I just kegged my first beer. It is a wheat beer. The first day a force carbonated at 30psi. Then I was told to roll the keg, so after the first day I rolled with the pressure on, then I continued to run it at 30psi for a second day. On the third day, turned it down to 10psi. The frig is at 40degree. The first couple of beers look like a yeast slurry after running all night in a stir plate. Tastes great, with good carbonation. What can I do the clear this beer up. I have ran 4 12oz beers out already with no change at all.
I much prefer my wheat beers cloudy. They have much better flavor when cloudy IMO. It’s the nature of the style. What malt contains alot of protein that goes into solution as by-products from the mash to produce the cloudiness. I recommend letting it remain cloudy.
There are some filtered exampes (Kristallweissbier or kristallweizen) but they are far and few between. If you want it clear you can either filer it, add finings or just plain aging will eventually clear it up. It’s a personal choice.
I agree with Bluesman that wheat beer should be cloudy.
However, just let it sit in the fridge for a bit and it will be crystal clear before you kill the keg. Time and cold have cleared every beer I’ve made in the last few years.
I’m with you guys that it should be cloudy. I have a Belgian Wit on draft too and its perfect. This one I have having trouble with is a German style wheat. The Wit has a nice color and is cloudy as it should, but the other looks more like Milk that beer.
I’ll echo the sentiment to let it sit and clear. Also as you run some pints off of it you’ll start getting less and less sediment blowing through into the glass (provided you don’t move it around). I just tapped an ESB I kegged about a week ago and it’s yeasty with particles floating around. But I know that in another week and after another several pints it’ll be nice and clear.
Could it be chill haze? Does it clear up if you let the pint sit and warm up?
Actually I think it’s just yeast sediment that will be reduced as you drink another pint or two. My beers do that if I transfer right from the primary to the keg, especially when they were brewed fairly recently.
Keeping a wheat beer cloudy when it’s in a cold keg is tricky. There’s a product called Tanal A http://www.wyeastlab.com/com_b_productdetail.cfm?ProductID=12 that some pros use to keep them hazy, but I’ve never tried it.
Which is better to clear a keg (slight hijacking here), pouring a pint a day, or pouring till its clear in one shot?
That’s an easy one. A pint a day. You have to figure that the entire keg will have some haze, but the longer you keep it cold the more the haze will dissipate. If you add finings, it won’t take many pints before it clears up.