intermittently cloudy barley wine

[MostlyHarmless]

A few weeks ago I bottled up 3 gallons of Youngs Harvest Barley Wine. I mostly used clear bottles, and through them I can see that the beer is perfectly clear.

I had a bottle in the fridge, and when I took it out I noticed that it looked a bit hazy (not condensation on the bottle, as I gave it a good wipe ut the beer still looked slightly cloudy. The bottle was left on the kitchen bench, and I put another (perfectly clear) bottle into the fridge.

Now...the bottle on the bench now looks clear, and the bottle in the fridge appears cloudy. :wha:

I'm wondering if the vibration from the compressor in the fridge is stirring up the very fine yeast particles and distributing them through the beer.

Any ideas what might be going on here?

 

[Moley]

It's called a chill haze, and will clear again if your beer warms by a few degrees.

I believe it's something to do with proteins.

 

[snail59]

Thats what is known as a CHILL HAZE. Let the bottle in the fridge come up to room temperature and it should clear. It is nothing to worry about and will not effect the taste of the Beer.

 

[MostlyHarmless]

Thanks for the speedy replies!

Good to know it's nothing nasty.

 

[Cyclops]

ahh thats why my beer in the garage started to clear on a warm day, lol

Is there any way of reducing this chill haze?

 

[johnnyboy1965]

ahh thats why my beer in the garage started to clear on a warm day, lol

Is there any way of reducing this chill haze?

Im afraid not. Chill haze is probably the major downfall in homebrewing (that and bottle conditioning). But on a good note it is purley cosmetic. You can buy machines that will remove the protiens that cause chill haze, if you can afford one. Irish Moss or Protofloc will help reduce the haze but it wont work 100%.
I recently did a test and found that the haze starts at 7oC, so unless you like super chilled beers (2-3oC) youll just have to bare (beer) with it. I drink all my beers at 10oC, so I dont suffer from chill haze.

P.S. Quite a few American homebrewers have started to add gelatine to their fermenting process, which makes the protiens coagulate and drop out of the beer during fermentation, the only trouble is your left with a jelly like "snot" in the bottom of your FV. Another method is by using egg whites, 10 mins from the end of your boil, this causes some of the protiens to stick to the egg whites and then you skim them off.
So, if you use a combination of all three methods, you will probably/maybe/I dont know, have a crystal clear beer at 3oC.

P.P.S. I recently had a conversation with one of my Czech employees, who is a connoisseur of fine craft beers, and he said that it makes no difference at all that a beer has a chill haze, its part and parcel of the brewing process.

P.P.P.S. (I know Im getting boring now). The BJCP acknoweledge that chill haze is un-avoidable.

HTH. I thank you and Goodnight.

 

[Aleman]

There are enzymes you can buy that eliminate protein chains like Chillklear (that you add to the FV) . . .Alternatively there is something called Polyclar plus 730 which is a powder you add to the FV a couple of days before using isinglass . . .Yes you will end up with a bit of a gungy sediment in the FV, and loose a litre or so to the 'fluffy bottom' but you can end up with perfectly clear beer that is stable over time.

If the idea of adding nasty, nasty evil chemicals to your beer is anathema to you, you can do an extended (>3 months) lagering rest at 0C which will cause the protein chinas to flocculate and fall out of suspension.