filtering beer
Longer conditioning will help, 2 weeks isn't enough. I would maybe try some polyclar is its that important to you for it to clear up.
What was the recipe and process (namely the berry part and how the oats were added)
Here's what I did.
2# Wheat Malt
1# Old Fashioned Oatmeal
4# Light DME
3# Clover Honey
3/4 oz Cascade 6% - @ 40min
1/4 oz Cascade 6% - @10 min
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 tsp pectic enzyme
36 oz frozen blackberries
24oz Mixed rasp, blue, straw, & blackberries
1 pint harvested WLP051 California Ale Yeast
Mash oatmeal & wheat malt 1 hr @ 155
Cover frozen berries with water, bring just to boil, add 1 tsp pectic enzyme, crush & strain.
Rinse strainer with cold water into the fermenter
60 min boil with both DME & honey
Irish Moss @ 5min
Cool to 80, into fermenter
Add cold water to 5-1/2 Gal
Pitched yeast @ 68 degrees
Fermented @ about the same +/- a few degrees
Brewed Jan 13
Predicted OG - 1.063
Actual OG - 1.066 @ 68
To Secondary Feb 6
Predicted OG 1.012
Actual OG 1.014 @ 68
Did a cold crash starting 2/9 - 38 degrees outside.
And sure, I can live with a cloudy beer, just never had one turn out quite this cloudy.
My enclosed porch, where the picture was taken, is about 45 - 50 degrees.
But it does get some sun during the afternoon.
????????
BTW, Smells great.
Brewski wrote:
But it does get some sun during the afternoon.
.
You do have it covered right?
There isn't much conversion power in wheat malt. Should have thrown some 2-row in that mini mash.
Some of your haze is unconverted starch and glucans from the oatmeal. That is likely the source of the bulk of your haze.
Did you let the fruit cool after the "just bring to boil" part? If not you killed the pectic enzyme once you added it.
Just my take on your process for future reference.
I am starting to feel that its not worth heating fruit at all, in an attempt to sanitize it. Realistically, heating it up doesn't really do enough, and boiling it long enough will certainly create pectin issues.
If I make some fruit beers this summer I'll certainly try using extracts, or just make purees in the processor first, then add it to alcohol containing beer in secondary.
Most fruit beers should be consumed quickly anyway, and I wouldn't worry about growth or contamination issues in that case.
brewchez wrote:
Most fruit beers should be consumed quickly anyway, .
Mike, I think your statement is mostly right, except I would replace "Most fruit" with "All"
I made some fruit beers, and never boiled the fruit. I would just use the magic bullet, and crush up the berries. Once, I just threw the berries in uncrushed, with blueberry syrup , and the batch came out really overcarbinated, presumably because the berries where still whole, and giving off sugars when I bottled it.
I don't know though, I think that batch looks great, Why not bottle it, and have it settle in the bottle, either way unless it's for a competition I bet it would taste great.
thirsty,
It's behind all the house plants, but I'll throw a cover over it.
Brewchez,
I brought the berries to a boil to soften them, to crush & strain. Didn't want to put whole fruit in the fermenter, too much hassle when I rack to secondary
Does the temperature make any difference at this point, i.e. will it clear sooner at a lower temp? When & where do you recommend introducing pectic enzyme if the fruit/juice is seperate from the base wort?
bruguru,
Is the "magic bullet" campden tablets.
No competition, just trying to make something good out of some left overs & stuff I found in the freezer.
No, the Magic bullet is actually the blender magic bullet. I like it for adding fruit, because you can choose the consistancy that you like without pulverising the fruit in 2 seconds, like with a blender. But I had a couple of beers that didn't look clear, then 2 weeks in the bottle they cleared up.
We use filterbags at work, from 10 to 1 micron. You can fill these with up to one gallon of liquid with the one micron, and the product gradually filters through the filter bag. if you use the 10 micron, it flows right through them, and you don't have to wait for the product to filter. One thing though, if you filter down to 1 micron you could lose the flavor of the beer. I've actually been meaning to try this, but never got around to it. I know the filters are inert, because we use them to filter epoxy adhesives, and they have to be so there is no reaction. If you want, shoot me your adress in a message, and i'll send you a few with different levels of micron. I was thinking that you'd just put a rubberband around the filter, to the syphon tube, and syphon it through the bag into your bottling bucket after you sanitize the bag, should work ok. Or, because I like to keep things simple, i'd just bottle them, and let it settle.
sorry, I wasn't that clear, I will send you new micron filter bags, I wouldn't send you ones full of epoxy, these are one use only, or at least for us they are. They are made of nylon, and i'm sure you could use them again, we just don't.
Do you run the risk of introducing unwanted O2 to your fermented beer by filtering?
Could it be that it is a better idea to add certain fruits or other additives during the primary stage so that the yeast can "go to town" on them when they're at their healthiest? Maybe this would help to clear the beer as the yeast drops out of suspension it could also take some of the other haze/fruit particles with it.