77 replies to this topic

[BlKtRe]

I wouldn't dump beer that tasted good but was cloudy. I assume you're referring to the batches I made with WLP090 and those were dumped because they were not good batches of beer and keeping them meant taking up valuable real estate in my secondaries or kegs.

 

No, Im calling you picky to perfection. Not a bad thing. 

[Mya]

No, Im calling you picky to perfection. Not a bad thing. 

I was gonna say it reminds me of you

[Big Nake]

how old is that pictured beer?

That beer probably sat on the basement floor in a secondary for a month or so and then to a keg, chilled, carbed where it probably sat for another 3-4 weeks before being moved to the tap. The glass of beer in the pic was probably in the middle of the keg somewhere.

I think you are drinking the beer too fast. That or your fridges aren't at the temps you think they are.

Maybe I need to make my on-deck fridge colder. I sorta hate to do that because it's my oldest and probably least-efficient fridge.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Replace it Ken. There's a ton of cheap fridges on CL that will do the job better. You spend a lot of time and money to make your own beer perfect, why not ensure that it's at the right temps by spending $100 or so? At the very least, check the temps. If it's really in the 50's then your pale beers will have this problem because the gel isn't as effective.

 

OR start filtering your beer.

[BlKtRe]

I was gonna say it reminds me of you

 

Back at ya! 

[Big Nake]

Replace it Ken. There's a ton of cheap fridges on CL that will do the job better. You spend a lot of time and money to make your own beer perfect, why not ensure that it's at the right temps by spending $100 or so? At the very least, check the temps. If it's really in the 50's then your pale beers will have this problem because the gel isn't as effective. OR start filtering your beer.

That's a thought. One issue is that this fridge is all, all, all the way in the farthest reaches of my basement. I would have to take quite a bit of stuff out of my beer bunker to get it out and then I would need help getting it up the 12 steps so I could get rid of it. I just went down there... the thermo in that fridge is a zero-to-9 dial. 0 is warm and 9 is the coldest and it was set to "7". I will also say this... when I bring a keg from the on deck fridge and put it into the draft fridge and tap a glass right away... that beer is not as cold as the beer that has been sitting in the draft fridge so that's an issue, I suppose.

[SchwanzBrewer]

That's a thought. One issue is that this fridge is all, all, all the way in the farthest reaches of my basement. I would have to take quite a bit of stuff out of my beer bunker to get it out and then I would need help getting it up the 12 steps so I could get rid of it. I just went down there... the thermo in that fridge is a zero-to-9 dial. 0 is warm and 9 is the coldest and it was set to "7". I will also say this... when I bring a keg from the on deck fridge and put it into the draft fridge and tap a glass right away... that beer is not as cold as the beer that has been sitting in the draft fridge so that's an issue, I suppose.

absolutely. chill haze is less soluble at lower temps. crank that puppy to 9!

[Mya]

absolutely. chill haze is less soluble at lower temps. crank that puppy to 9!

yeah it won't precipitate until it gets right around freezing, in my experience

[Big Nake]

I would mention again though... why would my amber-to-dark beers (which go through the exact same process in that on-deck fridge) be clear all the time? Some of those might be ales which might be made with a domestic pale malt (which might have lower protein content) like Rahr, CMC or this Malteurop I picked up but also some of the darker beers are lagers where I actually use pilsner malt (someone mentioned earlier that Best Malz has high protein content) for the majority of the grain bill and those beers come out clear. In the past, if I had heard of someone having this issue, I would say it was a pH issue and that the darker beers are getting into the right pH level because of the acidity of the darker grains. But if my pH processes look good on these pale beers, that theory wouldn't hold water. I don't think it's the temp of the fridge.

[Mya]

I would mention again though... why would my amber-to-dark beers (which go through the exact same process in that on-deck fridge) be clear all the time? Some of those might be ales which might be made with a domestic pale malt (which might have lower protein content) like Rahr, CMC or this Malteurop I picked up but also some of the darker beers are lagers where I actually use pilsner malt (someone mentioned earlier that Best Malz has high protein content) for the majority of the grain bill and those beers come out clear. In the past, if I had heard of someone having this issue, I would say it was a pH issue and that the darker beers are getting into the right pH level because of the acidity of the darker grains. But if my pH processes look good on these pale beers, that theory wouldn't hold water. I don't think it's the temp of the fridge.

what is your kettle fining process?

