Second AG brew - cloudy beer

[ScrumpyRam]

Bouyed by the success of my first brew, Robs Export Porter, i went for Robs English ESB. Brew day was 17/11 and I fermented in ferm fridge at 20c. Cold crashed for 24 hours and transferred to corny/bottles today. really struggled to get down to the target FG of 1012 and settled for 1018 so the final ABV is 4.5% rather than the stated 5.6. I suspect that could have been in part due to the fact that i ended up with 25L in the ferm bin (too much sparge water!).
Anyhow, the beer in the ferm bin was very cloudy despite cold crashing but I carried on transferring regardless. It doesn't taste too bad, maybe a tad sweet for a bitter.
I'm hoping the beer in the bottles will clear in time. Can I add finings to the corny and if so, any recommendations as to what to use or should i simply leave alone. I don't have a problem drinking hazy AIPA's or cider but i would prefer a clearer bitter!
Love to hear anyone's thoughts.

 

[jof]

You might not have left it long enough to ferment. Especially with this cold weather.
You must have tasted it to declare it was still sweet (this will come with practice)

Time is your friend in clearing it.
Does your corny have a pressure release valve in case it continues fermenting?
My worry would be the bottles.
If you used plastic bottles, you can check pressurisation by squeezing the bottle.
If they glass or plastic. Beer put into glass bottles before fermentation finished can result in bottle bombs. Smashed glass, a big mess & unhappy spouse.
Store bottles in a lower risk location.
Like in a plastic box in the garage, with an old towel over the top to catch potential flying glass.
Use safety specs & check carbonation level by cracking open bottle just enough to see if there is too much fizz.

 

[foxy]

Bouyed by the success of my first brew, Robs Export Porter, i went for Robs English ESB. Brew day was 17/11 and I fermented in ferm fridge at 20c. Cold crashed for 24 hours and transferred to corny/bottles today. really struggled to get down to the target FG of 1012 and settled for 1018 so the final ABV is 4.5% rather than the stated 5.6. I suspect that could have been in part due to the fact that i ended up with 25L in the ferm bin (too much sparge water!).
Anyhow, the beer in the ferm bin was very cloudy despite cold crashing but I carried on transferring regardless. It doesn't taste too bad, maybe a tad sweet for a bitter.
I'm hoping the beer in the bottles will clear in time. Can I add finings to the corny and if so, any recommendations as to what to use or should i simply leave alone. I don't have a problem drinking hazy AIPA's or cider but i would prefer a clearer bitter!
Love to hear anyone's thoughts.

There are several things that lead to a cloudy beer, mash pH, temperature of sparge water, a weak boil not driving off what you don't want in your beer, any trub carried over from kettle to fermenter, cold crashing for 24 hours will only work if you venture into the below -0 C for 24 hours.
So what did you do?

 

[MashBag]

 

[ScrumpyRam]

You might not have left it long enough to ferment. Especially with this cold weather.
You must have tasted it to declare it was still sweet (this will come with practice)

Time is your friend in clearing it.
Does your corny have a pressure release valve in case it continues fermenting?
My worry would be the bottles.
If you used plastic bottles, you can check pressurisation by squeezing the bottle.
If they glass or plastic. Beer put into glass bottles before fermentation finished can result in bottle bombs. Smashed glass, a big mess & unhappy spouse.
Store bottles in a lower risk location.
Like in a plastic box in the garage, with an old towel over the top to catch potential flying glass.
Use safety specs & check carbonation level by cracking open bottle just enough to see if there is too much fizz.

Thanks jof. I don't think it's the weather. The ferm bin was in the fridge at a constant 20c and been there for 17 days and the SG reading 1018 had been static for 3 days. This was still a bit higher than i would have liked and i didn't really want to leave in there any longer. However, the day before i cold crashed, i did raise the r=temperature to 21.5c (I read somewhere, on this forum, that this could give the yeast a bit of a kick). This could why it was so cloudy. The cold crashing made no difference to the cloudiness but sounds like i didn't crash for long enough or at a low enough temperature. All part of the learning experience.
Fortunately the corny has a release valve but fair point on the bottles. I will treat with them with care.

