To Filter Or To Use Adjuncts

[Effect]

I am looking for some advice regarding the clearing of beer.

Should I get a ultra cool filter to make the beer as bright as can be, then prime with nottingham?

Or

Should I use polyclar to get wheat haze, chill haze, yeast haze etc out of my beer.

At the present moment my beers are quite murky and cloudy Taste great but look very unappealing.

I have a feeling that most will say go for the adjuncts...with the current problems with my beer, which one or two should I use? I was thinking gelatin when racking to secondary and polyclar 2 days before bottleing.

Thoughts (or links?)?

Cheers
Phil

 

[Bribie G]

Spot on. What also works for me is to leave as long in secondary as you can arrange, so it's almost bright on bottling anyway. I reckon it's going to sit for a few weeks in the bottle anyway so it's just as well sitting undisturbed in bulk doing its thing and will probably mature better in bulk as well, I'd rather have the crud and grunge slowly raining out of the brew and getting left behind in the bottom of the vessel rather than have it happening in the bottle I have to drink out of.

 

[hazard]

I am looking for some advice regarding the clearing of beer.

Thoughts (or links?)?

Cheers
Phil

Phil, I am getting really clear beer at the moment - in fact, couldn't even get any haze in my wit when I tried to! my current process is:

1. Add Irish moss to the kettle - even though I pour all of the kettle contents into the fermenter, i get the impression that the moss still acts as a fining agent in the primary vessel.
2. Ferment in primary for 1 week
3. Rack to secondary on day 7, adding gelatine to fermenter before racking (to get it mixed in well)
4. On day 14, move to fridge at 5 deg (make sure fermentation is complete using hydro)
5. Remove beer from fridge on Day 13 or 14, leave it for awhile to settle down again, rack to priming bucket and bottle
6. Wait several weeks and enjoy crystal clear beer.

Some others have suggested that gelatine is added after beer is chilled in the fridge for better results, last beer I made I omitted the gelatin step altogether and still got very clear beer - it appears to me that chilling takes out nearly all the suspended stuff, and gelatin does not add extra value. On the other hand, if you haven't got a fridge then I would definitiely recommend gelatin (or isinglass).

Good luck with it, Hazard

 

[BoilerBoy]

If you use a 1 micron filter you dont need to add any yeast for bottling, it still carbs up fine.

BB

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Whirlfloc and time at cool temps will clear your beers up

Cheers

 

[Effect]

well, for my next brew I am going to go OTT.

Whirlfloc
primary for 14 days
crash chill
Rack to secondary
gelatine
have as close to 0 for 14 days
polyclar 3 days before bottleing

Hopefully that should give me clear as beer.

Even after leaving beer in secondary for as long as 2 months I haven't been able to rid my beers of haze and the one beer that I did gelatine had chill haze

So I am begging for a clear beer now. Whirlfloc, gelatine and polyclar you're up!

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I filter all my beer and I use polyclar on most of them --- BUT

filters and polyclar will do absolutely nothing for your beer that can not be done with time, patience and cold (as close to -1 as you can get) storage.

Filtering alone will not help you with chill haze at any rate - not unless you chill very very cold, let the haze form and filter while maintaining every point at near zero... hard to do but works.

General good brewing practice and a little willingness to wait should yield reasonably clear beers - the more willingness to wait, the clearer the result. All the other stuff is just to speed things up. So ... If your beers are a little hazy - or your are a little impatient, OK - some process aids and a filter will help you along - but if your beers are intractably murky -- then it might be worth looking at your process and ingredients and trying to work out why your beers are like that before you throw the technology at them. Just on general principles if for no other reason.

TB

BTW - Polyclar, Gelatine and things like that are not "adjuncts" they are process aids - they aren't really an ingredient, they go in, do their job and come out - not carrying over to the final beer in any significant way.

 

[haysie]

I dont filter any beer and have used clearing aids, polyclar, gelatine, irishmoss and found generally no difference, the only beers i detected difference was us-05 beer, all other beers i run a wait n wait senario on brewday, never in a rush, i crash chill minimum 1 week, i keg n bottle. I tried the polyclar because I had some, I didnt have a chill haze problem though. It made no difference just like the irishmoss makes no difference if you are prepared to cover up sit and wait. I am getting the clearest beers I have ever brewed by vorlaufing the entire 1st runnings.
ALL other yeast`s i use (wyeast) with time and proper brewing practice, the results are outstanding, that 05 one lets me down and tastes like stonefruit.

 

[Batz]

I filter all my beer and I use polyclar on most of them --- BUT

filters and polyclar will do absolutely nothing for your beer that can not be done with time, patience and cold (as close to -1 as you can get) storage.

If you start to filter and polycar you will never go back,your beers will look superb.
It took a bit of convincing this old fart to use these two methods as well, I made Ross demonstrate filtering before I was almost convinced.

Oh...no need to add yeast at priming either.

Batz

 

[haysie]

If you start to filter and polycar you will never go back,your beers will look superb.
It took a bit of convincing this old fart to use these two methods as well, I made Ross demonstrate filtering before I was almost convinced.

Oh...no need to add yeast at priming either.

Batz

disagree,
old fart also.

Polyclar is spoken of in two contexts, 1/as retailer demonstrates,> beer at <2deg, then as others including leading micros do add at boil. All avenues lead too reduction of chill haze, should not the homebrewer be disinterested in aids and strive for haze free beer without the garb.
I reckon its all a bit heavy on the average Joe, he thinks irishmoss is for a cold.WTF is this absorbant plastic, IMO plastic.
I reckon its bollucks, if you need that to clear a beer you need to look at your regime.
1000`S OF threads discussing chill haze.