Clearing your brew

Time, pretty much and maybe dropping the temp in the fridge a bit more.

 

I use whirlfloc on about 50% of my beers. I forget it a lot. I try to avoid transferring break matter from the kettle to the fermenter. This means not transferring every last drop. I avoid transferring sediments from the fermenter to the keg. This means not transferring every last drop. I haven't used chemical finings for a while, but have used gelatin and Biofine clear in the past. Typically, I just rely on several weeks in the keg to do the remainder of the work, as it carbonates (I use the set it and forget approach to force carbonating). I sometimes have chill haze but for the most part, I have pretty clear beers.

 

All I ever do is whirlfloc and cold crash. Sometimes I skip the whirlfloc for darker beers, wheat, or belgian.. but most the time I chuck it in. Seems to work for me, and most my beers look just fine, I also do have them on keg, so the additional cold time doesn't hurt.

I'm generally not too concerned about appearance..

 

I do tend to like a clear brew and fine most of my brews...we just spent the night in downtown Houston and drank some nice pale ales and IPA's. Our fav from the night out was a Lone Pine...Yellow Rose IPA...SMASH IPA with Mosaic and murky good...

 

I transfer the beer into a clearing carboy on top of a couple droppers full of Biofine Clear for like 5 days. It's a cheap and easy way to clear out the brew that I've had some really good experiences with.

 

Out of old habit, I always add 1 tsp. of Irish Moss 15 minutes before the end of the boil. I also lager almost all of my beers, and they come out crystal clear - no need for filtering.

I have a related question. The above works for almost all beers, except that recently I made a Witbier (with wheat), and it has remained cloudy (It's still in the fermenter after 3-1/2 weeks in a room that is at 60F). How can I clear this beer at this time? I was hoping to keg it soon.

 

I'm spoilt with a conical, so I yeast off the bottom port pretty thoroughly once primary fermentation has ceased. Beyond that and with different equipment. Rack it off the yeast, and also dropping the temp to 31 - 34ºf and ignore it are my other two methods.
Old brewer what kind of yeast did you use. They may not be dropping out. Some strains are bastards that way.

 

I thought it had to do with the wheat (I added 5 lb of flaked wheat - also added 1.13 lb flaked oats) but perhaps it's the yeast as you suggest. I used Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier yeast.

 

Well, damn 6 pounds of those flaked characters? No wonder it's not going to clear up.
Also: This is from Wyeasts site.
Appearance: Very pale straw to very light gold in color. The beer will be very cloudy from starch haze and/or yeast, which gives it a milky, whitish-yellow appearance. Dense, white, moussy head. Head retention should be quite good.

 

I guess that says it all - it likely won't clear.

 

Biofine +/- PVPP should clear it.

 

Thanks! I might give that a try if I can find it.

 

why would you want a clear witbier anyway? hazy is part of the style

 

Right now, it's far more than just hazy :-)