How would a filtered beer lose clarity?

[Audion]

Hi Guys,

One potential cause of this haze that has not been mentioned in full is physical stability or instability as the case may be...

I am referring to permanent haze resulting from the gradual precipitation of protein/polyphenol complexes from the beer with age. I guess this is the permanent version of "chill haze". This can take longer than a few days to develop but any oxygen inclusion will accelerate that process..

Notwithstanding the above, I would have a biological solution as a slight favourite in the absence of other evidence.

Kind Regards

 

[chefeffect]

I am starting to lean towards protein at least for my beer, as I BIAB and I am wondering if squeezing the bag at the end is the cause? Being it presses out more proteins and dextrins into the wort? Strange that it only occurs a few days after filtering tho, so your reasoning maybe more accurate, cheers..

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Hi Guys,

One potential cause of this haze that has not been mentioned in full is physical stability or instability as the case may be...

I am referring to permanent haze resulting from the gradual precipitation of protein/polyphenol complexes from the beer with age. I guess this is the permanent version of "chill haze". This can take longer than a few days to develop but any oxygen inclusion will accelerate that process..

Notwithstanding the above, I would have a biological solution as a slight favourite in the absence of other evidence.

Kind Regards

If I understand you right, you're suggesting that with age proteins are breaking down and hazing the beer?

In my case, I have various bottle conditioned beers from this same batch (kegged version now gone). From three bottled versions (straight after primary, after a few days crashed, and after filtering) the filtered version is cloudiest, and the straight from primary is the clearest. To me that suggests something other than stability, but I suppose the filtering could have removed some stabilising agents? I don't know if that's even a thing, just throwing it out there...

 

[chefeffect]

I just filtered another beer, and two days later it goes cloudy again frig me!! I might just give up this filtering stuff, but I am persistent and might push on another time or two? Anyways I filtered the beer after it was chilled for a few days as I have heard that's the way to filter out chill haze. Its gone bloody cloudy again, and this time I warmed the beer up and hey presto it goes clear again WFT! So is this because I am squeezing the BIAB bag to much and pressing out dextrins/tannins/protein? Or could it be something else like sanitisation?

 

[Audion]

Chefeffect,

Your symptom of clear when filtered but developing a reversible haze when chilled is a classic chill haze, protein/polyphenol complexes becoming insoluble at low temperature.

Difficult to avoid in an all grain brew of decent gravity. Extended very cold conditioning and filtration at lowest possible temperature are a combined strategy to improve the situation although it is difficult to maintain the low temperature throughout small scale fermentation. Alternately various commercial treatments are available at the conditioning point if you choose to go that way...

I am not a BIAB brewer so I cannot comment from experience on 'squeezing the bag"... in principle i don't like the idea, I see a risk of adding starchy runnings to your brew from residual unconverted grain material. To your final point, if the haze is reversible,ie: goes away when warmed up, I don't see the issue being with sanitation procedures etc.

Kind Regards,

 

[Audion]

Mr No Tip

Sorry for the delay, I can only offer that filtration would not be removing any stabilising component. It may be destabilising by incurring an ingress of oxygen.

If your filtered part of the same batch is the only portion with the problem I would still favour a microbiological cause.

Kind Regards,