing the beer cold? If not then it's probably just sediment that will settle out as already mentioned.[/quote]

It's cool but not cold (~15C)

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5229
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Fil » Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:24 pm

if hazy sup from an opaque tankard ;)
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

Harmergeddon

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Harmergeddon » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:09 pm

Pegasus wrote:
It's cool but not cold (~15C)
Unlikely to be chill haze then.

Pegasus
Steady Drinker
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 5:24 pm
Location: Garden of Eden, Kent

Re: Hazy brew

Post by Pegasus » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:13 pm

Checked it today, the brew in the 1 clear bottle now shows no haze. :)
A 2nd batch made to same spec but with London tap water treated with metabisulphite, CRS and DLS was bottled yesterday - perfectly clear. :D
Now anticipating the tasting comparison in about 4 weeks time.
Thanks for the replies

Post Reply