Hazy IPA.. not especially hazy

[ssashton]

So I've brewed a few 'hazy IPAs', most have wheat and oats in the grain bill.

Still, after a cold crash in the FV and then a couple weeks in the bottle or keg they are looking pretty clear.

One I did a while back was 'Conflux' which was kinda hazy in the keg on week 3 after transfer when I started pouring it. However I also had some in bottles and they stayed in the fridge until week 6 after transfer and were looking almost like lager by then with quite a weak flavour.

I just brewed 'Cashmere DDH' but I used a west coast ale yeast instead of Kveik. It had me add half the dry hops on day 2 of fermentation to get 'bioconversion' which I gather adds haziness. It is now one week after transfer and looks pretty clear. I have done this one with Kveik and it looked a bit more hazy but not greatly.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I not cold crash a hazy? Should I mix in the trub / yeast at the bottom of the bottle? Maybe 200g of dry hops in 20L is not enough for a proper hazy?

It still tastes pretty good, by the way :)

 

[Brew_DD2]

As you said at the end of your post. More hops! Also, how are you dry-hopping? Pellets going straight in the fermenter, or are they bagged?

 

[ssashton]

Pellets in the fermenter.

I thought 200g was a lot for 20L... but then again 40g went in the boil.

How much dry hop do you expect to need for a nice hazy similar to Hazy Jane or Verdant / Deya / Floc if you know those breweries?

I know trub in the FV is said to absorb hop oils. Can it also reduce haziness by the same means? I had a lot of trub in the FV this time as I didn't wait to filter out all the particles from the boil.

 

[Brew_DD2]

A lot of these breweries are doing north of 20g/L dry hopping.

 

[foxy]

So I've brewed a few 'hazy IPAs', most have wheat and oats in the grain bill.

Still, after a cold crash in the FV and then a couple weeks in the bottle or keg they are looking pretty clear.

One I did a while back was 'Conflux' which was kinda hazy in the keg on week 3 after transfer when I started pouring it. However I also had some in bottles and they stayed in the fridge until week 6 after transfer and were looking almost like lager by then with quite a weak flavour.

I just brewed 'Cashmere DDH' but I used a west coast ale yeast instead of Kveik. It had me add half the dry hops on day 2 of fermentation to get 'bioconversion' which I gather adds haziness. It is now one week after transfer and looks pretty clear. I have done this one with Kveik and it looked a bit more hazy but not greatly.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I not cold crash a hazy? Should I mix in the trub / yeast at the bottom of the bottle? Maybe 200g of dry hops in 20L is not enough for a proper hazy?

It still tastes pretty good, by the way :)

View attachment 93031

It doesn't necessarily have to be the hops, though they are part of it. If we want a clear beer we cold crash to drop out proteins, polyphenols, and yeast, these are what you want if you prefer a hazy beer. So don't cold crash. Try adding adjuncts like flaked wheat, that seems to create some haze.

 

[roboto]

I make a lot of hazy beers which tend to stay hazy over a few months. I usually only have a token addition of hops in the boil (10g in 20L) but usually ~200-300g of hops as a dry hop. Approx 10% of the grain bill as wheat or oats (current preference is wheat malt). Typically 1 hour mash and 30 min boil. Then I run the boil into a plastic fermenter to no chill overnight and can usually pitch by midday the next day. Verdant IPA yeast seems to work well for that style of beer. Then syphon into a keg to carbonate for a week or two. Dry hop happens in the keg (as 100g portions of hop pellets in those little reusable veg bags you get in Sainsbury's so I can fish them out easily at the end).

Not sure if I have any actual advice but that process seems to work for me. As someone said above, avoid the cold crash maybe? But if you're kegging/bottling and chilling then it would crash then anyway.

Probably a silly question but you're not adding protofloc or Irish moss or anything like that?

 

[ssashton]

Thanks, I think I will start dry hopping in the keg. I had avoided it because I don't want to open the keg after purging it, but I can of course open it while keeping the CO2 going and vent a couple times.

Did you get the Verdant yeast from one of their cans?

 

[roboto]

When I dry hop I just bung the bagged hops in the keg when I'm transferring the beer, and they stay there till the keg is empty. I've tried adding the dry hop in primary to take advantage of the biotransformation, but to my palate I can't tell any difference

The Verdant IPA you can buy dry from Lallemande as part of the Lalbrew range.

 

[AJA]

I don't think protofloc will impact the haze. It merely precipitates proteins on the hot side. I'd carry on with best practice and still use it in a Neipa.
According to Janish, important factors in haze formation are:

• Early dry hopping - the "biotransformation" dry hop if you will. Of course this creates it's own challenges so you may want to potentially avoid.
• pH between 3.7 - 4.2, can't see this being an issue as this is a huge range.
• ABV higher leads to hazier beer.
• Stick to malted grains if possible, avoid unmalted oats for example.
• Try using lower alpha acid hops for dry hopping.
• Of course the volume of dry hop as suggested is the main factor though, despite the above.

I wouldn't worry about it too much though, at the end of the day, it doesn't really impact flavour a great deal, and many still see haze as a gimmick!

 

[Brew_DD2]

I cold crash all of my beers and manage to retain a stable heavy murk on my NEIPAS. THE haze should not come from yeast in suspension, indeed some of the best yeasts for NEIPAs are highly flocculant. I'll second keg hopping. I find it works great for me.

 

[foxy]

A quick Google from the experts.
https://byo.com/mr-wizard/digging-into-the-hazy-ipa/