Cloudy pilsner

[Rocker1986]

I have been doing that with the Brewbrite, just for some reason didn't think to weigh it until now. :blink:

I did use the Polyclar directly to the primary fermenter, which had been sitting at 0C for about a week before I added it, then left for another week before bottling today. I don't bother transferring to a secondary, except for bulk priming purposes. I normally find the yeast settles out quite well in the bottles once it has fermented the priming sugar and doesn't end up in the glass if I pour it carefully. The bottled beer is always crystal clear at room temperature, then goes hazy after being chilled in the fridge, so I figure it's chill haze rather than yeast causing it. If it was cloudy due to yeast, it would be cloudy regardless of temperature.

Today's one was markedly clearer at bottling time than previous batches have been. There was the expected yeast haze, but overall it was almost as clear as water, which I've never seen at bottling time, until this batch with the Polyclar.

I guess I'll find out for sure in a couple of weeks how it went.

 

[nosco]

With the polyclar hydrate 4 mls in boiled and cooled water and spin it on a stir plate for 20 mins minimum and add that to the wort in the cube which should be as cold as you can get it without it freezing.
I chill mine to -1 degc and it works great particularly for pilseners.

Do you stir it in? I have used gelatin in the keg without stirring and it worked great. Id like to avoid stirring if I can.

 

[dicko]

Do you stir it in? I have used gelatin in the keg without stirring and it worked great. Id like to avoid stirring if I can.

Because I have my beer in a cube that it is -1 deg, I pour it in the top of the cube and replace the lid and then turn the cube on each side to mix it through the beer. I put it back into the "freedger"( freezer with an STC that runs it at -1 ) and leave it until ready for kegging.
My best results seem to be for a week or longer.
Because I roll the cube to mix is probably why I get a better result over a longer storage time.

@ Rocker 1986, Polyclar is great if chill haze is a problem and from what you have said it most certainly appears to be the case.
If you have allready noticed the difference then you will be pleased with the final result....your beer will keep longer as well and you may even notice that it improves in taste.
If you are not going to filter I feel you do need to be extremely careful that you dont disturb the trub when packaging as that part of it that has settled can taste like crap. Or run a few hundred mls off the beer first.
I have taken a gravity sample and tasted it and spat it. After filtering it tastes great.

It all seems a lot of stuffing around however the joy is when you serve a beer, particularly a pilsener, to a non brewer and you see the "wow" on their facial expression.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yeah this batch was a bit of a fail regarding trub levels in the fermenter. :lol: Normally it settles way below the tap level, but I don't mind ditching a few hundred mL if need be. Will keep that in mind for the next batch.

But yes, definitely noticed a difference at bottling time. My clear 'test bottle' still has yeast haze in it 24 hours later but it is settling out. It's only about halfway up the bottle now. Looking forward to trying a glass to see how it went though.

 

[Rocker1986]

Couldn't resist a sneaky one week taster of my first pilsner today... h34r: Obviously needs more time to carbonate and for the yeast to completely drop out, but the flavour is quite good already. The Polyclar has done a great job in eliminating pretty well all the chill haze which I'm pretty happy with. Also the yeast sediment is quite compacted and doesn't stir up easily like it does with the batch I used gelatine in previously. Will definitely be adding this to the regular schedule from now on.

 

[dicko]

Looking great Rocker!

 

[KevinR]

("Pwersonally I filter with a 1 micron absolute filter with great results but many on here boo the use of filters so you will have to make your mind up regarding filtering.")

If filtering,how do you go about sanitation before, ( the filter looks a good place for nasties to hide)and cleaning the crap out of the filter after.
I bought one ages ago and been scared to use it. As i put wheat in my brews they are usually a little cloudy.
Will filtering effect the head or the tast?
Kev

 

[nosco]

That does look good rocker. Especially after a short time.

Mine isnt looking so good. I might not have done it correctly.

I put poly in the fermenter on Wednesday. I put the mixture as directed on the stir plate as alot of people suggest but most of it ended up on the side of the flask. So i took it off but the polyclar didn't look dissolved. Is it supposed to be? Didnt look like is was going too. I stirred it up for about 10 minutes but it didnt seem to change.

I stirred a bit a whirlpool in the fermenter without stirring up the yeast and tipped it in. 4 days later it hasnt changed. It was only at 2-3c however. Now that ive taken the other fermenter out ive dropped to 0c. It maybe that it will be clearer in a glass out of the fermenter but ill wait another 3 days and see.

 

[Black n Tan]

I put poly in the fermenter on Wednesday. I put the mixture as directed on the stir plate as alot of people suggest but most of it ended up on the side of the flask. So i took it off but the polyclar didn't look dissolved. Is it supposed to be? Didnt look like is was going too. I stirred it up for about 10 minutes but it didnt seem to change.

