Northeast Haze through a microscope

Pretty cool. I'm all for scientific analysis of beer. Nice post OP!

 

It is interesting to see what causes the differences in haziness. Especially when it involves some of my locals. I am always most curious about the settling if the sediment to the bottom and how it not only completley changes the appearance, but the varying amounts of time that this takes place from beer to beer, and batch to batch. Hoof Hearted has had some distinct variations (of course being newer/smaller plays into it too).

 

There is an ongoing thread in the homebrewing forum regarding NEIPA haze and alot of different opinions as to where the haze comes from. @JackHorzempa @honkey and others may be interested in these slides. While I can agree that hops are indeed in suspension, my question is why dont other beers hopped at similar rates not show the same haze? Currently I am in the process of brewing a split batch with two yeast strains to compare the opacity of the finished products. One batch will be getting wyeast 1056 aka chico, the same yeast SN uses I believe. The second batch gets wyeast1318 aka london3 which is the yeast many speculate Shaun Hill is using for his hoppy beers. on closer inspection, it appears that some of the green particles in suspension are sphereical, and make me think that they are hop oils "beading" up...

 

I'm so into these unfiltered OJ looking thick IPAs. So damn good

 

Those green spheres are yeast cells. There's a ton of yeast in that slide; even more than I see in hefeweizen samples. Couple that with some wheat or flaked grains and you get that turbid beer in the glass.

 

I listened to a podcast this afternoon that posited (among other things) that in all reality, this haze is really a flaw, and that breweries simply say, "it's rustic and artisanal." I'm not swayed either way on the subject. Although, I'm used to a decent clarity in my IPAs, NE or otherwise. What I would like to add is this- it's neat to see this at the microscopic level.

 

One day, I want to do some science on these beers too OP.
Was thinking one day a lipid based extraction (maybe a modified hexane-chloroform extraction) and then run them on a mass spec. Science for the sake of science, hell yea

 

I'm far from a scientist and failed pretty much everything science related from 9th grade on, but it seems that it would be useful to also share non-hazy IPA slides for comparison/contrast.

 

Hop oils creating haze... No. Sorry. Definitely not. Proteins, tannin, polyphenols and yeast. Hop particulates will be visible with the naked eye.

 

Both beers look equally hazy, but Konkey Dong looks paler and milkier--though whether that's the oats/wheat or yeast that's responsible for that, I can't say. We've already beaten the dead horse about what makes NEIPAs so hazy to begin with, but examining the objective differences via scientific analysis is a fascinating area of research.

 

Does the part in which you look at the beer under a microscope count towards the "appearance" score?

Because I really don't feel like lugging around a microscope at the bar...

Seriously though, cool experiment.

 

Did you use methylene blue or something on the first sample?

I still think yeast is causing the haze in the second sample more than hop particles. Being able to see any yeast under a microscope in finished beer takes quite a bit of yeast. I have pulled very cloudy beer samples at my brewery and seen less than 5 cells on a hemacytometer before.

I may be able to add some pics later today.

 

Funny... Who are they to say it is a flaw? If it is repeated by the brewer and is done so intentionally, how can someone say it is a "flaw" and not an "attribute?"

 

Probably any attribute of a substyle starts as a flaw...

 

I asked a brewer who makes these types of IPAs and he said it's the yeast. I am not on the oil theory train.

 

Beer Fascism. It's all the rage.