Helping with clearing

[OlsBean]

I'm still quite new to brewing beer so please be patient with me :laugh2:

I feel I've had some great success so far and to date have had 4 kits reach the drinkable stage, 2 Stouts, a Golden Ale (St Peters) and my most recent a Bitter (Festival Landlords Finest Bitter).

The Golden Ale I had in the PB and it poured kind of hazy, not very clear at all despite tasting fantastic and carbing up well. I followed the a similar route with the Bitter but having learned from my previous experience with the Golden Ale I paid more attention to clearing it, giving it longer in the FV and Cold Crashing it for 4 days before transferring it to the PB. But after a couple of weeks in the PB it is still quite cloudy/hazy (Picture Below) and was wondering where I might be going wrong or am I just expecting too much? I know that some of the cloudiness will be chill haze as it's quite cold at the moment (Beer in the glass is @ 7ºc) but still feel I need work on this aspect of my brewing. Should I use fining's? Most things I have read so far suggest they should not be needed. Could I be getting too much sediment whilst transferring? I have an auto siphon and have noticed that it does sometimes glug, is there a better way of doing it?

Any tips or advice would be most welcome.

 

[Clint]

I'm not an expert.....
Auto syphon. ...try flaring out the seal at the end the internal tube with gentle pressure from your
You seem to be getting on fine really. ...at 7°c you may have some chill haze.
If you are cold crashing try siphoning to a bottling bucket and batch priming before bottling.

 

[Dutto]

All you need to clear a beer is "Time and Gravity".

Different beers and different methods just mean different times to clear so I would just sit back, leave it for another couple of weeks and try again.

Of course, clarity is really only a "cosmetic" thing anyway! There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking a beer or a lager that is cloudy; although novices may discover that they need to get to the toilet a bit quicker than normal.

Enjoy! :thumb:

 

[OlsBean]

Thank you. I'm going to leave it longer in the PB before starting to drink it, it will be good to see if the clarity improves at all. I have a bottom tapped KG, is there a danger when you open the tap that any settled yeast gets stirred up again?

I've not yet bottled any ale types of beer (both Stouts were bottled) but I have 2 FV's going at the moment, one a Lager, the other a Golden Ale (Golden Stag) and I will be bottling both of these, just want to ensure that I clear both of these to the best of my abilities before racking.

 

[Gunge]

Unless you use finings, you might be in for a very long wait for your beer to clear in the FV. It does not not need to be fully clear when going into bottles... once in them it will clear in pretty short order compared to in the FV or keg as the yeast has only a very short distance to fall, and aided by carbonation pressure. Opening keg taps won't disturb sediment but the first draws will have yeast which has settled inside and around the tap, giving the false impression that the bulk is still murky.

 

[OlsBean]

Unless you use finings, you might be in for a very long wait for your beer to clear in the FV. It does not not need to be fully clear when going into bottles... once in them it will clear in pretty short order compared to in the FV or keg as the yeast has only a very short distance to fall, and aided by carbonation pressure. Opening keg taps won't disturb sediment but the first draws will have yeast which has settled inside and around the tap, giving the false impression that the bulk is still murky.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense now.

 

[Dutto]

..................

I've not yet bottled any ale types of beer (both Stouts were bottled) ............

There you go! With a Stout and a nice dark bottle you can't see whether or not it was clear; and it probably wasn't! :thumb:
Perhaps the answer is to buy a drinking vessel like the one in the photograph. If I don't like the look of what I'm drinking I can just close the lid and then, after the first two tankards, the "Who cares?" attitude kicks in! :laugh:
Enjoy your beer. A bit of yeast won't kill you. :thumb:

 

[Clint]

A nice set of lederhosen with that and you'll be looking the biz!

 

[Dutto]

A nice set of lederhosen with that and you'll be looking the biz!

That would be going a bit too far as I already use one of the German steins in the photograph, after SWMBO broke the only 750ml glass I owned!



Oh look! The beer (a Lager) has cleared using just Time and Gravity. :laugh:

 

[Clint]

Early start? I might chance a few myself later on....