Clear Beer

[Aus_Rider_22]

these filtered beers look nice and all but, filtering adds yet another step to the brewing process which already takes hours.... a question I'd ask is does filtereing strip any flavour from the beer? If all that stuff vaguely hanging around in my beers (which are just ever-so-slightly hazy) has flavour then what happens to the beer when its gone?
cheers

I always wondered about this before I bought a filter.

I can say that tasting a cloudy, highly hopped beer before filtering and straight after if it has been filtered that there is a difference. A little bit of flavour and perhaps aroma is stripped. Not a great deal but noticeable to me.
I had always thought that it was not worth filtering if it's going to strip flavour from your beer that you have spent time calculating hop additions etc. But after tasting it and seeing how clear and bright a beer can be its worth it for me. Just increase later additions so that filtering does not make such a noticeable difference to finished and filtered beer.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Thirsty has one of them at home?! I thought he used the "See the Tree" test.

Back when I used to be a geek, we'd use a Laser Turbidimeter, but that wasn't for beer. Way too accurate for beer that's gone through a 1 mic filter.

Regardless, I think we'll find that there are a few people on this site who can get their beer as clear as 1 mic filtered beer, without a filter.

They have haze meters at work - i dont use them for my homebrew though, not much point - i can see the difference. But as i said... I am willing to take a bet. Clearest beer you (or anyone else you care to nominate) can possibly make without filter vs the clearest beer i can make with filtering... Independent testing - in fact pretty much any condition you care to name. See which beer is in fact clearer.

Unless your polyclar and gelatine are indeed magic... Money in the bank for me.

 

[.DJ.]

personally, as long as my beer doesnt look like Pea soup but it tastes good, I'm happy.

Each to their own I guess..

but am interested about the flavour v super clarity issue.. is the extra bit of work increasing the look of the beer actually detracting from the flavour?

 

[bradsbrew]

Bah its photoshopped, the trees upsidedown. h34r: And where is the bubbles? Is that a the glass of wine you drink whilst filtering you beer?

 

[Nick JD]

Bah its photoshopped, the trees upsidedown. h34r: And where is the bubbles? Is that a the glass of wine you drink whilst filtering you beer?

Heh heh. But seriously - we'd have to judge the beer's clarity when it's at serving temp for starters (Thirsty's looks warm as - there's no condensation on the glass) and also carbonated - especially kegged beer, which has very tiny bubbles if you squint.

I'll let a beer in a crystal wine glass (I don't have any schmancy wanker glasses for swirling and saying, "Well, yeeeeeeeessssaaaarrrssss" with the pinky out) get warm and flat and take a photo. You'll have to excuse the lacing though.

 

[QldKev]

Bah its photoshopped, the trees upsidedown. h34r: And where is the bubbles? Is that a the glass of wine you drink whilst filtering you beer?

I'm taking a guess its straight out of the filter, pre carb'd

QldKev

 

[bradsbrew]

I'm taking a guess its straight out of the filter, pre carb'd

QldKev

Yeah Kev I had assumed that too. just another failed attempt at humour on my part. I had always been on the why bother side of the fence when it comes to filtering as i can get most of my beers nice and bright but lately have been thinking about buying a filter. So i am buying one and will use the perastaltic with it.

Cheers

 

[QldKev]

Yeah Kev I had assumed that too. just another failed attempt at humour on my part. I had always been on the why bother side of the fence when it comes to filtering as i can get most of my beers nice and bright but lately have been thinking about buying a filter. So i am buying one and will use the perastaltic with it.

Cheers

lol,

I've got one of those CraftBrewer filters, still sitting brand new in my store room. :lol:

QldKev

 

[Nick JD]

Here's a palm tree Pilsner. Only gelatined and polyclared at 12C (36 hours each). It's exactly as clear as when I use my 1 mic filter. Taken just before sunset inside my kitchen looking through the window - would be much brighter with more light.

I'm pretty happy with this level of clarity.

