Ive never given clarity too much thought through out the 5 years I’ve been brewing. My beers don’t look like pond water and I like what I brew but they are never get that “see though” clarity like the pictures I see in post a pic of your pint thread. I didn’t want to stab a question in an awesome thread so I’ll ask here. If you are getting that brilliant clarity what are you doing? I do nothing currently, other than Irish moss.
Waiting will do it usually, and I think enough calcium so the yeast floc out well. Gelatin works great for making it crystal clear in a big hurry. I have used biofine clear before too, ok but not as good as gelatin.
I have a porter which is crystal clear, no special finings, just 4 weeks in the keg and wyeast 1968 yeast.
cold crashing helps a lot.
I was using gelatin at kegging from ale temps with average results but cold crashing to the mid 30s for a few days before adding gelatin seems to have made a big difference.
I use whirlfloc with 10 minutes left in the boil as well.
Yeast selection obviously has a lot to do with it too.
Yup, it gets those chill haze proteins to come out of solution so that the gelatin can grab them and settle out.
I’m on the side of yeast selection. If I’m looking for clarity, I start with a medium to highly flocculent yeast.
In the end I don’t worry about it unless a particular style calls for it.
Agreed.
If you are brewing all grain you will have to pay attention to your pH if you want clear beers. pH will give you a better cold break which will help with a beer’s clearning. Also cooling rapidly can drastically help in the clarity. Irish moss or Whirlflock will help in clearning. Certain yeast are simply stubborn to clear, Chico (US-05/WY1056/WLP001) is one in particular. Gelatin or other fining agents will help dramatically. Biofine Clear is an excellent fining agent. But as mentioned, cold and time will clear all beers eventually.
Absolutely, without the oxidation added from the fining agents to boot!
I don’t have a dedicated fridge for any kind of temp control. Right now I just use a swamp cooler setup.
If I want to cold crash before I bottle, im guessing im just going to be adding a ton of ice to my swamp cooler. How long would one cold crash for? Just untill I see it clear?
EDIT- And will this have any effect on carbonation in the bottle? Will I have to wait longer/ use more sugar? I would obviously up the temp once its bottled in order to get whatever yeast is in there to rouse.
I agree with most everything already stated, but would like to add one thing I learned from doing BIAB. Sufficient Calcium goes a long way. About 75 or 80 ppm makes a big difference. That change alone moved my BIAB brews from very murky to almost crystal clear. I even notice a big difference in my batch sparged beers. I no longer need any post-boil finings or cold crashing.
Clarity can help make a beer prettier, but its only worth 1 point in a competition. I’ve only clarified beers with PVPP or gelatin twice and I didn’t find the effort and result worth it. Cold conditioning is enough for me.
Does chill haze drop with time? I assume so. But I guess I don’t know for sure since I’m asking.
Yes, if you get the beer really cold, -1C, it helps. PVPP also helps when cold.
This is something I haven’t heard before. Are there particular fining agents that are known oxidizers?
IME it does but it takes a very long time (several weeks).
It’s not the clarifiers that are oxidizers, its the methods how they are added that is.
that’s because its not an accurate statement. Splashing and disturbing your beer causes oxidation. There doesn’t seem to be any oxidative effects of adding clarifiers.
It’s like you seek out Bryan’s posts just to contradict them, but I get it - that’s you, lame as it may be.
Probably the most widely used clarifier in homebrewed beer is gelatin. The problem is that it has to be rehydrated and dissolved before use, and since we’re not making Jell-O then we need to stay at a reasonable temp (150-160°F). Oxygen is prevalent in water, and capable of ingress at those temperatures. Therefore, when you hydrate and dissolve the gelatin, and subsequently add it to your beer, you are also adding some ppms of oxygen to your beer, thus the oxidative effects of some clarifiers. So, from this perspective, it is an accurate statement.
A possible solution would be to use deaerated water and ensure no oxygen ingress during hydration (in a vacuum? rhet.), followed by a closed dosing method. Granted, that’s not how most homebrewers use it.
There is nothing lame about contradicting someone’s statement as long as it’s done respectfully. What’s lame is people being de facto censored because they called out for posting their opinion. And that goes for both sides.
What exactly was “de facto censored”? All information about oxidative staling processes are available in brewing literature and publications, many of which are free and even provided by other brewers. Granted, simply reading brewing literature will not help clarify beer - you’ll have to make some brewing process changes for that to happen, or use clarifiers 