Used 90min vigorous boil, 3/4# of hops, whrilflok, 30min whirlpool, and a 30min settle in the kettle. I've never had a batch that murky. Normally I can see several inches into the kettle of light colored beer once it's settled. This time, nothing. Top 1/4" maybe was clear. About 90% weyerman pils and a little Vienna, C40, and GNO. It was impossible not to transfer most of that material into the fermenter. Now the bottom half of the fermenter is this "fluffy" break material even after 24hours at 62F. The mash never cleared after a 3min voirlaf either, which is typically enough. Stable mash pH of 5.4 throughout mash. Otherwise I hit all of my targets. I'm hoping it compacts a lot more once I crash it.
Honestly, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I gave up on worrying about the transfer of break material a long time ago. It will get churned during active fermentation but the break material will be the first material to settle out as fermentation slows. I can make crystal clear beers with time or gelatin and have not had any long term stability issues leading to off flavors in the keg our bottle. Some of my beers are almost 2 years old.
Yeah. You are right, this batch is just polar opposite of literally the last 50 batches I have made. Even the first runnings wouldn't go clear like normal after a few minutes circulating.
I had a similar brew day with the grodziskie I made in July. 100% oak smoked wheat but I couldn't believe how murky the beer was during the later, kettle, and fermenter. By far the least appealing looking beer I'be put into a fermenter. Even with gelatin it just finally dropped clear, but looks great now.
Right. Literally every batch has something about process that is different, but this is very different. The break is still "fluffy" in the fermenter. This is a people's choice beer for Roberts Cove Germanfest. I'm hoping it's not a nightmare to transfer or pour.
Today I experienced a mash efficiency that was 9% higher than usual. Probably enough to turn my session beer into something else. I'll need to be OK with a few tenths higher ABV. There is a consistency of process that eludes me, and I would think that brewing 10-15x per year, this wouldn't be the case. For your comp, you may want to look into finings.
