Maybe I don’t keep my beer as cold as yours so I don’t get the haze. [emoji2369]
I just toss the powder into the kettle. Would aim for a final boil ph of 5.1 give or take. If you still have chill haze issues after all this maybe try extending your boil time from 30 minutes. I boil for 90 but it’s a very gentle low evaporation rate boil.
Do you have a cold side process for adding gelatin with the least 02 pick up? Having read your posts I have the impression that you are very technical post fermentation. Cheers
Here’s a gelatin fining process. Using this method I don’t introduce [much] air into the keg.
- Cold crash beer to induce chill haze
- Use 1 tsp gelatin in 2/3 cup of water.
- Let stand 15 min or so
- Put it in the microwave for 15 sec.
- Continue the 15 sec bursts until ~150*F (usually 4 bursts). This dissolved the gelatin and drives off most of the air from the water.
- Pour the mixture into a clean, sanitized 2L plastic bottle.
- Squeeze the air out and put on a carbonator cap.
- Pressurize the bottle with a bit of CO2 until it pops back into shape (very short bursts required).
- PULL THE KEG PRV to depressurize the keg!
- Place a clean, sanitized jumper with a QD on each end on the bottle. Depress the QD plugger to force air from the jumper line and fill it with gelatin/water mixture.
- Invert the bottle
- Connect the jumper to the gas in post
- Allow nearly all the liquid to drain into the keg
- Quickly disconnect it before it all empties into the keg (you don’t want the air/CO2 mix allowed into the keg).
That’s a very solid approach, I like that a lot. Thanks BrewBama
The esteemed Mr. Conn provided the best answer. Unless you are in hurry and need to take a keg to an event, let cold conditioning and time run its course.
I am old school. I still mash for 90 minutes, and boil for 90 minutes to up to 3 hours. I like how the long boil concentrates the maltiness of my brews. Its like braising a pot roast.
Time is our friend.
More than 12 wks?!?!
I don’t mature nearly that long and never get chill haze. (I know…. Never say never)
I have also noticed that beer with more trub in the fermenter = clearer beer from the keg.
Here’s my take: Everyone has their own set of variables. There could be something with my water or my process, etc. that is creating the chill haze. Others may let their beer sit cold for a month and the beer serves clear so “allowing the beer to sit cold” sounds like solid advice and it probably is. I’m not doubting or questioning anyone’s advice but I feel like it could be something a little more complicated than this. Yes, I have let beer sit cold for 12 weeks and there is chill haze. Also, on the concept of trub in the fermenter, I had some runoff issues on my last batch and my volume seemed slightly low. I also used more hops than usual (around 4 ounces total) and as a result my transfer from kettle to fermenter had some additional trub in it. I thought of this thread and wondered if this beer would be free of chill haze. It’s a pale gold lager so we’ll see.
Are you getting a good hot break in the boil?
You know, this is a really good question. I know the latest science says use more of a rolling simmer than volcano boil …but I bring to boil quickly for a big hot break, then reduce power to smaller boil/simmer. What do you do Ken?
That could be a very good point - I give my boil a burst at 100% power to induce a good hot break, back it off to a slow rolling boil for the main boil period, then make my final hop, Brewtan B and then whirlfloc additions with 10-15 minutes to go, then I give it another full blast for the last three to five minutes after putting in the immersion chiller. I have had good luck and clear beer since undertaking this process over the last few years.
Why? I have no idea, since the “thermal stress” probably happens in either the initial or late full-powered boil and that was the reason for a slow roll in the first place.
Okay, let’s cover that. When we say HOT BREAK, are we talking about “foam” that is created when things are coming to a boil? It takes 10-15 minutes for my wort to go from mash/sparge temp to a boil. I skim the foam from the top of the liquid as best as possible and I know some brewers say this is important while others say it doesn’t matter. I do it because I’m standing there watching it accumulate and my early education on it told me it was protein that could contribute to haze. I do not use a “wimpy” boil but it’s not as vigorous as it once was. In the middle is accurate. I use whirfloc with 7-8 minutes left in the boil. I chill with an IC which can take anywhere from about 8 minutes in the winter to about 15 minutes in the summer. As the wort is approaching the 70-80° mark, it takes on a new look where things are sort of clumping together if that makes sense. Earlier in the boil it’s just a solid green mess of a color but as it cools you can see liquid and solids separating. Then I allow things to sit in an ice bath for another 20-30 minutes. The wort going into the fermenter is almost always crystal clear. Btw, I noticed this again last night while drinking my blonde redhead (I know that sounds dirty so let’s move on… )… the small sample in a cup was crystal clear while my cold sample that I was drinking had some haze. If any of the above screams CHILL HAZE to anyone, please advise. I’d love to solve this. Cheers and thanks.
Here is something I found on the subject:
https://www.love2brew.com/articles.asp?id=526
I think some of the text is dated by current homebrewing standards (such as the shorter 30 minute boil many of us typically use, rather than older method of extended boil times)…but I leave that to others to critique.
Thanks for that. So I do get a good amount of hot break (foam) and I do try to remove some of it but that doesn’t sound like the way to avoid chill haze. The 30m vs. 60m boil time could be an issue and I also started boiling less vigorously which was something the low-O2 guys were suggesting. I wonder if ramping up the boil a bit more would help. The article says “a good, rolling boil for at least 60 minutes” so a strong 30m boil may not be good enough. Otherwise everything else the article mentions seems to be consistent with what I do. My ice bath occurs only AFTER the chill with an immersion chiller and it’s just to cool things down further and let things settle. When I went from 60m to 30m boils, I was really liking it. The 60m boil seemed LONG. Now the 30m boil seems long because I’m used to it so going back to a 60m boil seems like it could be an issue from a “Ken has no patience” perspective. But, that said… I would try a 60m for the sake of science and if that beer poured crystal clear then I might have my answer. For those who went from a 60 to a 30, did anyone notice an uptick in chill haze? I honestly don’t remember.
FWIW, I have been using Biofine for about 3 years and am extremely happy with the results. It makes beers crystal clear. TBH though there are times that certain recipes need a little longer time to cold condition. Must be my particular recipe/process IMO. A little pricey but I want clear beer.
I did try it. $20 per bottle from MoreBeer. I probably mentioned it earlier but it’s possible that it didn’t work because of some other variable in my process. I did say I might try it again so maybe I’ll order another bottle and see how it goes. I used the whole first bottle but that was prior to some other changes I made. Thanks for the reminder.
This is where I purchase it. I think its cheaper than MoreBeer for the volume but its been a while since I compared. Cheers!
Oh, shizzle. I was thinking ClearZyme by Cellar Science. I did use some Biofine but IIRC, the instructions ask for two doses… one where you add it and swirl/shake the keg and then another treatment where you just let it settle. Either way my results were not great.
Hmmm, never read any instructions like that. One dose at about 30ml/5gal. I am pretty sure the dosing works out to roughly 150ppm but I may be wrong w/o looking at my notes. Again, recipe specific.