I stirred a bit a whirlpool in the fermenter without stirring up the yeast and tipped it in. 4 days later it hasnt changed. It was only at 2-3c however. Now that ive taken the other fermenter out ive dropped to 0c. It maybe that it will be clearer in a glass out of the fermenter but ill wait another 3 days and see.

polyclar will not dissolve, it will form a slurry. I typically stir it for 30 minutes but it settles pretty quickly so get it into the fermenter quickly. Add some extra water to rinse it off the side of the flask. Colder is better so give it a few more days at 0C or even lower.

 

[dicko]

("Pwersonally I filter with a 1 micron absolute filter with great results but many on here boo the use of filters so you will have to make your mind up regarding filtering.")

If filtering,how do you go about sanitation before, ( the filter looks a good place for nasties to hide)and cleaning the crap out of the filter after.
I bought one ages ago and been scared to use it. As i put wheat in my brews they are usually a little cloudy.
Will filtering effect the head or the tast?
Kev

I clean my filter element with hot Napisan.
After a gentle rinse under the tap I drop the filter back into the clear housing and pour the hot napisan solution into the middle of the filter.

By doing it this way you wash the particles from the filter from the inside edge to the outside, thus reversing the flow that the beer was filtered.
By doing it this way you extend the life of the filter because you aren't forcing the particles through the actual filter membrane.

I do this rinse twice and the element becomes clean, I then rinse it off under the tap and then replace it into the clear canister again and fill the entire unit with Starsan.
I screw the top on and leave it standing in Starsan until next use when it is ready to go with a just a shake off of the Starsan

I do need to add that I do not use C02 to force the beer through the filter, I only use gravity and I have found that this extends the life of the filter dramatically.

I does not seem to affect the head and if you want a cloudy wheat beer then don't filter it.

Next time I filter if I have time I will take a few pics and post them on here.

 

[Rocker1986]

Thanks Dicko was quite impressed with how well it worked.


Nosco, I noticed the same thing with the Polyclar when I used it. It stirred up fine on the stir plate but by the time I took the jug downstairs to the fermenter and tipped it in, a fair bit had already settled out and ended up sticking to the side of the jug. I didn't want to use tap water to rinse it out of the jug to avoid infection but it seems to have worked anyway. Next time I will take a spoon with me and sanitise it, then I can give the mixture a good stir right before I tip it into the beer, and maybe give the beer itself a gentle stir to mix it more evenly as well.

 

[nosco]

I keeged the second 1/2 of the batch last night that had the polyclar in it. I took a sample from each keg and i cannot tell the difference between the 2. Interestingly they both taste pretty similar. Its a bit too sweet so i dont think it fermented out as much as it should have but it tastes like a bo pils (i think) Something didnt work with this brew. I think my whirlflock tabs are out of date but i couldnt put it all down to that. Is bo pils malt always like this? Ill try some gelitine tomorrow night.

 

[nosco]

As you can see very hazy.

 

[dicko]

If it is the Floor Malted Bo Pils that you used it may benefit from a stepped mash to assist in breaking down sme protein.

I have a bag of it but haven't opened it yet. Until now I have been using the ordinary stuff from Weyermann.

I am not sure that adding polyclar to the fermenter at room temperature will do much as it is designed to work in chilled beer as far as I am lead to believe.

Here is one that I prepared earlier crappy phone pic but you get the idea....

 

[nosco]

I used the polyclar in the fermenter at about 1-2c for 10 days. I had it at -1 for the first day or 2 but i didnt think my little ferm fridge could handle it so i dialed it back a bit. Maybe i didnt mix the poly up enough or the wort when i tipped it in? Dunno.

 

[Black n Tan]

Polyclar VT is designed to remove chill haze, so the first thing to understand is whether your beer is suffering from chill haze. If the haze dissipates as the beers warms then you have chill haze. If not then it may be due to yeast. Did you use gelatine or isinglass to remove the yeast? How long have you been lagering? Kegged or bottled? Did you bulk lager?

 

[nosco]

The glass on the left has been at 0-1c for 4 weeks now and hasn't changed a bit over that time. The glasses in the pics where both left on the bench for about 25mins so I don't think it's chill haze. I've only used polyclar so far.

 

[Black n Tan]

The polyclar won't remove the yeast and I suspect this is your problem. is the beer kegged or bottled?

 

[nosco]

Kegged. The first half of the batch went in 4 weeks ago and the second half on Saturday.

 

[Black n Tan]

The first few pours will always be hazy as the years settles. I would assess again in a few more days after you have pulled a few more beers to see if there is a difference. I use polyclar routinely on my lagers, but recently did a lager without polyclar and it certainly has chill haze, so the product works.