For the first time ever I have got a pernament haze in my beer. Basic blonde ale recipe which I have been brewing for years. Tastes good, but Gelatin does absolutely nothing. I have always had good luck clearing my beer. The only thing that may have something to do with it is my maybe faulty digital thermometer. I changed the battery and it still is shutting off and on and I am not sure about the accuracy. I am looking for another one though. I have a floating thermometer which I will use until I get a new one. Two batches in a row now and it is really frustrating. I can’t figure out what is causing it.
If you’re blaming your thermometer, does that mean maybe you mashed at a lower temperature and didn’t get complete conversion and maybe it’s a starch haze? In that case, did you hit your expected OG? Does it taste starchy, like potato water? Iodine test?
Could it be an infection? Does it taste like it should or is the taste off too?
Sanitizer or cleanser residue? Did you change any other part of your process?
Probably just a basic pH problem. Did you do anything to adjust the acidity of the mash? A blonde ale is likely going to need some acid or at least calcium chloride to adjust for proper pH depending on your water, of course. If your pH is off you won’t get a good hot break and you’ll never get clear beer.
I use the same water as usual, well water. I went to get my iodine and it dried up. It tastes fine and fermented down to 1.014 from 1.050. I haven’t changed anything in my process that I now of. I haven’t tested my well water yet. Starch haze? Not sure yet. Here is my recipe.
86.3% - Great Western Malt 2 row
7.8% Munich type 1
5.9% Carahell
Spalt Select hops
Wyeast 1010
I read that Wyeast 1010 takes a long time to clear, but my previous batch used WLP060 with the exact same result. I had it in the keg and after 2 weeks with Gelatin it was just as hazy before I added it. My wort going into the fermenter was way clearer than it is now. Even at room tempo it is still soup like.
Yeah, but did you check pH? I have no idea what your well water mineral content is but regardless of your past performance you need to know pH especially on pale beers with little buffering.
Second to this. I finally started messing with my pH after I couldn’t get good conversion efficiency and my beer was permanently cloudy. My mash pH was way high (like 6.5-6.8) and I never did get a good hot break. Now my mash pH is around 5.2-5.4, I get wonderful hot break and crystal clear beer.