To crash cool or not? American Wheat

[TimCA]

Good morning,
My American wheat OG was 1.044 and now is at 1.006, better than I thought! Any how in the past I have crash cooled to about 38 or 40F for 24 hrs before kegging. Is that s bad Ides with this stile??
Thanks
Tim

[Kaiser]

Good morning,
My American wheat OG was 1.044 and now is at 1.006, better than I thought! Any how in the past I have crash cooled to about 38 or 40F for 24 hrs before kegging. Is that s bad Ides with this stile??
Thanks
Tim

Not being an expert on this, but it shouldn't harm the beer since you don't need further yeast activity. And yeast should be the only thing that is affected by crash-cooling as it will go into dormancy.

Kai

[jamilz]

Why are you crash cooling it?

Personally, I leave the beer on the yeast long enough for it to clear and for the yeast to do their clean up magic. Then I rack to a keg and toss it in the fridge.

[TimCA]

How will i know when a hazy beer is "clear" ? Or soould it not be hazey?
Tim

[jamilz]

Well, on American wheat, it is generally not hazy, but it can be.

If you used unmalted wheat (you shouldn't have) then you'd get a starch haze. And if you used a very low flocculating yeast, then you might see some yeast in suspension.

[Kaiser]

Well, on American wheat, it is generally not hazy, but it can be.

Are you sure about that? All comercial examples I had, including the originator of the styte (Widmer Hefe Weizen), were hazy. Some comes from the yeast and some comes from protein starch.

Even without the yeast a beer with significant amounts of wheat will always be hazy unless you filter it.


Kai

[jamilz]

Yep, I'm sure.

[Kaiser]

Yep, I'm sure.

I checked the BJCP guidelines and it does say "Clarity may range from brilliant to hazy". Any commercial examples for clear American Wheats?

These are hazy:

Harpoon UFO
Pyramid Hefe Weizen
Widmer Hefe Weizen

Kai