# US-05 insanely cloudy



## Linkn

Hi guys - I'm using safale US-05 for the first time with an APA (Coopers extract) and it's insanely cloudy. This is my 5th brew so i'm no expert. It's only day 3 of fermentation so it might drop but thought i'd ask the question - is this normal? I thought US-05 has a high floc (though admittedly that might yet kick in if I understand it right). 

Reading up on some other threads suggest using gelatine can help with clarity. Many US sites recommend knox gelatine. I've got Wards edible gelatine in powdered form (not satchels) - can this be used? If so how? 

Sorry for the no doubt noob questions. Super fun brewing my own and really want to understand the dynamics. 

Thanks in advance
Lincoln


----------



## Yob

Day 3? Still fermenting.. 05 can linger even at 2 weeks.. Relax, it'll drop in time... Eventually


----------



## Black Devil Dog

Give it time, you shouldn't even need gelatine in US-05 if you can give it a few days cold conditioning after ferment is done.


----------



## Linkn

Thanks for the advice - i'll keep an eye on it. 

Would love to cold crash but dont have the space or spare fridge (2 kids kinda chew up my fridge (pun intended)) so might look at the gelatin thing perhaps for another brew that's too cloudy (may as well experience all types yeah). 

Cheers


----------



## Bizier

US05 is NOT a high flocc yeast, it is powdery as. 
Compare it some others like Nottingham and you'll see the difference.


----------



## Droughtmaster

i use us05 almost excusivly its a fantastic yeast if u have shit still on top after 2 weeks give it a swirl it drops if ya beer is cloudy cold crash it with some gelatine finnings .

bRETT


----------



## Donske

US-05 always drops clear by the time beer has carbed in the bottle, 2 days in the fridge it sticks like glue to the bottom of the bottles.

The only time you need to coax US-05 into submission is if you keg and find cloudy beer offensive, I don't think the OP is kegging after 5 brews.


----------



## pcmfisher

Donske said:


> US-05 always drops clear by the time beer has carbed in the bottle, 2 days in the fridge it sticks like glue to the bottom of the bottles.


Your US05 must be different to mine.


----------



## slcmorro

Donske said:


> US-05 always drops clear by the time beer has carbed in the bottle, 2 days in the fridge it sticks like glue to the bottom of the bottles.
> 
> The only time you need to coax US-05 into submission is if you keg and find cloudy beer offensive, I don't think the OP is kegging after 5 brews.


Agreed with the above. I've used US05 a bunch of times, and it drops clear. I cc all my beers at 0.5c for 1 week though, prior to kegging/bottling. This might help if you have the option to do so.


----------



## Droopy Brew

I find it clears well. But ask yourself this- does cloudy beer really matter? I dont give a rats if my brews come out cloudy or clear to be honest- it makes no difference to taste.


----------



## verysupple

Firstly, Fermentis say that US-05 has "medium" flocculation. 

Secondly, the way the yeast is treated has a large affect on how it behaves (including flocculation). For example, I recently made two consecutive batches with a given yeast. The first one I pitched a good amount of carefully rehydrated yeast and it flocced almost as soon as fermentation was complete. The second batch I pitched just enough but forgot to attemperate the rehydrated yeast to the wort temp. and probably thermally shocked it. This second batch never cleared until I cold crashed it.

Same yeast, different treatment, different outcome.


----------



## HBHB

In time, you'll relax and realise you can't really judge a beer which is still fermenting and compare it to one that's been in the bottle for 6-8 weeks, regardless ofwhich yeast you use.

Your currently still fermenting beer is rolling around like a horse in hay keeping things stirred up and murky. Exactly what it should be doing. As already said, US05 isn't a super fast flocc yeast, but it will clear well in time.

Relax, stop pacing the brew room in circles, you'll make the yeast dizzy. In it's own time, the beer will be clear, the sun will rise and all will be good in the world.

Martin


----------



## Yob

If you want a highly floccing dry yeast, give the BRY-97 a a spin.. drops like a brides knickers leaving a damn clear beer, Ive not used 05 for quite a while now in favour of 97 if Im going to use a dry yeast

:icon_drunk:


----------



## Lord Raja Goomba I

BRY 97 drops dead clear. I'm still attached to US05, because I do like that it doesn't strip the hop characteristics as much when I do an APA.

The big things with US05 I've learned is to rehydrate. It takes off quickly when you do and drops far better. 

If I'm kegging (unfortunately not at the moment), I'll cold crash, gelatine and transfer after moving it to it's "kegging height" and leaving it for a day. If I'm struggling with clarity after this (not often), then I'll gelatine in the keg, leave for a few days and pour off the first beer and that fixes it.

If I'm bottling (as I currently am), I'll leave the tallie I wish to consume in the fridge for at least 2-3 days so the yeast really sticks firmly to the bottom of the bottle.

But a few days is way too short. US05 is a 2-4 week proposition for me.


----------



## Westo

Linkn said:


> Reading up on some other threads suggest using gelatine can help with clarity. Many US sites recommend knox gelatine. I've got Wards edible gelatine in powdered form (not satchels) - can this be used? If so how?


check this thread out for help on using gelatine http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/21879-how-to-gelatine/


----------



## Donske

pcmfisher said:


> Your US05 must be different to mine.


US-05 is my go to yeast for 80% of my beers, I've honestly never had an issue with cloudy beer after 3 days in the keg, never had a cloudy bottle using US-05.

I'm at the point of getting my hands on a 500g brick I like this yeast that much, it's just so damn reliable, never been able to figure out why there are so many complaints about it.


----------



## verysupple

Donske said:


> <snip>
> 
> ...never been able to figure out why there are so many complaints about it.


