Haze

[pumblechook]

Afternoon everyone.

My first AG brew has been in the bottle for 3 weeks now.

Had a couple last weekend and a couple last night. In short, it tastes terrific, but its got a haze. Now, that doesn't bother me , but in the interests of continuing improvement I'd like to eliminate this from future brews.

I suspect there may be a few factors contributing to the haze:

1. This was my first AG brew, I'm sure my novice technique will have played a part somewhere along the way.

2. Water chemistry.... This is my great unknown, though I suspect the water is a bit hard.

3. Not waiting long enough for break material to settle post boil and therefore fermenting a cloudier than average wort. Would protofloc as opposed to Irish moss do a better job here?

4. The beer is cold so I think I have a element of protein haze mainly, made worse by chill haze.

Are these assumptions correct? If so the answers are: keep brewing, get the water tested, be patient and don't chill as much.

Are there other contributing factors or suggestions for how to control these factors which I haven't considered?

[Rookie]

What's the recipe?

[alix101]

haze is a difficult one without filtration ...even the pros struggle stone brewery put out a recent article about haze in stone ipa...
Using whirlfloc helps massively, infact I've found that protofloc works even better (not sure why a question I was going to put to the forum)..a good boil & fast cooling will also help , I wouldnt be concerned with the break material to much , I use a plate chiller so it all goes in ...fermentation / conditioning time is also factor as is yeast strain.

[pumblechook]

This is the recipe I used:

3540 grams pale malt
34 grams northern brewer @ 8% alpha acid, developing 38 EBUs overall.
3 grams Irish moss
5 grams Styrian Goldings
Mash liquor 8.8 litres
'Some' Styrian Goldings for dry hopping later.
S04 yeast.

19 litre batch at about 1046 og, 1010 fg

[pumblechook]

haze is a difficult one without filtration ...even the pros struggle stone brewery put out a recent article about haze in stone ipa...
Using whirlfloc helps massively, infact I've found that protofloc works even better (not sure why a question I was going to put to the forum)..a good boil & fast cooling will also help , I wouldnt be concerned with the break material to much , I use a plate chiller so it all goes in ...fermentation / conditioning time is also factor as is yeast strain.

Thanks Alix

Conditioning time is the other factor I forgot to mention above. After all, it has only been in the bottle for 3 weeks. Think i just need to be more patient. Always been a problem of mine. Lol.

You also make a valid point about fermentation time. There was a massive lag time before this one kicked in. Perhaps this is the consequence.

I might put a future batch in a keg with some finings if the problem persists,but I'd prefer to solve the problem.

[sweatysock]

Hi, glad you like your ag. I am only a few brews in on ag and will not be going back. I think chill haze could be a problem. I serve at 12 degrees and it is clear then. I see you have used so4. I have used Nottingham lately and it is taking much longer to clear. Remember a cloudy Beer is not a bad beer.

[Eric]

Yes, your presumptions are right and there are other reasons too. Three weeks would be the soonest I would expect beer without some sort of haze without fining and chilling and your beer can be all the better if you avoid that.
Look to minimise the transfer of any solid material from one stage to the next and avoid drinking cold beer. When your problem is solely yeast you've won.