I need clarification

[FedoraDave]

Of my beer, that is.

Ordinarily, I don't mind slightly cloudy homebrew; as long as it tastes good. Still, I can't help but feel a little displeasure at the lack of clarity sometimes. Then there's my current concern:

Next weekend I'll be brewing a batch of Pearly Pils, an original AG recipe for a German Pilsner. I'm brewing this in anticipation of a February competition, so I've got plenty of time for the lagering process. And I'd like this to be as clear a beer as I can make it.

Right now, I intend to take it through the fermenting process, rack to a secondary after the D-rest, dry hop three or four days before bottling, then cold crash two or three days before bottling.

I'll be adding Whirlfloc five minutes before flameout. Racking will be done with an auto-siphon, and I'm not worrying about sacrificing a little liquid if it means leaving some solid material behind.

Any other suggestions? I know gelatin and things like isinglass are used, but I'm unfamiliar with the process, so I'm not sure I want to go with them just yet. I may just stick with mechanical methods such as temperature control, racking, and making sure my competition bottles aren't taken from the tail end of the bottling session.

[BlackDuck]

Dave...I've completed one lager and just brewed my second yesterday, so I'm not that experienced with them. Here's what I did. I added 1 whirlfloc tablet with 5 minutes left in the boil. I fermented, then did the D-rest, then back in the fermenting chamber for a week then bottled. I did not do a cold crash at a lower temp and I did not rack to secondary after the D-rest. I left the bottles out at room temp to carbonate for 3 weeks, then put all the bottles into the fridge. I tried one bottle after a week in the fridge and it was slightly cloudy. BUT, after about a month in the fridge, they were pouring extremely clear. I was also very careful when I racked into the bottling bucket so as not to transfer much of the trub from the fermenter. I plan on doing the same thing on the current lager that I've got going. I'll try to remember to pour one tonight and take a picture, maybe that will show it's clarity.

[John Sand]

I used clarity-ferm in two batches and they came out very clear.

[FrozenInTime]

The one time I used gelatin the beer came out very clear. Was easy, will definately do again. Saying that, I've not done a lager to date, someday I will. Good luck with the competition.

[Gymrat]

I always just throw half a whirfloc tab in 5 minutes before the end of my boil and end up with a nice clear product.





The bottom one was one of my white wheat beers.

[BigPapaG]

Just a note that if you have the option of choosing between a couple of yeast strains, often one might be more flocculent than another... Go with the one that has higher flocculation potential can get more of it out of suspension sooner / easier.

Obviously, if you are making a Hefeweizen, you would be using a low floc weizen yeast that will contribute to the beers' cloudy nature.

And many styles require the fruity, spicy or bready characteristics of certain strains to contribute to the flavor profile...

But, I use a high floc Belgian yeast (Ardennes) for my Belgian IPA because I'm looking for the clarity there, just like I might use US-05 for an American IPA.

Just some thoughts...

[Kealia]

Dave,

You know that a good long lager can help immensely, so between that and the Whirfloc, etc. you know you'll have a clear beer.
Don't fear using gelatin. I linked to ablog herethat tells you how to do it - it's easy.

Remember how nervous you were the first time you steeped? Mashed? Cold crashed?
Gelatin is the same way, it's so easy that you'll wonder why you didn't do it before to get the clarity that you want.

This was the Kolsch that I used it on:


As we all know, you don't need gelatin to get a clear beer, but if you're wanting to do everything you can to help it I strongly suggest you try it.

[MadBrewer]

I'll add that when brewing all grain, clear wort into the fermenter seems to give me a clearer finished beer. A good hot break and an even better cold break is important to getting those haze causing protiens out of the wort so they don't show up in your finished beer once it's cold.

So what is it you are experiencing? Is it chill haze or does there seem to be yeast in suspension with your beers. How do you chill? As I just said a good cold break from rapid chilling is probably has the biggest impact, so if you are using an ice bath or topping off with cold water, an immersion chiller will really be a big help. I add half a whirlfloc tab per 5 gal batch with 10 minutes in the boil, chill with my immersion chiller and then usually give a little whirlpool and let things settle another 15 minutes so that I can transfer clear wort to my fermenter. Good hot break with a good boil, whirlfloc before flameout, a good rapid chill, clean wort into the fermenter, healthy fermentation and cold conditioning time after bottling or kegging seems to be common practice for a clear beer.

