Haze

[johnmac]

But I wonder how much taste is dragged out of our beer by this obsession for clarity? Is the need for clarity a fairly recent thing? Have we been "led up the garden path" by the people who introduced Double Diamond etc?

Or on the other hand, maybe we should we be drinking clear ale, but instead of putting fish guts in the keg, perhaps we should just be patient? Perhaps if it ain't cleared on its own, it ain't ready?

[Vossy1]

Or on the other hand, maybe we should we be drinking clear ale, but instead of putting fish guts in the keg, perhaps we should just be patient? Perhaps if it ain't cleared on its own, it ain't ready?

Wise words JM

[AT]

Is there an echo

[AT]

Oh very clever and a good way to get you point to stick

[oblivious]

But I wonder how much taste is dragged out of our beer by this obsession for clarity? Is the need for clarity a fairly recent thing? Have we been "led up the garden path" by the people who introduced Double Diamond etc?

Or on the other hand, maybe we should we be drinking clear ale, but instead of putting fish guts in the keg, perhaps we should just be patient? Perhaps if it ain't cleared on its own, it ain't ready?

I kegged most of my last batch and bottled the remainder as usual. I bottled the first 8 pints then added finings to the fermenter and left for a day to clear before kegging, there is a marked difference between the stuff in the bottles and the stuff in the keg, so much so I had to dry hop in the keg because of the flavour that was lost, which fortunately turned out very well.

As it happens though there was no need for finings anyway as the stuff in the bottles is crystal clear the only advantage was I was drinking the stuff from the keg a lot sooner than I would have done had I not used finings.

(I keep telling myself I wont use finings on next time but I can't seem to help myself )

Do you add the priming sugar to the bottles then?

[Wez]

I'm claiming this as a feck test pass, the longer they are left in the beer fridge the clearer they get, this has been kept at 13 degrees for 3 weeks and now (just as it's running out) is clear. I've got my hands on another fridge (for free) so cold conditioning has doubled at the Fledgling Brewery. Roll on winter

[Vossy1]

now (just as it's running out) is clear

A common occurrence for the V1 brewery,,,,,grrrrr

[Wez]

This is a Legless Frog (aka DRB's Bramling Beauty) bottled on 24th June, why do bottles clear better than kegs?

[Wez]

Ta

[Garth]

good looking beer btw Wez, I fancy another pint now.........

[Vossy1]

The yeast doesn't have as far to fall and the extra pressure helps

So does turning down the light in your room to make the beer look brighter than it really is

A great result

[Wez]

The yeast doesn't have as far to fall and the extra pressure helps

So does turning down the light in your room to make the beer look brighter than it really is

A great result

We have the PC in the living room so it's lights out when the TV gets switched on but it's confirmed if you don't want to look at hazy beer....turn off the lights!

[Vossy1]

but it's confirmed if you don't want to look at hazy beer....turn off the lights!

How very true, either that or a stone/pewter stein

[Wez]

good looking beer btw Wez, I fancy another pint now.........

Cheers Garth enjoy your pint!

[wooyay]

It's been a while since anyone posted to this thread so I thought I'd bring it alive again - after all it's only 22 pages long...

I only started grain brewing earlier this year and only have a handful of brews to my name. My process has been gradually getting better and now the summer seems to be over I'll be turning my head to brewing again. One of my goals was to improve the clarity of the beer since they've all suffered from haze, meaning before I packed up for the summer I'd switched from Irish Moss to Whirlfloc tablets and started to pay attention to the mash pH.

My first brew, a Wherry clone, fell way short of the target volume which it was bittered for so was put to the back of the garage to mature 3 months ago. Periodic sampling of it showed it to be hazy (it only had a very small amount - not even 1 tsp - of Irish Moss added towards the end of the boil and no adjustment to the mash pH).

It's now quite drinkable but also crystal clear. As clear as any commercial beer I've drunk. So, forget any special chemicals to adjust the mash pH, or any special copper finings and instead toss in a pinch of Irish Moss and leave to mature for 3 months!

Of course, having said that, since I'm already furnished with CRS and Whirlfloc, I'll continue to use them as it does speed things up quite a bit.