SODDING CHILL HAZE

[baldyjason]

ok what causes this and how do i sort it for my future brews

i had a corny full with "old bushy tail" which when sampled it tasted great and was crystal clear ...

its now been in the fridge at 7 deg for 24 hours and its gone all hazey

[baldyjason]

ta very much

but i think ill have finished the keg way Way WAY before then
as ive got my woodchipery pale ale ready soon

[Eadweard]

It's actually protein-polyphenol complexes, the same stuff that trub (hot break) is made of. Don't over sparge (excess polyphenols) and have a good rolling boil to encourage trub formation. If you can then chill rapidly to get more particles coming out in suspension (cold break).

I'd be wary of warming and cooling beers with chill haze though, as this can make it into a permenant haze.

[mr bond]

I get chill haze with some base malts, MO in particular.
I don't mind it personally, it adds a rustic touch if anything.
Living in Adelaide S.Aust, cloudy ales(yeast) from Coopers is standard any way.I find that as my cloudy ales warm up a little to English serving temps the haze goes ,and the malty complexities come out as well.

[Eadweard]

Yes, a chill haze should go on warming but repeated warming and cooling can turn a chill haze into a permenant haze.

[toplad]

i tend to fin d that after a week or two in the fridge it clears. however normally only a pint left

[Whorst]

I find that chill haze is largely related to break material ending up in the fermenter. Keep the trub out of your fermenter and you'll have very bright beer. English malts usually have low protein levels, so my guess is you're getting a lot of break material into your fermenter. The bitter I brewed recently for competition is in the fridge at 37F. or 2.8C. The beer is bright. Work on getting clear wort into your fermenter and leaving break material in your boiler.

[mysterio]

I find that chill haze is largely related to break material ending up in the fermenter.

This is exactly my finding to, keep the trub out the FV and you'll get less chill haze, although there will still be a tiny amount. Using Whirlfloc etc helps a great deal. After that, cold conditioning can get you sparkling beer.

[Wez]

Crash cool after fermentation and use aux finings works every time for me.

[hoppingMad]

Baldy, I had the same issue a while back and considered finings and filtration. However I've become completely satisfied with how clear my beer has become since doing all the above, and without finings or filtration.
I usually rack to a secondary for this reason: to chill or lager at 2 degrees C for at least three weeks. Much of the protein haze drops out during this time provided the following criterea are already met ( they have all been mentioned above) good hot break and cold break due to rapid cooling after the boil, rapid boil etc. These are of course all fairly easy to achieve.
The clarity of my own bottled beer after all this is probably about 60-80% as good as commercial filtered beer, and I find its good enough for me even with my pale lagers.