But if these things still aren't producing the beer you want, sure there's gelatin which I haven't any experience with but I know it has produced great results for others. But you can always look into your process a little deeper. So since you are talking all grain here, looking into your brewing water for a couple things might help out. Getting at least 50ppm calcium in the boil will lead to better hot break and finished beer clarity. Proper mash ph so that the boil will have the proper ph. Another big componet of chill haze is unconverted startches from the mash. A simple iodine test to check for those starches at the end of the mash is something I do all the time. Sometimes 60 minutes is not enough. These are things with all grain brewing that can make a difference from the start. I'm not sure if it's something you are already aware of, just throwing out more ideas to help.

[FedoraDave]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I may be over-thinking this and fretting too much, anyway. I seem to remember that my test batch of this recipe turned out pretty clear after extended lagering.

One other thing occurred to me, and that's the fact that I might vorlauf a larger volume. I usually do one, maybe two quarts, but I may want to do more, to make sure the first runnings are as free of grist as possible.

I do chill with an immersion chiller, coupled with an ice bath once the temp gets down to around 120 or so. I imagine I'll have to replace the ice at least once this time to get it down to pitching temperature, and it'll take as long as it takes, but I'm not living in a perfect world, so it is what it is.

I got a 2 out of 3 from both judges on Appearance with Amber's Amber Lager, and it was because it was a bit cloudy, and that was a dark lager. A German Pils had better be read-a-newpaper-through-it clear.

[FedoraDave]

Ron, I appreciate the link to the blog re: using gelatin, but I have some questions about it.

First, can the gelatin be used in conjunction with Whirlfloc, or should it be used in lieu of it?

Second, I'm a little unsure as to when it should be added. The author mentions chilling down to a very low temperature, and then adding the gelatin solution. Is this prior to pitching or during a cold crash just prior to bottling?

Third, is generic gelatin from the supermarket what he's talking about? In other words, something like Knox unflavored gelatin? I'd feel like a fool paying $2.00 for "finings" at the LHBS if I can just go up the street to Shop-Rite and get a box of the same stuff for 65 cents.

Thanks for your help. That Kolsch sure is purty!

[MadBrewer]

Sounds like some good cold lagering might be all that is needed. If you bottle condition then long lagering and Gelatin might be a concern prior to bottling and the bottles may not carb or not fully carb.

Reminds me I need to do something with my immersion chiller. It was fine for my smaller 3 gal batches, but now brewing 5-6 gal batches it's a long time to get down to pitching temps even for an Ale. Lagers I have to rest the kettle in my freezer for a while prior to transferring to the fermenter. But that's over the warmer months of the year. I'm coming into that time were things are cooling down, then the spigot freezes so it's then bringing the kettle to the kitchen counter to hook up to the sink.

[BlackDuck]

Dave...as promised, here is a pour of my Pilsner. Like I mentioned, I used whirlfloc, no secondary and no cold crash below 50F. But this has been in the bottle since the end of April too. So it has had a long lager time. Not sure if the photo will do it justice, but it really is clear.....and tasty too!!

image.jpg (41 KiB) Viewed 820 times

[MadBrewer]

Thats lookin good BlackDuck. Love the glass too.

[FedoraDave]

I guess for now I'll trust the lagering period, then, along with Whirlfloc and the rest of the processes I'm familiar with.

Lagers are still kind of new to me as a process, and I'm not sure I'm "getting" it just yet. Especially the period after bottling. I've read conflicting methods regarding carbing and conditioning, and I don't want things to go wrong that late in the process. I assume carbing should be done at fermenting temps, and then conditioning should be done at a progressively colder temperature after about two or three weeks in the bottle. Then it's a matter of time until it matures.

[BlackDuck]

I think you've got it correct Dave. I carbed mine for three weeks at room temp, then put everything in the fridge to lager for the rest of thier lives.