Filtering Beer Trouble

Here's a quick shot of my Kolsch.. Started drinking it, sorry!

Whirlfloc in the boil, and nothing else. 2.5 weeks or so in primary, left there, and dropped the temp rapidly to 36*F from fermentation temp, which was around 57*F. Let it sit for about 3 weeks, racked to keg, and put on gas and sat for another 2 weeks.

This is what I get-

 

Fatcity brings up another good point that I should have made clear in my previously replies. Crash cooling quickly doesn't necessarily mean you will get chill haze. It is just a catalyst for the bonding btw excess protein and polyphenols if they exist in your beer.

Is there any chance you could post a picture of your hazy beer? I'd be interested to see how hazy it is, how fine the haze is, or whether it has permanently clumped into "floaties"

 

FWIW,

That Kolsch recipe is a bastardized recipe you sent me a long time ago @koopa

 

You can't upload a pic to BA. You have to upload it to another server, then link it from your post.

 

It's already a big stretch using S-33 yeast to brew a beer and call it a Kolsch. Using US-05 and calling it a Kolsch is simply too far of a stretch IMHO. I would use the S-33 and ferment as cool as possible if those are your 2 best choices and you insist on calling the beer a Kolsch. S-33 is recommended as low as 58F I believe, so anything you can do to bring the temperature down more will help.

As for uploading pictures, if you have a facebook account you can simply upload them to facebook. Then right click on the image on facebook and select "copy image location" then when you post on beeradvocate you select the image icon and paste your facebook image location.

 

I would stay with S-33 if you want to call it anything considerably close to a Kolsch. I use Wyeast 2565, their actual Kolsch yeast. It's know to not want to flocc out well enough. All things considering, if you are use S-33, I think you may have more going on than just time and not using a fining agent. pH is my culprit in there, as it can cause some haze.

Can you get a legitimate Kolsch yeast to use and try? That COULD be the difference, and might make things simpler to clear up.

Clean, slightly fruity, and wine like notes are hallmarks of a Kolsch.

 

I'd guess that's because Fermentis doesn't sell a Kolsch strain. The true Kolsch strains from Wyeast or White Labs would be a much better choice.

 

S-33 and US-05 are fairly clean yeast strains. Kolsch strains can have small amounts of fruity, wine like, and even sulfur like qualities that you will be hard pressed to get from US-05. S-33 won't necessarily provide those characteristics either to be honest. But I think it should have a touch of personality to it (compared to US-05). Kolsch strains are also lower attenuators than US-05. At least the S-33 is a low attenuator and it likes fermentation temperatures that are closer to typical Kolsch ones. For those reasons, I'd lean toward the S-33 over the US-05 personally. The US-05 will make it taste more like an American Blonde Ale in my opinion.

S-04 is both fruity and a low attenuator so, while I really don't like that yeast in any beer styles I've tried it in, maybe it wouldn't be the worst option? I think it will have too much fruitiness for a Kolsch though. My gut still says go with the S-33, especially if you can get the primary fermentation temperature lower (to say 58F - 60F) than you were planning.

 

My guess is that maybe the wort is cloudier because the irish moss helped proteins (that used to stay dissolved in your wort) to coagulate, making them more visible to you as you filled the fermenter. They should settle out to the bottom of the fermenter fairly quickly though. Either that or maybe you managed to get more cold break into your fermenter some how this time? Do you usually filter btw your plate chiller and your fermenter with that 100 micron screen, or was that a new technique for this batch? If it's normal, could you possibly have transferred fast than usual and perhaps broke up some of the break material into smaller pieces, actually allowing more of it to pass through the filter than usual? These are long shot guesses on my part...take them with a grain of salt. As for the green color, the only thing that comes to mind is hops.... Did you possibly carry some (or more than usual) into the fermenter somehow?

 

Maybe you could reach out to @boddhitree to find out where to obtain Wyeast & White Labs yeast. My preferred yeast for a Kolsch is Wyeast 2565 but I would expect that WLP029 would make a nice Kolsch as well.

Cheers!