Chill Haze

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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rpoelking
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Chill Haze

Post by rpoelking »

I'm now enjoying what constitutes my 2nd batch of beer and I made a holiday Braggot. I love it! But, I put my crystal clear brown bottles of beer in the fridge and pulled out nicely chilled hazy ones.

I know specifically I dropped the temperature from a full boil to 70 deg in under 30 minutes. What else can I do to prevent/minimize this?
Last edited by rpoelking on Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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brewmeisterintng
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Chill Haze

Post by brewmeisterintng »

This is the question that many a brewer has tried to master. I myself thought that chill haze was a flaw and sought to eliminate it. I originally was using Irish moss in the last 15 minutes of the boil and have switched worflac tablets. My beer still had the haze. Now that I have several batches in the pantry, I am finding that time/ conditioning is the only thing that has stopped the haze. I have found that if you let the beer sit and don't jump too soon, it will be more likely that it won't have haze. On a side note, I am now kegging and force carbonating. I find that if you conduct a secondary fermentation and force carbonate there is no haze.
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Post by brewer13210 »

There are a lot of things contributing to and ways to reduce chill haze. Make sure you have a very vigorous boil which contributes to a good hot and cold break. Kettle finings will help in the last 15 minutes of the boil, and there are clarifiers such as the five-star super-moss (very finely ground irish moss), that are designed to be added to the final beer to reduce chill haze.

Note that if you are using any high-protein malts, such as wheat, to increase head retention, you will get some extra haze.

Unless it's really bad, most home brewers don't worry about a little chill haze. If it's really an issue for you, then there are are filter kits designed for home-brew sized batches. You just need to get the beer below the temperature where the haze starts to form before filtering.

Also keep in mind that most beers should be consumed at "cellering" temperature. I would normally consume a brown ale in the 45F range, not down in the 33F range that your beer 'frig might be sitting at and where the haze proteins are forming.

Todd
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Post by axis714 »

I agree w/ Todd above...but If I may add, My chill haze problem seemed to be more of a yeast still in suspension haze. I solved the issue by cold crashing after secondary to near freezing temps for 24-36 hrs before racking the beer to keg or bottle. By dropping out all the yeast I possibly can before bottling, I eliminated the haze and quite a bit of the sediment in my bottles--the 1 drawback I have is that bottle conditioning seems to take considerably longer, but for my kegs and tap-a-draft its improvement in clarity is well worth it.
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slothrob
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Post by slothrob »

Sometimes leaving your bottles in the fridge for a couple weeks before opening them can help reduce chill haze.
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ColoradoBrewer
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Super Moss

Post by ColoradoBrewer »

brewer13210 wrote:...and there are clarifiers such as the five-star super-moss (very finely ground irish moss), that are designed to be added to the final beer to reduce chill haze...Todd
Todd, it sounds like you are saying to add the Super Moss to finished beer. My jar of the product says to add it to the last 10 minutes of the boil. Has there been a change?
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Post by BillyBock »

I've tried various fining agents over the years and for me the best way to knock out chill haze is cold temps and time. Besides you can't beat it for simplicity, and it prevents you from potentially infecting your nectar. I lager all my beers (ales and lagers alike) at about 30F in the kegerator. For your typical 4-5% beer, my ales will sit about 1 month, and lagers about 2 months, before tapping. I haven't been disappointed yet with clarity.

v/r
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Post by rpoelking »

Basically then, I should only make beer in the winter since my only chance at chilling a carboy to those temps is by putting it in my garage. I don't have any type of spare fridge for that purpose. And time seems to be the second qualifying factor.

Of course, we've been having such a mild winter this year. :?
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brewmeisterintng
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Not really

Post by brewmeisterintng »

You can lage in the bottle. Too many time we brewers want to taste the rewards of our labors too soon. All you have to do is let the beer age a bit in the bottle somewhere it is semi cool to cold. In a cool environment the yeast will fall out of suspension and you will have clearer beer but it takes time.
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