Cloudy beer

[Hawky]

Hi all I'm new to kegging but my beer is always cloudy weather I leave it for a week or 2 or not just wondering how to make it clear

 

[poggor]

you are kegging after 1 week in the fermenter? do you use any finings? how do you make your beer? how much trub do you have? do you rack it?

 

[Bridges]

Cold crashing in a ferm fridge is probably the single biggest factor I can point to in clearing my beers.

 

[poggor]

I reckon time is a big one too- hard to be patient when you are starting out but just adding a (couple) of extra weeks in primary makes a huge difference. Cold is even better. If you have a lot of trub and hop debris etc it really does take a while to fall out of suspension.

 

[Hawky]

I just use the Morgans bitter cans after a week in the fermenter then a week in the keg with the gas on it

 

[Vini2ton]

I don't keg but the principles are the same as bottling I'd reckon. Time and finings. What are your processes? Haze producing factors are many and varied. What do you do in regard to finings? Chill haze used to piss me off big time until I sorted it out. More info Hawky

 

[poggor]

I guess must be mostly haze if you are just using a can, should try using some finings

 

[Hawky]

I bottle what is left in the fermenter but it after 2 weeks the bottles are clear and the keg is still cloudy

 

[Bribie G]

You could be kegging too early and ending up with a bit of a yeast cake at the bottom of the keg. So when you pour a glass, there is a momentary drop in gas pressure causing the sediment to rise, much like opening a bottle when the yeast sediment starts to rise as the brew fizzes up.

The beer in most of the keg could be crystal clear but if there is too much sediment you could be picking up some with every glass.

Are you able to cold condition the beer for a few more days before kegging? This should solve the problem. It's unlikely to be chill haze which is not a feature of kit brews. Otherwise as suggested, use gelatine finings but avoid knocking the keg as gelatine settles the beer well but can "fluff up" the sediment if disturbed.

 

[Hawky]

Does it make any difference if you leave these kits for longer than a week? I usually just test them and if they read 1006 I keg them

 

[poggor]

Also, how do you get the beer from the fermenter into the keg? carefully racked?

 

[Hawky]

Just put a hose from the tap to the bottom of the keg. Is there a better way ?

 

[poggor]

yeah. you will probably get less yeast into your keg if you siphon it carefully off the yeast after giving it a decent time to flocculate out of suspension. that might make a difference to your final cloudiness.
thoughts anyone?

 

[McFeast]

Yeah siphon but keep off the bottom. If you stick with using the tap let it drain slowly and stop before it gets to the line of shit sitting on the bottom (trub) of your fermenter. If you got room in your fridge, try chucking it in there overnight as that works for me and seems to settle that trub a lot better. Anyway all these blokes are very knowledgeable so have a crack at all suggestions and see what works best for you mate.
Cheers


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[McFeast]

..and if nothing is working, you could always buy one of those micron filters and pour your beer through one of them?!


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[Papa Lazarou]

You could rack to secondary as the agitation seams to cause the yeast to drop out. Also the kit yeast may not flocculate well.

 

[manticle]

I just use the Morgans bitter cans after a week in the fermenter then a week in the keg with the gas on it

It sounds as if you are kegging with heaps of active yeast still in the beer/wort.

Instead of waiting a week, ferment until it is at your expected final gravity, leave it a few more days, then chill it right down for a few more days before transferring to keg. Heaps more yeast and other particles should drop out and your beer will very likely taste better.
If it's still cloudier than you'd like, you can look at using various finings to drop out yeast and other haze inducing particles.

 

[wereprawn]

Never used the kit mentioned but something you can try for your next brew is change yeast. Nottingham yeast is amazing when it comes to quick ferment times and clear beer. I kegged a batch using notto 3 days ago.( will leave in keg for another week or two to improve before chilling) Was finished fermenting in 3 days ( at 15 c too ) then left in fermenter for 5 days at 20 c to let the yeast clean up after itself. This beer was crystal clear in the fermenter with no cold conditioning . Using different yeast will obviously change the beer flavour but notto is fairly neutral and i would be surprised if you prefer the kit yeast over it. Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Edit- Nottingham is a common dry yeast sold at any decent homebrew shop. Make sure the yeast is refridgerated at the shop or don't buy it. Or try the site sponsors for a pick-up or delivery by post. The sponsors ingredients are fresh and not mishandled in my experiences dealing with them.

 

[pist]

Chances are the cloudiness is yeast hanging around. Since your kegging...chances are your force carbing. If this is the case cold crashing to make the yeast drop right out is the way to go. If not...the most effective way ive found is either time in cold storage once natural carbonation is complete...or alternatively gelatine or use some other fining agent to speed up the process