 

[Nick JD]

Here's an inside shot. It's 100% Wey Boh Pils and Saaz/Hallertau in even amounts to 32 IBUs with S189 @ 12C. Made with $30 worth of equipment.

 

[Filby]

Is there an alternative to gelatine? I had a bad run with it one time and am not willing to **** my beer again with it.
I already filter and am pretty happy with the results but if I could skip it it would save me a fair amount of faffing around when kegging.

 

[stux]

Here's a palm tree Pilsner. Only gelatined and polyclared at 12C (36 hours each). It's exactly as clear as when I use my 1 mic filter. Taken just before sunset inside my kitchen looking through the window - would be much brighter with more light.

I'm pretty happy with this level of clarity.

Clear, but the transmitted image is definitely not as sharp as TB's

BUT I would be happy with that too.

 

[yardy]

i think it's ironic that both beers pictured in the pissing contest between TB and NJD are indeed, piss coloured.

 

[Bribie G]

Is there an alternative to gelatine? I had a bad run with it one time and am not willing to **** my beer again with it.
I already filter and am pretty happy with the results but if I could skip it it would save me a fair amount of faffing around when kegging.

I've been using Gelatine for a few years now, no problems - although I often find that if a beer is going to drop naturally then gelatine doesn't always speed up the process. However define "bad run" pls?

 

[donburke]

Here's an inside shot. It's 100% Wey Boh Pils and Saaz/Hallertau in even amounts to 32 IBUs with S189 @ 12C. Made with $30 worth of equipment.

bet you cant do that with a stout

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Is there an alternative to gelatine? I had a bad run with it one time and am not willing to **** my beer again with it.
I already filter and am pretty happy with the results but if I could skip it it would save me a fair amount of faffing around when kegging.

What was the bad run? I have found with gelatine less is more and i dont chill the beer first either, seems to work pretty quick 24 - 48hrs you can clearly see the yeast has dropped out. I only do half batches 12 - 13L so i use a 1/4 tsp metric measure in about 70ml of cold water, re hydrate for 15mins then microwave on low for 10 min to pasteurize.

I have read about people using agar, dont know with how much success? there also isinglass you could try , i have read many good reports on that i think Gryphon rates it pretty highly. I may try it myself one day.

Edit - wow im slow typing..

 

[Bribie G]

Yes you can, stouts are actually quite clear but you can't see it unless against a very strong light, when the stout glows with garnet highlights like looking through a stained glass window B)

edit; whooo post rush going on here. Isinglass is good, and also effective against chill haze, but is a total pain in the arse to prepare as well as stinking of mullet guts. However there is a preprepared version available IIRC

 

[Filby]

I've been using Gelatine for a few years now, no problems - although I often find that if a beer is going to drop naturally then gelatine doesn't always speed up the process. However define "bad run" pls?

I gelatined a ginger beer then filtered and kegged a couple of days later. ended up with thin snotty stuff floating around in my beer, so obviously the gelatine got through the filter and didnt stay in the fermenter. It didnt affect the flavor but no one was keen on drinking the stuff.

 

[Phoney]

You can dick about with all sorts of finings, lagering, dancing about a fire and praying to the beer gods.... OR.... You could buy a packet of Polyclar and a 1 micron filter.

View attachment 46572

View attachment 46573

Clarity matters to me - and even though I am fussy, I'm willing to call this good enough.

Why didnt you carbonate this beer? It looks like chardonnay

 

[roller997]

Just a quick comment in relation to the two photos.

Nick JD - Very clear looking beer. The palm comes up nicely but the edges of the palm fronds do look a touch out of focus so that might be due to the photography.

ThirstyBoy - It might just be the photography, however due to the extra detail with the thin branches, yours does look clearer as quite a lot of the branches are in focus.

Great way to display the clarity of the beer - Worthy of a new thread dealing with beer clarity and how it was achieved.

Well done to both of you. I personally don't take that much note with the clarity of my beer as I enjoy mine the way it is so I am unlikely to go through the process of filtering or adding gelatine unless I am looking at enterering a competition for a non wheat beer.

Cheers

Roller