Unfiltered Hoppy Beer: Floaties vs. Hazy

A couple of minor modifications.

 

You made mention of three items:

Flour

The addition of flour to the kettle will indeed create a haze in beer: a starch haze. Some homebrewers will add a bit of flour to their kettles when brewing Wits in order to ‘enhance‘ the haze of that style of beer. I personally do not add flour when I homebrew my Wits. The ‘challenge’ here is that starch is a food source for any potential unwanted microorganisms that may exist within the beer. In brewing we practice sanitation vs. sterilization so there is always the aspect that unwanted microorganisms may be present. The larger breweries utilize pasteurization to address this topic. The vast majority of craft breweries do not pasteurize their beers. It seems to me that intentionally adding starch to the kettle is unwise from a beer stability perspective.

Oats

I homebrew with Oats (Flaked Oats) when I homebrew my Oatmeal Stouts. Those beers do not come out hazy. Would they be hazy if I utilized a higher percentage within my grain bill? Hmm, I am uncertain if that would genuinely occur across the board. If a brewery decides to utilize a high(er) percentage of oats, and the resulting grain bill is compatible with the beers they are brewing, that would be OK with me.

Yeast

Pitching more yeast does not result in haze. Pitching too much yeast could have negative flavor impacts on the resulting beer (also beer style dependent). It is not a good brewing practice to pitch too much yeast.

Cheers!

 

Still waiting for a hazy stout.

 

I drank a lot last night. I read this post at 6am and couldn't understand it. But assumed that was just my mental state. Tried again just now and still no dice. Will try again in a few hours.

But so far my answer is "no"

 

I have read/heard that Tired Hands uses some flour when brewing their Milkshake series of beers. Consequently this means that the majority of their hazy hoppy beers are not brewed using flour.

That is dependent on how quickly the beer is consumed and the amount of unwanted microorganisms within the beer. Tired Hands 'advertises' that you should drink their beers quickly. On the can labels they state: "The beer in this can is hyper fresh, unfiltered and fragile. Enjoy the contents ASAP for a beautiful and befuddling organoleptic experience." So, if you drink the beer quickly there should not be any noticeable off flavors (yet).

I would simply suggest that adding flour is not a positive from a beer shelf-life perspective. Needless to say but breweries like Tired Hands get to decide how they brew their beers. I can state with 100% Certitude that flour is not utilized in Jack's Brewery.

Cheers!

 

The real question by the OP is did he make a New England Style IPA because he made a beer cloudy/hazy/floatie.
For me the style is defined first by the hop character. I know people hate the "juicy" term, but I think it is THE defining character in a NESIPA.
Point is, the haze and particulate are just a bi-product of achieving the goal. Haze does not define a style.

 

It has also been bread into consumers that hazy appearance means the beer will have said flavor, whereas clear beer will have a different flavor. It's a way to get the drinker in the right mind sight before taking a sip. But yeah.

 

To my knowledge, tired hands adds flour to milkshake beers for the mouthfeel, not to create haze.

I feel that "most" of the brewers of these hazy ipa's are doing things solely based off mouthfeel, flavor and aroma, but there are certainly plenty of people very fixated on the haze.

 

I'd say the mouthfeel is the primary distinguishing attribute. I've had 'juicy' beers that lacked the soft/velvety mouthfeel and had substantial bitterness on the finish. YMMV

 

Colorado and Cali are just jealous the East Coast has been bombarding the beer scene. It's an age old rivalry.