Chill Haze And Filtering.

[Lindsay Dive]

Im an all grain brewer and never seem to have a problem having clear beers given correct fining and lagering/cellering before kegging.
Yesterday, I had a Bohemian Pilsner that was at ambient temperature after going through a diacetyl rest.
I now have the opportunity to run my beers through a wonderful filtering system at my local Brew On Premises thanks to the generous owners.
I then filtered the beer without using any finings or chilling. The resultant beer was absolutely crystal clear as the final filter is .6 of one micron.
Now comes the interesting bit. When I returned home, I bottled some of the beer into a PET bottle and gassed it and chucked it into the freezer so I could try my new filtered brew. What happened..chill (protein) haze!!!
This has me thinkingIf the beer is chilled to about 0 2 degrees before filtering this will create the forming of any possible haze and then filtering, will the filtering process take out the haze?? My first thoughts are that it will!!
Id like to hear some of your comments.
I will certainly conduct a further experiment and find out what will happen when I use finings and chill, but that wont be for a week or two.
Regards,
Lindsay

 

[Ross]

I've had a couple of beers turn hazy in the keg - i have then filtered while cabonated & removed it - So i guess the answer is YES....

 

[jimmyjack]

Supposedly
Depending upon the size of the filter cartridge you purchased; you can achieve three different end results. The 5.0 micron filter gets rid of any sediment in your beer. The 1.0 micron filter gives you a brilliantly clear beer. And the 0.5 micron filter enables you to eliminate almost all chill haze from your brilliantly clear beer.

Lindsay here is a link regarding chill haze, I just researched this topic and found an article. "Home brewers who have problems with chill haze (which sizes in at 0.4 micron ) can use a 0.5-micron filter by chilling the beer to almost freezing so that the proteins that cause chill haze coagulate. A 0.5-micron filter will then remove these "clumps" of protein, leaving haze-free

beer."http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.4/hayden.html




Hope my basic brewing research can help

 

[Ross]

jimmyjack,

The 1 micron will give you a clear beer - but if you want it commercially bright the 0.35 is the way to go. i find the 1 micrn the best comprimise, because you can filter & still bottle if you want, while still producing a very satisfactory clear beer for your kegs...

 

[Darren]

Hi Ross,
Yeast cells are alot bigger than 1 micron (more like 8 or 12). Are you adding yeast before bottling? Maybe the seals on your filter are letting some yeast through.
Any ideas?
cheers
Darren

 

[Lindsay Dive]

Jimmyjack,
I've seen a fair amount of beer filtered at this Brew On Premises and they are ALL crystal clear. However, they are all chilled for 4 days prior to filtering.
Some of the beers must have protien hazes as they use Munich malt and malted wheat in some of the recipes and then simply boil the crushed grains in a muslin bag, directly into the boiler, boil for ten minutes and remove. I'm not a supporter of these methods for obvious reasons. I'm just pointing out what is done and the results.
The filter system used is three cartridges, 5, 1 and .6 micron.
I must agree. Chill the beer prior to filtering seems to be the way to go.
I was not aware of the sizes of the 'clumped' protein hazes. Very interesting.
The beer that I filtered was made using the Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt (90%) with a single infusion mash at 66 degrees.
Regards,
Lindsay.

 

[Darren]

Lindsay,
That was I joke I guess! Bohemian pils and a single infusion mash? If not, why did you bother buying Boh. pils?

 

[Darren]

BTW, PVPP will increase the particle size of haze and should filter out more easily

 

[Ross]

Hi Ross,
Yeast cells are alot bigger than 1 micron (more like 8 or 12). Are you adding yeast before bottling? Maybe the seals on your filter are letting some yeast through.
Any ideas?
cheers
Darren

[post="76359"][/post]​

Interesting darren - but I don't believe i have a seal problem & a 5 micron filter leaves a very cloudy beer - No not adding yeast either...

 

[Lindsay Dive]

Lindsay,
That was I joke I guess! Bohemian pils and a single infusion mash? If not, why did you bother buying Boh. pils?

[post="76388"][/post]​

Darren,
No joke mate. I was informed by the importer that it would be okay to mash this malt with a single infusion mash.
This is the second bag of Bohemian Pilsner malt I have used and the previous beers have been excellent. No chill haze.
What seems to be the problem?
Lindsay.

P.S. WTF is PVPP?

 

[Darren]

PVPP is polyclar (quick google search should fix you up). In basic terms it is a plastic powder that the haze causing tannins bind to.
I would have thought a step mash would be required for undermodified malt to obtain clarity

 

[Gulf Brewery]

I would have thought a step mash would be required for undermodified malt to obtain clarity

[post="76486"][/post]​

Lookng at the specs on the Weyermann site , the malt is well modified. I am not sure that we can even get an under-modified malt here.

Cheers
Pedro

 

[Darren]

I assumed that it was undermodified for some reason. What is the difference between it and the ordinary wey pils?

 

[Gulf Brewery]

The main difference is the barley used which is the traditional czech one. In the Weyermann specs it says
"Raw Material Source:
Czech-grown two-row spring barley HANKA (2004 harvest)
Product Characteristics:
Processed specifically for Bohemian characteristics to impart a full body, golden-blond color, and complex maltiness to the finished brew"

Cheers
Pedro