Keeping Haziness in NE IPA

Brewing Processes
1

Hi,

I have successfully brewed a few consistent batches of NE hazy IPA. Juicy, cloudy, etc. But there is a problem. Once bottle conditioned, I cannot keep the haziness last more than a day. All cloud turns into sediment and falls rock bottom of bottles and I must shake them to get the haze. All commercial hazy NE IPAs stay constantly as hazy like orange juice. How could I get this?

Thanks!

2

What’s your recipe? What are you doing with water?

3

I’ve had a commercial version do the same .
Hazy at the brewery but the 4 pal I bring home was clear when I drank it a few days later I have yet to make this style but thought you’d feel better knowing it happens to the pros

4

@Stevie : my recipe is mostly

  • 60% of premium 2-rows (or Maris Otter),
  • 15% of Wheat,
  • 10% of Oat
  • 5% of some coloring grains (like 10L Carafoam)
  • 10% of Lactose Sugar
    PLUS tons of hops and mid-/low- flocculation yeast strains, with very slight variations.
    The water report for my town says :
  • Alkalinity (as CaCO3) ppm N/A 8 - 94 37
  • Bromide ppb N/A ND - 27 5
  • Calcium (as Ca) ppm N/A 3 - 20 11
  • Chlorate(10) ppb 800 (NL) 34 - 740 314
  • Hardness (as CaCO3) ppm N/A 7 - 77 46
  • Magnesium ppm N/A <0.2 - 6.4 3.9
  • pH - N/A 6.9 - 10.2 9.3
  • Potassium ppm N/A 0.2 - 1 0.6
  • Silica ppm N/A 2 - 5 4
  • Sodium ppm N/A 2.4 - 16 10
    Taste-wise, YES, that’s what I want. Any thoughts? Thanks!

@Nathan : ah… I see. Interesting to know that. Still wonder how that’s possible. Thanks!

5

Are you adding hops during fermentation to get the biotransfermation?

6

Recipe seems on target but you might think about building your own water keeping the calcium lowish, sulfate low, and chloride high. Also hops at day 3 seem to be a big factor.

7

@Beerery : Yes, basically I only do flameouts (20m or so) + day 0 (1st dry hopping on brew day when wort is racked into fermenter) and 5th day (2nd dry hopping). Does this make huge difference? Thanks!

@Stevie : Hopping at D3 means “No dry hopping until 3rd day and do 1st dry hopping then?” Thanks!

8

Yeah. Not sure how that compares to day zero,  but dry hopping at a very healthy fermentation pace is one big key. Supposedly some hops are better at this as well. Citra being the most often reported. The thing is a lot of this is still new voodoo that’s hasn’t been fully researched.

9

Lol.  I had the same “problem” with my NEIPA.  I just considered myself lucky.

10

The recipe I’ve had success with is 82% 2 row and 18% flaked oats without whirfloc

Dry hop at high krausen with a Conan yeast strain

It stays super hazy until keg is kicked

11

Water is a likely contributor to your problem. Hops may also be an issue. You say you use lots of hops, but which hops? A lot of that haze is hop oil haze. It benefits from the extremely oily hops like citra, mosaic, galaxy.

12

Here is some research into NE IPA haze

http://scottjanish.com/researching-new-england-ipa-neipa-haze/

13

Two ways I know of to keep the haze and character.

  1. Tanal A. I have not used this but it is known that some of the well known NEIPA breweries are.

  2. Set a chill haze either before you dry hop or soon after. This means keeping the beer at a temperature lower than you might typically serve it (32-34F) but if you do it there will remain a strong haze and the NEIPA hop presentation you are after.

IME NEIPA is created by dry hopping a beer with excessive protein in it. My guess is the haze is the combination of hop polyphenols binding to insoluble protein in the beer. There is something about this haze the is holding the hop oils/flavors in suspension and yielding a different (read: fruity and aromatic) hop character. A beer I did where I set a chill haze and dry hopped it with Simcoe, Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus was very fruity, aromatic, and somewhat tropical. Classic NEIPA. Only vaguely reminiscent of the typical presentation of those hop varieties.

14

Tanal-A works wonders. If will be cloudy fo-eva!