Hophead (VI)

[hambrook]

This Hop Head clone is my favourite brew right now; It's a great session or summer ale BUT when I pop it in a domestic fridge it suffers from chill haze due to high hop content and this, for some, is off putting. The wort also goes from crystal clear to very cloudy when I chill using an immersion chiller in the Braumeister. Did anyone else experience this with this recipe?

I am trying many things to try and eliminate the chill haze (gelatine, Polyclar) but not having any success. I was about to order some new Crisp Clear Malt (http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=508) but thought I'd see what other brewers may have experienced with this recipe?

3.8 kg Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
200.0 g Cara Malt
100.0 g Torrified Wheat
40.0 g Cascade (6.7%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
60.0 g Cascade (6.7%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
80.0 g Cascade (6.7%) - steeped after boil
1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

[orlando]

This Hop Head clone is my favourite brew right now; It's a great session or summer ale BUT when I pop it in a domestic fridge it suffers from chill haze due to high hop content and this, for some, is off putting. The wort also goes from crystal clear to very cloudy when I chill using an immersion chiller in the Braumeister. Did anyone else experience this with this recipe?

I am trying many things to try and eliminate the chill haze (gelatine, Polyclar) but not having any success. I was about to order some new Crisp Clear Malt (http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=508) but thought I'd see what other brewers may have experienced with this recipe?

3.8 kg Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
200.0 g Cara Malt
100.0 g Torrified Wheat
40.0 g Cascade (6.7%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
60.0 g Cascade (6.7%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
80.0 g Cascade (6.7%) - steeped after boil
1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

Haze is something that can be attacked across the whole process, it could be at any of the following points that you may need to address. I am going to assume that you have treated your water and that you have very low alkalinity (circa 20 ppm) to brew with. This will help the pH to fall into the right range and the lower end at say 5.2 is desirable. The next thing to think about is sparging, if you do this with the same low level of alkalinity and stop sparging around 10 you won't extract the tannins from the malt that help to keep haze high. Recirculating the wort until clear may help but the jury is out. Next is achieving a great hot break, this is when the proteins coagulate and begin to drop out of solution. Some people don't boil hard enough and I think this is where a lot of brewers fall down, copper finings are also a great way of helping the coagulation and drop out. Next is chilling a good cold break will once again help in dropping protein out into the trub. If you have used copper finings allowing plenty of time for them to pull down the proteins will again help. If you have a crystal clear run off you are on your way. All this should be sufficient but if you also dry hop this can introduce a bit more haze, whether you do or not a really good antidote to chill haze is to crash cool and hold at as close to zero as you can get for 3-4 days, you should now have a beer that will be clear and resistant to chill haze. Fining is an option at this stage and gelatine or preferably Isinglass such as Murphy's Allkleer A will polish it to brilliance. If all that fails, doubtful, time is your best friend, everything drops bright eventually.

[hambrook]

Thanks for the reply Brooster;

I test my water with a Salifert Kit and each time test the Mash PH which is usually circa 5.5PH. I treat with CRS and DWS each brew based on the CaC03 Salifert test result. I use a Braumeister and I have both sparged with 78 degree water or I now go the 'no sparge' method which means you add all water at mash and I mash out at 78 degrees for the last 10 mins. I use 3g of Irish moss 10 mins from the end for a 25L batch / 6g for a 50L batch.

Hot Break is great on the Braumeister 50L and boils over no trouble at all. I keep the temp set on 102 degrees so it boils for 90 minutes no issue.

Cold Break is I think the issue. I use the Spiedel SS Immersion Chiller and I cool to 25 degrees then transfer straight to FV. I always read that this should be done as swiftly as possible to avoid infection. What I am reading more and more about is folks leaving for an hour or two for the trub to settle out before transferring. I am also considering building an ice bath in an old FV with some copper coil so that when the temp reaches under 30 then flow the tap water through the ice bath before it goes through the immersion chiller. I've also been caught out by the bottom mounted Braumister temp gauge which gives a false indication of the temp at the end of the brew as it is under a blanket of hops. Any thoughts on achieving a good cold break when the outside temp is 25 degrees and tap water late teens in the temp range?

I've brewed this hop head clone 3 times and each time during chilling the wort goes from clear to cloudy. And it stays cloudy through fermentation, bottling only clearing after 3 or 4 weeks in the bottle. Has anyone managed to cool this to clear before transferring to the FV?