Clarity ferm and cold conditioning

[Aaron]

Clarity ferm is sold as preventing chill haze by chopping up the haze causing proteins during fermentation. What i'm interested in is wether or not you still need to cold condition post-fermentation. I have been dealing with chill haze by chilling at the end of fermentation, adding aux finings or gelatine, and waiting a couple of days for the protein to drop. However, it would be great if I could just add clarity ferm, bottle immediately after fermentation, and experience no chill haze.

I'm going to experiment with it but it would be good to hear from anyone who has used it successfully or otherwise?

[Buckie Brewer]

I could be wrong but I think products like this (especially gelatin) work better the colder the beer is. The process being that as the temperature drop's the chill haze proteins come out of solution and the gelatin attaches to them and they flocculate with all the rest of the material in the beer and sink.

Edit: Looks like I am wrong sorry. This prevents the chill haze proteins from forming in the first place but you would still have the other stuff to drop out of suspension like yeast etc.

[beerbeerbeer]

Ive used clarity ferm a few times and think its great. I wld say you could bottle from primary.

[50quidsoundboy]

as i understand it there are different types of haze to deal with in the brewhouse - Clarity Ferm / Brewers Clarex will prevent colloidal haze (chill haze) caused by proteins binding with polyphenols from ever forming (great if you're doing a lot of dry/late hopping) but you might still want to do some cold conditioning to drop out dry hop matter and yeast, or use isinglass in casks if your yeast isn't a good floccer.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I realise that clarity ferm only deals with chill haze and that a yeast, such as US-05, would need another process to help it drop. But, as you say, I could just add isinglass to cask and that should be fine. I guess another experiment is in order.

[Piscator]

Cold conditioning isn't just about chill haze...... it also helps to dissolve CO2 into the beer more effectively, reduces bubble size and improves mouthfeel so it is still worth doing.

Cheers
Steve