Muddy Pints from Keg

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I've been avoiding asking this question, as I thought I'd solve it myself. I've had kegs in the past, and this hasn't been a major drama.

The beers (specifically IPAs) that I am pouring from the keg are muddy/opaque.

Now I'm used to a level of hop haze and opaqueness, but this is more a muddy look.

I thought a secondary stage would solve it, it hasn't. It's not being fermented on break. The kegs aren't being moved around.

I stopped "Ross method" or "dial up at 35 PSI and leave for 48 hours" methods, and instead, just dialed up to serving pressure and waited a week and a half.

Even after the first dozen pints, it's still muddy.

Now, given the beer isn't fantastic (I'm going to adjust the water to get the hoppiness back to where it should be tasting), is this a by product of a non-ideal beer (being just bitter and the hop character being muted due to the water I'm using not being treated)?

Any other suggestions

 

[mtb]

How long do you cold crash before kegging? Do you fine with gelatin or another product?

 

[mtb]

I had some fining agent (can't remember which one) which was denaturing when I prepared it, and in turn it made my beer really opaque. Just a thought

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

No to gelatin, mainly because my hoppy beers lose hoppiness with it.

I've done gelatin and none and in the past, after the first couple of pints, the difference wasn't so big that I was habitual about it.

Having said that, with my non-hoppy beers, I was considering it again.

 

[bradsbrew]

Just one or several? Hop haze?

I once brewed a beer with a really poor boil and didn't use whirflock. That beer was murky and it did not go away, when I finally tipped it out there was alot of brown sludge at the bottom of the keg, the second cube of the same batch had the same brown sludge at the bottom so I tipped it too. Only thing I could put it down to was the poor boil and proteins were not broken down enough?

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

No to gelatin, mainly because my hoppy beers lose hoppiness with it.

I've done gelatin and none and in the past, after the first couple of pints, the difference wasn't so big that I was habitual about it.

Having said that, with my non-hoppy beers, I was considering it again.

What's your secondary process?

Granted my dry hoppped beers are never perfectly clear, they are far from muddy/juice-like.

I used to use gelatine but find Biofine Clear is much simpler and similar results. I CC my beers for 4 days at 0-5c depending how much my fridges are struggling and transfer the beer into the keg with 20ml of Biofine Clear. Let it sit for a week or until carbonation is reached and after a couple pours the beer is pretty clear.

Not suggesting BC is better than gelatine, but it's another option for you to try. It's dearer than gelatine at $9.90 per 120ml bottle, for the sake of $10 it could be worth a try in your kegs?

Happy brewing!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Cold Crash and gravity feed to secondary. Leave cold for a few days in the fridge and then transfer via gravity to keg (after having let it sit for a period of time.

I'm reasonably confident that the majority of the junk is left behind, as I generally don't have this same level of problem with a saison that I frankly applied far worse processes to.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

It seems after some research that it may be a combination of things.

1. Hop haze (obvious) but not too much
2. Protein - specifically as the water I'm using in my area appears to be high pH. I've been meaning to get around to water treatment, but haven't yet got any calcium chloride (though I have most other salts).

I wonder (and have already wondered) if the fixing of my water, will fix this as well, as the 'hoppiness' hasn't been there.