Geordie Scottish Export - Cloudy Finish?

[HomeBrewSels]

Help please?

I've got 40 pints of Geordie Scottish Export (made with Geordie BKE) sitting in the King Keg and after 4 weeks in the barrell I couldnt wait any longer - so last night, I poured myself a 'tester' pint.

Lots of bubbles (no problem with Co2 here!) and after a couple of minutes everything settled down. Everything looks perfect, good colour, nice head and all tastes great BUT for some reason its really cloudy? I poured another 1/2 pint and left it to settle for an hour but still no joy?

Question is: should I be thinking of adding finings? And if so, am I going to endanger what could be 3 or 4 weeks liquid entertainment? Can I just unscrew the cap and chuck in a packet of 'beer brite' or similar?

I'm starting to think that because it all tastes ok, whats a little cloudiness amongst friends?

Any thoughts / advice greatly appreciated?

HBS

[maxashton]

You can of course add finings, but i'd suggest the ready prepared stuff rather than the powders.

As you say, it's about flavour realy, so don't worry if its a bit cloudy..

[Bryggmester]

I have a pewter tankard for cloudy brews ( which don't occur often). If it tastes OK thats the main thing.

[ChrisG]

I brewed the a few months ago and it very clear, but I did bottle it.

[CyberPaddy66]

COuld just be taking a long time to settle, if you have a bottom tap on your keg then you'll get a little haze for a while until it reaches the clear stuff, alternativly wait a bit longer and the taste will improve also

[Waffty]

Adding finnings at this stage would help to the brew to clear but the risk is, that you'll loose all your bubbles in the process. So this may be an none starter, if you don't have anyway of recarbonating (assuming you like bubbly beer).

If you have somewhere cool to place the barrel, that sometimes helps to drop the yeast from suspention.

As a rule, I leave my brews in the fermenter for 7 days, then still in the fermenter, drop the temp to around 15 to 16 degrees & at the same time add beer brite finnings. Leave in the fermenter an extra 3 days, then tap to keg. Leave it in the keg for a couple of weeks and force carbonate.

On my 'special' brews i.e those for my family and friends, I also add a bit of creamy top, for that comercial looking brew.

Darren

[thesaintv12]

I found that this kit was great. It did take a while to clear, but I had finished most of it by then!!

Goes to show that some cheap kits can be spot on, tastewise anyway!

[thesaintv12]

PS: Now when I do a kit I do 7 days in the fermenter, then drop to another fermenter for 5-7 days before I keg it. Ends up much better and clearer.

[BlackBag]

Had to poke my oar into this.
The Geordie Scottish Export was the first kit I did when I got back into homebrew in June. Didn't do much with it, just used brewers sugar instead of regular granulated. It stuck and took about three and a half weeks to do, but by buggery was it worth it! After a month in the bottle, and a day in the fridge, this stuff was bloody perfect. Honestly if I'd paid £1.99 a bottle for it in Morrisons I would have been happy. Only slight problem I had was that a couple of the bottles were flat, lid not screwed on tight enough at the time I think (2 ltr PET bottles). Oh and obviously decanting it is a pig when you get towards the bottom . . .

[Waffty]

Oh and obviously decanting it is a pig when you get towards the bottom . . .

Ohhh, I get round that one by leaving it in the keg to settle, force carbonating it & then bottling it with my trusty Beergun here. That way, you get crystal clear, carbonated beer for that commercial brewery look/feel.

I hasten to add, I only go to these lengths for family friends, as I'm more than happy to drink from the keg, either with my CO2 powered tap or Angram CQ beer engine

Darren

[andyp]

But if you use Nottingham or Safale SO4 then as long as you're not too vigorous you can pour all of the beer out and leave all of the yeast in the bottle.

[Waffty]

But if you use Nottingham or Safale SO4 then as long as you're not too vigorous you can pour all of the beer out and leave all of the yeast in the bottle.

When I made my Pride of Yorkshire IPA, I used Safe04 yeast. I left it in the FV 7 days, then a further 3 days with finnings (BriteBeer). I racked it to the keg & when I came to clean out the FV, the sedement literally came out like a cow pat.

I also bottled up 4x500ML bottles, to finish off the contents (as the Corny only holds 18L) & after a couple of weeks, that had settled the same.

To test out how well, I tipped from 90 to 180 degrees & it stayed put, so I couldn't agree more