 

[ScrumpyRam]

There are several things that lead to a cloudy beer, mash pH, temperature of sparge water, a weak boil not driving off what you don't want in your beer, any trub carried over from kettle to fermenter, cold crashing for 24 hours will only work if you venture into the below -0 C for 24 hours.
So what did you do?

Thanks foxy. I didn't realise mash pH could affect beer (I always check the reading with cider and i know what to do if any corrections are needed). I always treat the sparge water with 1/2 a campden tablet and leave for an hour or so to neutralise the chlorine - is there anything i can do in future to check/alter mash pH?
I made a few notes on brew day and now, reading through them and your comments, it's maybe no surprise the beer is cloudy!! The sparge process seemed to go ok but it took 20 mins to get up to boiling point - the temperature did seem to fluctuate between 95 and 105c (I think i need to calibrate the temp controller on the brewzilla).
At the end of the boil I set the chiller running and as time was against me i only managed to get the temperature down to 40c so i put the ferm bin in the fridge and left it for 7 hours by which time it was down to 22c. Then added the yeast and set the temp to 20c.
I take your point about cold crashing - tbh all i did was teun off the fridge and leave the door open so it cooled down to about 5 or 6c. a pointless excersise by the sound of it!!
Fingers crossed it won't taste too bad. Every days a school day.

 

[foxy]

Yes pH is important for several reasons and also the sparge water needs to have been treated too but you can get away with just adding acid to drop the pH for the sparge. Sparging should be slow and steady for at least one hour to avoid tannins getting into the wort.
Get the beer as clear as possible into the fermenter, the clearer the better, it doesn't mean the cold break gets left out, that is beneficial to the yeast.
Leave the trub behind in the kettle, we go to all the trouble of getting a good rolling boil to remove DMS, sterilise the wort, and precipitation of unwanted proteins leave all that behind in the kettle.
https://www.themodernbrewhouse.com/trub-seperation-why-and-how/
Well in my climate in the summer I have to finish cooling my wort down to the pitching temperature in the fridge. So a few hours without pitching yeast won't hurt as long as the necessary precautions are taken.

 

[ScrumpyRam]

Thanks for your comments foxy which I will take on board for the next brewday.

 

[ScrumpyRam]

Just by way of an update, it might not be pretty to look at for a bitter but it hasn't really affected the taste. Happy with this.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Just by way of an update, it might not be pretty to look at for a bitter but it hasn't really affected the taste. Happy with this.

Nice one.
If you're happy with it, nothing else matters! Most people don't order a pint because "it looks nice" or "it maintains a good head". Most people order a pint because "it tastes good". Nothing wrong with that .

 

[Caramel Ox]

Worth trying to work out what the problem was. What temperature is the corny held at? Does a poured glass clear overnight in the fridge?

Bear in mind the keg draws from the bottom, so if it does clear up the first glass will still have more sediment.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Just re read your opening info.
Did you use any kettle finings?
When you cold crashed how long?
Transfer did you use the tap to run off or siphon off the surface. Could be you transferred to much sediment.

 

[ScrumpyRam]

Worth trying to work out what the problem was. What temperature is the corny held at? Does a poured glass clear overnight in the fridge?

Bear in mind the keg draws from the bottom, so if it does clear up the first glass will still have more sediment.

Hi, thanks for coming back to me on this one. The corny is in a fridge at around 4c and the pressure set at around 5psi. I haven't tried leaving a glass overnight to check the results, I will see what happens. However, i did bottle some of the beer and it's just as hazy as out of the keg.
I'm half way through the keg now and it's just a s hazy now as when i poured the first pint.

 

[ScrumpyRam]

Just re read your opening info.
Did you use any kettle finings?
When you cold crashed how long?
Transfer did you use the tap to run off or siphon off the surface. Could be you transferred to much sediment.

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. No finings were used - one to bear in mind for future. I cold crashed in the loose sense of the phrase overnight.
I don't have a tap on the ferm bin and syphon off from just above the trub. I do find it frustating this way as i always seem to drag up bubbles for some reason.I'm going to add atap and would like attempt a closed transfer with my next brew - I've not had the nerve to do this before.
I know i need to pay more attention to the mash and boil temperatures in so far as getting them to up to boil temperature quickly and to hold steady for the required period. I think this is where the problems lie.
Cheers.