Let's clear this one up...

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Does your beer have to be clear?

  • Yes, clarity is perfection and nothing else is acceptable

  • I prefer clear but don't get hung up on it

  • No, i don't mind a haze, it's a natural living product after all


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johnnyh

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Just out of interest really, personally I view my brews as a living natural beverage and so am not hung up on clarity, but I read lots of threads where folk are... So which are you?
 
Within reason, I'd be suspicious of a beer that hadn't cleared down ( unless its a wheat beer etc). But I'm not bothered about using finings, a good healthy yeast should clear nicely on it's own.
 
Currently supping my AG blonde ale which isn't the clearest beer, but tastes good!

I would have like a clear ale but I won't get hung up on it.
 
I'm guessing that those who voted option 1 don't brew stout then......

The beer I'm drinking is beautifully clear, but even if it wasn't I'd be happy. Its the flavour and mouth feel which counts.
 
If a pub served me cloudy beer I would complain.
My own ales are very clear with hardly any sediment in the bottles, however I have yet to get them, (and I can't see it happening) "sparkly clear ".
I've never used any fining's and still have some gelatine unopened from when I started AG.
 
I don't think any of mine have ever turned out cloudy or even hazy. With stout and dark milds, porters, etc, it's difficult to tell, but if you hold it up to a strong light you can kind of see.
 
I like my beers crystal clear. If they are clear when they go in the bottle then they will be clear when they come out. However I drink my beer out of the bottle using a half pint glass topping up and keeping head on the beer, so when I get to the end of the bottle inevitably some yeast slips in and the last slug may be cloudy, but thats fine. :thumb:
 
For my own consumption i don't mind if it's clear or not.

When im giving it to others though i try my upmost to get it as clear as possible as friends family look upon it suspcciousely if it's not like the cleared commercial brews they normally drink!

As said though i don't mind so long as it tastes good, after all thats what i brew for!
 
Particularly now I've gone AG, I'm not that bothered. The beer tastes dangerously good and I've got shedloads to learn.

Getting a mostly clear brew (so no pondwater :lol: ) is perfectly acceptable for me just now. Once I have a lot more brews under my belt I'll, no doubt, be aiming for the crystal clear pint again...
 
First and foremost it's taste for me, if it's clear then it's a bonus, if not it doesnt matter.

Much the same as Calum the more AG's I do the clearer the beer will become (hopefully :lol: )
 
interesting read, esp about the hop haze- was wondering why my hoppy style beers taste better when they look a it cloudy- in hoppy beers cloudy = good, makes u wonder how good some brewdog beers would be if they cut out the filtering- or some of it...
 
I guess it's each to their own in the end. That's the beauty of the hobby. Providing your happy with the taste of the beer it's all good!
 
I have raised this subject before, when an experienced brewer told me he never used finings. I use isinglass with regret because I am a vegetarian, but my love of good beer overcomes my moral values!! I have found fined beer to be fresher and cleaner tasting than unfined beer. But then mine never gets the months of maturing required for unfined beer.
 
Now I use Fullers yeast I have no choice. My beer is always crystal clear straight out of the fermenter, like it or not ;-)
 
The phrasing of option 1 "Yes, clarity is perfection and nothing else is acceptable" perhaps makes us feel like we have top be perfectionists to vote for it, whereas option 2 is a bit more all-catching. I wouldn't go as far as saying a beer was 'UNACCEPTABLE' (!) because it wasn't clear.

But I really don't want to serve unclear beer to my friends and family, so I've still gone for option 1, because option 2 sounds a bit to soft and I do get A BIT 'hung up' on it!
 

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