It's not hard to figure out. To paraphrase my previous post, you can take a fantastic yeast and ruin it _via_ mishandling. You probably handle your yeast quite well so it performs consistently well. The people who complain about it are probably mistreating it (either unknowingly or through laziness).


----------



## DJR

Donske said:


> never been able to figure out why there are so many complaints about it.


I reckon a lot of this is just that people use it SO MUCH that eventually they get a bit sick of the flavour profile (oh its that flavour again!). I know I do get a bit tired of it, but about 40% of my batches over the past 7 years have used it, you need a break from it every so often 

Lots of other options out there nowadays too


----------



## GuyQLD

Slightly OT but I probably fall into the unknowing variety. I know I'm not the kindest to my yeast, something I really need to work on. There's so much to take in (if you care to find out why shit works) that I'm hard pressed even getting the hot side right. Fermentation and cold side is being neglected somewhat. 

It's probably the reason why almost all my beers take over a week in the keg to clear.

Oh, and if anyone knows a place I can find out how long the lag phase should be (I assume each strain is different) I love you long time.


----------



## verysupple

GuyQLD said:


> Oh, and if anyone knows a place I can find out how long the lag phase should be (I assume each strain is different) I love you long time.


It probably is strain dependent but also depends on many other factors such as pitching rate, yeast health, oxygen concentration and other nutrient levels...so it's hard to say how long it "should" be.

It's also good to remember that for a lot of beer styles it's a GOOD thing to have a bit of lag time (within reason of course). 8 - 12 hours seems to be what is recommended to produce a desirable flavour and aroma profile. I guess if you don't want any yeast derived character then you could try to reduce it quite a lot.


----------



## GuyQLD

verysupple said:


> It's also good to remember that for a lot of beer styles it's a GOOD thing to have a bit of lag time (within reason of course).


And I've had lag phases from 4 (recent 3711 pitch. Was 2 weeks old, smacked it and pitched after 6 hours. took off like lightening) vs 32 hours for a BRY 97 (I mishandled. Only bad beer I've made and I'm positive it was yeast stress)

It would just be nice to know if I "tick all the boxes" to expect x number of hours. If you don't get that - something needs to be worked on.

Anyway, no more OT..

BRy > 05 for clarity.... but I miss the hop hit.


----------



## shaunous

slcmorro said:


> Agreed with the above. I've used US05 a bunch of times, and it drops clear. I cc all my beers at 0.5c for 1 week though, prior to kegging/bottling. This might help if you have the option to do so.


Your bottled beers carbonate well after a week at that low temp? You carbonate as normal?

Just asking as i've always kegged, going to start doing a bit bigger batches now im into AG so I can bottle a bit more. Planned on only using coopers carb drops though.


----------



## manticle

Can't answer for slcmorro but I never had any trouble carbing in bottles after a week in the cold (obviously temp needs to be brought up after bottling/priming).

I keg mostly now but that's a very recent thing. Bottled for several years, cold condition pretty much every brew.


----------



## shaunous

Fair enough, well i'll have 8L left of my last disaster to bottle once the first 18l is kegged, so i'll try that then.

I CC everything, always have, was always just scared there wouldnt be much/any yeast left to eat the sugars up in the bottles, but i've always CC'd for 2 weeks also, dont really need to, just habit, i'll start doing one week CC and bottle the leftovers.

Sorry for Hijacking

Shaun.


----------



## manticle

Even two weeks, no drama. With beers that push past 3-4, I notice they may need some extra time but are generally fine. I wouldn't change your CC regime unless you notice they are not carbing as soon as you'd like and you are getting impatient.

In cold, in bulk, in my experience and opinion, is good


----------



## shaunous

RightO will carry on regardless


----------



## Ross

Droopy Brew said:


> I find it clears well. But ask yourself this- does cloudy beer really matter? I dont give a rats if my brews come out cloudy or clear to be honest- it makes no difference to taste.


Your question has been well answered so I don't feel too bad taking this a little off topic, but I can't leave a statement like this unchecked.

Rubbish - Maybe you can't taste the difference, but yeast in suspension does make a difference to taste & I personally hate it. Drink your beer full of yeast if you want to, I've no problem with that, but don't go telling new brewers that it makes no difference. I really dispair at times!!!

Ross


----------



## Lord Raja Goomba I

Ross said:


> Your question has been well answered so I don't feel too bad taking this a little off topic, but I can't leave a statement like this unchecked.
> 
> Rubbish - Maybe you can't taste the difference, but yeast in suspension does make a difference to taste & I personally hate it. Drink your beer full of yeast if you want to, I've no problem with that, but don't go telling new brewers that it makes no difference. I really dispair at times!!!
> 
> Ross


Yup. Cloudy APA tastes too bitter (and not nice bitter like IPA are), and kristallweiss tastes like nothing. Yeast makes a shedload of difference.


----------



## pcmfisher

Donske said:


> US-05 is my go to yeast for 80% of my beers, I've honestly never had an issue with cloudy beer after 3 days in the keg, never had a cloudy bottle using US-05.
> 
> I'm at the point of getting my hands on a 500g brick I like this yeast that much, it's just so damn reliable, never been able to figure out why there are so many complaints about it.


I am not complaining about it. I use it for most of my beers.
All I am saying is, from my experience, compared to other yeasts it can not be regarded as floccing out hard and fast.





Ross said:


> Your question has been well answered so I don't feel too bad taking this a little off topic, but I can't leave a statement like this unchecked.
> 
> Rubbish - Maybe you can't taste the difference, but yeast in suspension does make a difference to taste & I personally hate it. Drink your beer full of yeast if you want to, I've no problem with that, but don't go telling new brewers that it makes no difference. I really dispair at times!!!
> 
> Ross


Zackery.


----------

