Flour in Boil?

I've heard of commercial breweries using flour; it's not just homebrewers. If you want to guarantee haze, it seems this is one way to do that. I've never tried it but I intend to the next time I brew a hefeweizen. I was going to start with just like one tablespoon per 5 gallons to see what it does. My gut tells me that that seems like about the right amount, and might even be too much. Definitely don't want to overdo it or you'll have a lot of unconverted starch in your finished beer, which can not only turn it overly milky white but also might give something for any stray bacteria or contamination to munch on long term. In any case, as long as you limit the amount to something very tiny like a tablespoon or less, it shouldn't affect the flavor at all, just the color/turbidity. Much more than that, and it might taste doughy(?).

 

I've heard of adding flour to the end of the boil to create haze in German styles/Belgian styles that it would be appropriate for. Hefes, Wits, and the like. I've kegged a few hefes that floc and pour clear after about a month of cold-conditioning. @dmtaylor I've seen 1T used as a measurment for 5 gallon batches too. That sounds about right.

 

It could also get used in "wild" beers to add some long chain carbs for bugs to chew on.

 

This for sure, and it is easier than doing a turbid mash. It can be a shortcut to get haze in Wit beers too,

 

Since you mention hazy hoppy beers it seems important to note that I've had great "success" in the past creating hazy beers with significant dry-hopping. I suspect that's how many commercial brewers achieve the same success.

 

I assume there would be unconverted starches so you'd want to make sure all of your sanitation procedures are locked down

 

Why not just find grind the last lb of grain into barley flour?

 

Unfortunately, barley has major husks, so if you make flour of it and boil it..... will likely generate tannins from being boiled for very long in low concentration (very unlike a decoction).

 

Ok,then dehusked barley, if it exists

 

If you dry hop heavily, that will cloud up the beer plenty. Use a low flocculating yeast that you are all set without the yeast addition.

I have an IPA I dry hopped with 4-oz of Azacca (US-05 Chico Yeast) and it's still cloudy months later in the keg... And that yeast usually clears pretty well!

 

Ive been using a dry wheat extract as a late addition (with loads of hops) in my IPAs while combining with 1318 and have been getting some super hazy brews

 

I see what's happened..... High hopping rates will cloud the beer....... So then the average American joe says that cloudy IPAs taste better.... so then the commercial breweries catch on to this and purposely guarantee that their beers will be cloudy by adding flour, even though it is starch haze and not hop haze..... average American joe says, "wow look how cloudy this beer is, wow, it tastes great" and has no idea of how stupid this all is.... rinse and repeat tens of thousands of times.......

 

Maybe a portion of German Wheat Malt for the last 5 minutes. Roughly a tablespoon.

 

I quoted myself for all my typos (my apologies...), but can't edit after some time.

Supposed to say:

If you dry hop heavily, that will cloud up the beer plenty. Use a low flocculating yeast and you are all set without the flour addition.

You can always use more wheat as well in the grain bill, which adds proteins/haze. The perfect storm would be a low flocculating yeast, wheat in the grain bill and heavy dry hop...

 

Clear beer can be made with 4-6oz of dry hops. No filtering. No finings. No extra long settling time.

My current batch was made with 8oz of kettle hops and 4oz of dry hops. 2 week primary. 5 day dry hop. 7 day cold keg carbonation. It was clear on the second pour. This happens often with 1728.

The same beer would be murky with 1098, but would be clear before the dry hop.

 

One of the more seasoned members of my brew club routinely throws a 'handful' of flour into his Hefe and other beers that are traditionally hazy. Sounds like cheating, but he's won an awful lot of medals, and it's hard to argue with that!

 

In that case, use two handfuls of flour for a legit gravy beer.

 

Try corn meal and see if it winds up hazy enough. Flour seems a bit too easy to overdo

 

Okay, I'll bite... why would flour be easier to overdo than corn meal?