The unfiltered craze.

I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about these types of beers because there are so many breweries trying to create hazy IPA's and there are a lot of different techniques being used. When I first started seeing these types of beers, I thought the craze was ridiculous. Having been taught by German brewers, I had a tough time accepting that a quality hoppy beer would possibly be hazy but I tried to keep an open mind about them and as a result did a lot of research and experiments to come to some conclusions. First, the backstory...

At my last brewery, we wanted to continue to brew a Double IPA. The original recipe when I developed that beer was inspired by Pliny the Elder in regards to body, mouthfeel, and appearance. The hops were different, using Citra and Chinook. My last Chinook hop contract that I received, I was displeased with the quality of the Chinook and we were unable to secure a Citra contract. As a distributing brewery, spending $15-20/lb on Citra for a beer that we would be bottling and charging $8.99/4 pack was out of the question. As a result, I needed to find a way to create a DIPA with all the flavor that had come to be expected of the original recipe.

I began doing research on biotransformation of hop oils as a result. I became obsessed with finding hops that were high in geraniol with the thought being that I could use biotransformation to turn it into beta-citronella, thus recreating one of the most prominent flavors found in Citra. The research into biotransformation yielded a lot of results of people talking about the common yeast strains used in NEIPA's.

I began test batches using the typical NEIPA yeast strains and was surprised to find that when dry hoping during fermentation (in an attempt to utilize biotransformation), the beer wouldn't clear, but if I dry hopped after a yeast dump, the beer would look acceptably clear by most standards. However, the flavor was only achievable when dry hopping during fermentation. The hops I was using were Bravo, Apollo, Calypso,CTZ, and Cascade. Some tests used Centennial, CTZ, Chinook, and Calypso. I remember giving samples to other brewers and telling them to guess the hops I used. One of the brewers with a great palate said "Clearly, no 'normal C' hops were used."

I recalled in school discussing cold break and how it could smear yeast cells and prevent flocculation. My theory was that hop oils were smearing yeast cells in a similar manner and preventing them from flocculating, thus leaving the beer hazy. In addition, I theorized that if the beer were to be given enough time for the yeast to flocculate, that the oils on the cells would be lost with the yeast. Therefore, the haze was a side effect, not something that was being intentionally added.

A lot of people say that the haze is the result of a lot of adjuncts, however, I have brewed several beers with 20% flaked oats that have appeared very clear (My current IPA uses about 11% flaked grains). At least one of the yeast strains being used for these beers seems to produce a lot more glycogens than other strains and increases the perception of the creamy mouthfeel.

A lot of people also say that the haze is the result of oils in suspension, but I use a lot of pure hop oil and have never had a "normal" beer that was hazier than what you would expect some of the great West Coast IPA's to be. I never filter hoppy beers, so that clarity was being achieved with just cold crashing and dumping yeast every day for 2-3 days.

There is a LOT that goes into these beers, it is absolutely not just a matter of dumping citra into a whirlpool and dry hopping with copious amounts. In fact, I have found that my hop dosing rate has decreased, but the perception of intensity is much greater. Likely because of the hop oils smearing the yeast cells and the mistaken identity of esters being perceived as hop flavor. Unfortunately, a lot of brewers are making beers hazy just for the sake of being hazy and that has hurt a lot of people's perceptions of what these beers can actually be.

ETA- While I personally like the hazy IPA's, I wouldn't want them to replace West Coast IPA's, but rather exist as a separate entity. In my mind, a quintessential example of each substyle is very different. Also, as stated, the freshness is very important for beers with a high percentage of solids in suspension, so will likely remain a small brewery craze if you want to find the best examples. Unfortunately, many small breweries don't have incredible quality control, so the world class examples of the style will remain somewhat exclusive.

 

Here's some others from Sand City and LIC BP.

Neutrally lit. Kind of makes you say EHHH



Less of a orange glow than the first one I showed


LIC




After awhile, there was an overriding theme of SAMENESS. Almost like the trading card phase years ago. Whether it's a good thing or not, you could not really pick these three out of a lineup ( OH, LIC, and SC). NY is all in for the haze craze. I certainly enjoyed it

 

Maybe you just need to homebrew you own hazy IPA?

It’s not hard:

· Produce a protein rich wort using wheat malt, and/or flaked grains (wheat, oat)

· Use a ‘shit ton’ of hops for end of boil and dry hopping. Hops like Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic,…

· Use the Boddington’s yeast strain (Wyeast 1318) or the Whitbread yeast strain (Wyeast 1098, WLP007, S-04)

Last spring I brewed my version of a Trillium Galaxy Fort Point Pale Ale and it turned out great. It had the quality that folks like to describe as “juicy” and a very nice soft/pillowy mouthfeel.

Cheers!

 

I may give it a go come Spring.

 

As another input, my wife is a HUGE hop head and I was concerned that the turbid/murky/opaque appearance would be a turn off for her but the flavor/mouthfeel aspects 'won out'. That batch was all gone by the 2.5 month mark (duration from the bottling date) and I asked my wife if she would like me to brew this batch again and the answer was a very loud: "YES!!".

