Beer Forum

I have a mashing question. My beer is hazy. I originally thought it had to be chill haze. Currently it takes about 30 min. to get to pitching temperature (low to mid 70s). However, as I am drinking my beer now, it shouldn't be hazy still, the thermometer in the beer is reading 60.2 F. At that temp, the beer is hazy as hell (Pale Ale: 11 lbs of pale ale malt, 1 lb of vienna, 0.5 crystal 60L). I am thinking that at 60 F chill haze would be gone, right??

I have always brewed with well water until recently. I remember the well water brews DID have a chill haze (the beer warmed up and it got clear). Now I am using city water. My mash regime is the following, unchanged for both water sources: 30min mash (1.5qts/lb) at about 150 to 153 and batch sparge. Could I have starch haze?

Should I mash longer? Should I also do a protein rest? (The pale ale malt I use is from Canada Malting Co. purchased from North Country Malt Group.)

Should I use camden tablets?

Haze can also be from other sources.

1) How long from brewing to drinking?
2) Which strain(s) of yeast?
3) Do you do a brite tank/secondary? How long?
4) Do you cold crash before kegging?
5) Did you use whirlfloc/irish moss?
6) Do you fine your beers using isinglass/gelatin/polyclar/other?

BDawg wrote:Haze can also be from other sources.

1) How long from brewing to drinking?
2) Which strain(s) of yeast?
3) Do you do a brite tank/secondary? How long?
4) Do you cold crash before kegging?
5) Did you use whirlfloc/irish moss?
6) Do you fine your beers using isinglass/gelatin/polyclar/other?

1) Generally 2 weeks of primary, bottle condition, and 10 days after its in the glass.
2) WLP001
3) NO secondary/brite tank
4) No cold crash (I want to, but my apt is to small for another appliance)
5) I use whirlfloc 10 min. to flameout
6) No finings

You could always give it another week in the Primary to let more yeast and stuff drop out of suspension. I rarely bottle after just two weeks - rarely, not never. I just did that with a Janet's Brown recipe (bottled after two weeks) and it turned out just fine, but then again that's a pretty dark beer so you don't really see any haze.

Something just hit me... you say this one is a Pale Ale. How much hops did you use? It could be hop haze... just a thought.

Did the malt happen to be Maris Otter? It will sometimes throw haze if you don't do a protein rest. I had 2 batches done on the same day (which is why I skipped the protein rest) which were hazy to the last drop (I kept some for almost a year). The haze was protein globules and PVPP wouldn't touch it. From the size of the particles (which should have settled over the course of a year) and the immunity to PVPP I have to think there was something unusual in the electrical configuration of those proteins. I had some people confirm that you must do a protein rest with this cultivar and other say they have never had this problem with it.

I do single infusions on all of my beers, even those brewed with Maris Otter in the base. I fine my finished beers with gelatin and my stuff looks crystal clear a day after fining. That said, the only yeast that I ever really pair with my MO [base] beers is 1056. I never had any issues when I was using WLP001 either.

I'll add one to the never-had-a-problem list. Do you use any particular malting's product? The stuff that gave me the problem came from Crisps but I've used their malt before without a problem though I have always done a short protein rest.

Just to be "clear" about it there were no yeast cells visible (after reasonable settling time) in these beers - just protein globules.