Bentbarrel
New Member
Evening, I've currently got a Wilkos golden ale and 500g light dme bubbling away. What's best to get a clear beer? Crash cooling, finings or racking in a bottling bucket/fv before bottling?
Thanks!
Thanks!
More newbie questions
- Thread starter Bentbarrel
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
ManseMasher
Regular.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2014
- Messages
- 463
- Reaction score
- 345
2 weeks in the fv, 2 weeks in bottle/keg after that, then 2 weeks cooler (10 - 12ðc). When you are 15 mins away from end of boil, add whirlfloc, Irish Moss or whatever. I always siphon from fv to bottling bucket - not for clarity but for even distribution of priming sugar. I get lovely clear beer (usually), but if I don't, I'm not that worried. A local (and very successful) brewer writes on their labels something along the lines of 'so what if it's cloudy - it's craft beer - man up'.
Or you could always revert to a pewter tankard.....
Hi!
Time and cold!
I usually leave it 2 weeks in the FV, racking to secondary when the initial fermentation has subsided. Next, about 2 weeks cold conditioning - this is excessive, I know, but most days I wake up with good intentions which quickly disappear. The beer is really clear when it comes to bottling; batch prime, rack into bottling bucket and fill bottles. Two weeks in the warm and then storage in the cold for as long as my patience holds out.
My current brew, a Young's Harvest Mild, has had 3 weeks in the primary FV. I used harvested yeast from a pseudo lager and I think that I underpitched (1.022 after 2 weeks) so I've given it more time. I think the ABV will around 3.5%. Still, it'll go down the clack just the same!
Time and cold!
I usually leave it 2 weeks in the FV, racking to secondary when the initial fermentation has subsided. Next, about 2 weeks cold conditioning - this is excessive, I know, but most days I wake up with good intentions which quickly disappear. The beer is really clear when it comes to bottling; batch prime, rack into bottling bucket and fill bottles. Two weeks in the warm and then storage in the cold for as long as my patience holds out.
My current brew, a Young's Harvest Mild, has had 3 weeks in the primary FV. I used harvested yeast from a pseudo lager and I think that I underpitched (1.022 after 2 weeks) so I've given it more time. I think the ABV will around 3.5%. Still, it'll go down the clack just the same!
First, different yeasts clear and pack down differently.
That said, my rule of thumb is to first leave the brew in the FV for a minimum of eight days or until the primary has substantially finished which may be longer, then rack off to another FV and leave for another five days during which time I usually dry hop. The first three days of the five are in the warm, the last two in my unheated garage (I have no brew fridge). Since I invariably use 2 litre bottles yeast carry over is important to me, but after the above procedure I find the beer is clear (but not crystal clear) enough for me to bottle.
I don't use finings, but if I wanted crystal clear beer I would just leave longer in the second FV after racking and delay any dry hopping.
And of course the longer you leave in the bottle the clearer the beer.
That said, my rule of thumb is to first leave the brew in the FV for a minimum of eight days or until the primary has substantially finished which may be longer, then rack off to another FV and leave for another five days during which time I usually dry hop. The first three days of the five are in the warm, the last two in my unheated garage (I have no brew fridge). Since I invariably use 2 litre bottles yeast carry over is important to me, but after the above procedure I find the beer is clear (but not crystal clear) enough for me to bottle.
I don't use finings, but if I wanted crystal clear beer I would just leave longer in the second FV after racking and delay any dry hopping.
And of course the longer you leave in the bottle the clearer the beer.