Cheers!

 

So are they typically using some small amount of kilned malt? Most that I've had look very pale and taste like they've just used pale malt along with whatever wheat/oats they are using.

Probably the best beer I've had that falls into this category was Other Half's Second Anniversary DIPA on draft a couple years ago.

I've not had any beers from Treehouse or Trillium. But I've had highly rated beers from Bissell Bros and Tired Hands that I thought the hop aroma was great, but taste/mouthfeel, not so much.

I've enjoyed hoppy beers I've had from Hill Farmstead & Alchemist but I don't think those beers quite fall into this category.

 

Honestly, no idea. Read the writeup from @honkey - it's orders of magnitude more knowledge than I even come close to approaching on the subject.

Interesting. I've not had any Tired Hands, but I really like Bissell Bros' Lux. Also, Hill Farmstead is, I believe, the original NEIPA source - others may correct me, but I believe that to be the case.

 

Questions like this are definitely complicated depending on how far you want to dig. For example:

 

I had cans of Bissell's The Substance and Baby Genius. I think they had better mouthfeel than the Tired Hands beers I've had

Hill Farmstead may have "hazier" beers, but Edward is their flagship hoppy beer and it's not like these others. It's got some bittering balance, like the Alchemist beers.

 

At the end of the day it is not about being "sloppy" or "lazy" as some have suggested. Yes there is a ridiculous craze/hype around these beers and some people are putting out mediocre to poor beers that are being purchased purely because they are hazy. This is unfortunate but not unexpected. Beer is constantly changing and very skilled brewers are intentionally making some fantastic hazy IPAs that showcase newer hop varieties. These brewers could easily use temperature and pressure to make these beers "bright" without filtering them.

 

It all comes down to the brewery. I use floor malted Maris Otter, Flaked Oats, and Flaked Wheat. I'd venture to say that the majority of beers brewed in this style are using similar grain bills, but I'm sure there are plenty of breweries also using crystal malts, honey malt, or other highly kilned malts.

 

Thanks for the insight from a brewers perspective.

 

Heist?

 

In Dave Green's (@telejunkie) clone recipe for Trillium Fort Point Pale Ale he calls for 12 oz of dextrine malt and 4 oz of 22L British crystal malt so not much from a kilned (crystal) malt perspective.

The recipes does call for 1.5 lbs. of wheat malt which IMO is critical from a protein perspective.

Cheers!

 

True. I should have specified no one that does any sort of distro.

 

Apologies if it has been brought up already, but isn't unfiltered beer also healthier for you? I've heard a lot of talk in homebrew forums that the haze is nothing to worry about and that it actually means you're getting a lot more naturally occurring vitamins in your beer.

Not that I can actually taste the vitamins but...

As others have said, I think it's definitely to do with the rarity and variety. This style doesn't stay good on shelves too long and thus it isn't mass produced, so it tends to command a lot of demand right when it's released. And as far as variety goes, I tend to crave what I haven't been getting. After a bunch of West Coast style IPAs, an East Coast starts sounding really tasty and vice versa.

 

I'll join some of the other contributions in that I've come to prefer the middle ground, light haze, firm bitterness and big hop flavors and aromas. Pliny the Elder was a great beer, Trillium Mettle was a great beer. Heady Topper and Foundation Epiphany were some of the best for me, both bitter and 'juicy'.

I really don't care about clarity, I've had plenty of clear beers that were awful, and plenty of hazy beers that were awful. If I wasn't looking at them it'd come down to more important things like aroma and taste. If clarity is so important why not drink Bud, perfectly clear. If your tastes prefer pine try a beer like Tree House Sap, very Piney while retaining low bitterness, or Banded Horn Daikaiju.

As for the (sub) discussion about color, in a daylight setting, a very white/blue light, most of these hazier brews are pretty pastel looking rather than vibrant, the only time you get color like some of these photos is very good lighting (on purpose or not) or saturation/hue adjustments.

 

I don't totally agree with this. I think that this is another case of beer enthusiasts viewing things in a beer microcosm. If you gave "the vast majority of beer drinkers" a totally opaque glass of pale beer, I'm guessing that most of them would give pause to actually drinking it. This goes beyond the insulated BJCP definitions of "acceptability" that we cling to. I'm not claiming that there is anything "wrong" with totally opaque pale beer. When someone here claims that "tons" of beer drinkers like these beers it is an exaggeration to make a point, but I don't know if they recognize their claim as an exaggeration.

 

You might be surprised as to how Helles and Dunkel vary in Bavaria. The Munich versions of both are what the guidelines are written against. There are Hellesbiers in Franconia that have nice hop flavor and aroma. Same for Dunkel, and some have a roast in the background, not as much as some Scwarzbiers, but there.

 

I agree 100% with this statement.

The vast majority of beer consumers would not even take a taste of a beer that is turbid/murky/opaque in appearance.

There have even been some very experienced beer people who post on BA who have posted their views that beers that are turbid/murky/opaque (other than Hefeweizen, Wit, ...) have a technical brewing flaw.

Cheers!