[Big Nake]

what is your kettle fining process?

Whirfloc with about 7 minutes left in the boil. Quick IC chill and then into the deep sink with water and ice until everything is the temp I want and everything has settled. 4 of the 5 gallons of wort being racked into the primary is crystal clear. The last gallon has some hop schputz in it most of which gets caught in a strainer.

[positiveContact]

Whirfloc with about 7 minutes left in the boil. Quick IC chill and then into the deep sink with water and ice until everything is the temp I want and everything has settled. 4 of the 5 gallons of wort being racked into the primary is crystal clear. The last gallon has some hop schputz in it most of which gets caught in a strainer.

 

I do my WF at 5 minutes.  probably doesn't matter much though.

[Mya]

can't see anything wrong with your procedure

[Mya]

what water profile are you using for these straw colored beers?

[Big Nake]

I interrupt this most appreciated line of questioning so that I may bring you this important beer-related bulletin.Last night I went to tap a glass of this pilsner and I got NO beer. Faucet (#1) dispenses nothing. I assume an empty CO2 tank except that I just replaced it. I tap a bit of beer off of faucet 2 (same tank) and it works so that's not it. I go back and look at the keg on number 1 and the beer line was up against the back wall of the fridge and partially frozen. Then I open the keg and see that a good half of the beer in the keg is also frozen. I have not adjusted the temp on the fridge since I installed everything. The fact that the beer was SO cold suggests a reason for the chill haze... the beer was at 32°. The keg was less than half full and more than half of what was left was frozen. So I took that keg off and replaced it with a keg of THIS Czech Pilsner that I made. It sat in the on-deck fridge for exactly one month. (6-10 until 7-10). I sampled this one with a cobra tap and declared it delicioso a couple weeks ago but I declare it even more delicioso now. It's also much clearer. My notes on the pilsner made with 2308 says I used 3ml of acid in the mash and the the pH was slightly low (5.0 to 5.1 and I may have been battling with my meter at the time) and the Czech Pils says I used 2ml of acid in the mash and reached a mash pH of 5.2. Not sure on that but there are some clues in there somewhere. I'm going to snap a pic of this Czech Pils (which employed a full 4 ounces of pellets) and post it shortly. There is more color to this beer because I used some dark and light munich in the recipe.Now back to our regularly schedule programming...Both of these beers had 50% distilled water. This was before I knew I could neutralize bicarb with acid so the only difference between these beers and my more recent beers would be that the SO4 would be a little higher in the newer beers (27 instead of 14) because I didn't dilute. If you want specific numbers, I can post those too.

Edited by KenLenard, 11 July 2014 - 03:16 PM.

[neddles]

The beer would need to be a bit colder than 32 to freeze. EtOH lowers the freezing point. A 5% beer shouldn't freeze until it reaches 28-29F. Maybe you should swap places of your conditioning (on deck) and serving fridges.

[Big Nake]

The beer would need to be a bit colder than 32 to freeze. EtOH lowers the freezing point. A 5% beer shouldn't freeze until it reaches 28-29F. Maybe you should swap places of your conditioning (on deck) and serving fridges.

I know it's very weird. I have had all of this stuff in the same place for years now and I have never had a frozen beer with this setup. The weather has been weird and we have been going back and forth between warm & humid and cool & dry. I occasionally see that water has dripped onto the floor where my serving fridges stand and that's usually when it's VERY schputzy & humid. As for your suggestion, the big fridge USED to be my serving fridge but eventually I swapped their roles and the big fridge (which has been pimped out to hold 5 kegs plus a 10-lb CO2 tank) was made the 'on-deck' fridge and the serving fridges are now two 4.4cf Danbys. I'm not swapping it back... too much work and I hate doing things twice.

[Big Nake]

There is a bit more color to this beer... more like an SRM 5 or 6 as opposed to the other one I posted which may have been 3 or 4. But clearer for sure.