Mason Jar sample
Mason Jar sample
I discovered last week that by pulling a pint from your fermentor into a mason jar and leaving it in the fridge, you can easily determine whether your beer would benefit from a fining agent (gelatin, Polyclar, PVPP, etc.). The advantage to this approach is that you can check your beer for chill haze and yeast haze before your beer is fully carbonated (at which point the fining agents tend to be much messier to use and less effective). Since I only keg my beer, I'm not sure how this applies to folks who bottle.
Lee -
If your beer has chill haze (which mine always seem to), what can you do pre-kegging?
I use whirlfloc, chill my beer to pitching temperatures within 10-20 minutes. I typically use gelatin to clear those beers that I value clarity, however, my last batch was crystal clear in secondary and as soon as it was kegged and chilled all those proteins clumped together to form that haze. I realize cold conditioning will take them away since they will settle out, but is there another method here?
If your beer has chill haze (which mine always seem to), what can you do pre-kegging?
I use whirlfloc, chill my beer to pitching temperatures within 10-20 minutes. I typically use gelatin to clear those beers that I value clarity, however, my last batch was crystal clear in secondary and as soon as it was kegged and chilled all those proteins clumped together to form that haze. I realize cold conditioning will take them away since they will settle out, but is there another method here?
Martin Golobic
I've had good success with three different approaches. Polyclar will attract & sediment tannins (half of the haze-forming compound). Silica Gel will attract & sediment proteins (the other half of the chill haze molecule). Superkleer works some other type of magic I haven't bothered to study, but works very well to improve clarity.
Joe at BIY sells Polyclar & Superkleer. Williams' Brewing sells Silica Gel. When in doubt, Superkleer is the easiest to use & almost always seems to work.
Before doing anything, make sure to pull a sample & leave it in the fridge for several days. If it doesn't drop clear, let it warm up to room temp & check to confirm for chill haze.
Joe at BIY sells Polyclar & Superkleer. Williams' Brewing sells Silica Gel. When in doubt, Superkleer is the easiest to use & almost always seems to work.
Before doing anything, make sure to pull a sample & leave it in the fridge for several days. If it doesn't drop clear, let it warm up to room temp & check to confirm for chill haze.