clearing agent options in secondary?

[bredmakr]

I think I need to get back to a more disciplined regiment. Two weeks ago I threw pellet hops into my kegs, which clogged the valves. Now, I've forgotten to add irish moss to the boil and I racked to secondary last night. Lots of suspended solids. Being a novice at lager fermentation I don't know if it is suspended yeast or proteins. I'm going to take a wild guess and say suspended solids/proteins. What are my options as far as clarifiers go that can be added to secondary fermentation. I plan on placing the carboy in the freezer to start lagering this weekend. Irish moss still ok?

[fitz]

I would use liquid isinglass if you are going to use anything. Irish moss won't work in the secondary all of it would need boiled for the moss to work. Lagering will help with some of it also. You would be surprised the $#!% that falls out of beer and wine when the temps and barometric pressures change.

[canman]

time clears all and if lagering you have lots of time. I have never used clearing agents and have never had a cloudy beer that shouldn't be cloudy

[Gravity Thrills]

I agree with canman that a month or more of lagering near freezing temp will give you a crystal beer. But, in general, for quicker turnaround ales I have become a faithful follower of the polyclar/bentonite one-two punch. That combination will drop all the solids out of your beer and pretty much haze-proof any beer regardless of whether your haze problem is due to protein or polyphenols.

You have to play around a little and find the right amounts - start high and then back off on successive batches to see how little you can get away with. polyclar actually strips away some of a beer's color, so you want to use as little as you can while still getting an effective dosage. I follow the bentonite dosage procedured from Dave Miller's first book, and only use 2 oz of his dilute solution in a 5-6 gallon batch. You may have an initial objection to putting, well, mud in your beer, but it does the trick. I have read winemaking literature that claims you need at least a month for all the bentonite to settle once it has been added, but that absolutely has not been the case for me. I'll rack two chilled batches done with secondary into clean carboys tomorrow, dose them, and rack clear beer into kegs on Sunday.

I brewed for 10 years without ever using clarifiers other than Irish moss in the kettle. But, when I switched from mostly bottling to mostly kegging/forced carb, I did not have the month or so of bottle conditioning to take care of haze etc. I never minded a homebrew throwing a chill-haze, but now that I have a good method of eliminating the problem I figure why not?

Cheers,
Jim

[Shaft42]

I brewed a Rye Pale Ale a few weeks ago and forgot to throw the Irish Moss in the brew kettle. When I racked the beer to the primary it looked terrible, very cloudy. I thought it would clear in the primary, but it didn

[canman]

just be aware that anything you add to your beer is foriegn also most of these additives cause solids to come out of suspension including color pigments and yeast. You can effectively destroy your beers ability to carbonate in the bottle by dropping out too much yeast. Geletin also can change the mouth feel of your beer. Taking away crispness and introducing a creamy feel. These are extremes but there are many brewers out there that have learned these lessons the hard way. If you are lagering, time is on your side. Go "o" natural