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Clear Beer? I don't get it....

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  • Clear Beer? I don't get it....

    First of all, I'm a total noob when it comes to brewing, but consider myself rather an experienced taster

    Well in the research I've been doing on home brewing I see lot's of additives and techniques to make a beer crystal clear and to avoid cloudy beers. Now maybe it is personal choice, but I've always found that my favourite beers are cloudy beers.
    In fact I remember saying to a friend of mine, that if I can see through my beer I'm probably not going to love it.
    There are some exceptions of course but generally I love a good cloudy beer.
    So what am I missing? These cloudy beers were from craft breweries so maybe they avoid over cloudy beer (is that a thing??). Note that I'm not a big fan of larger or pislner, don't get me wrong, it is beer so it is wonderful but low on my list of favourite beer styles.
    So is it just me? am I crazy or are others as confused as I about why people put extra effort into making there beers clear?

  • #2
    So, some styles of beer will come cloudy as that's what the style calls for. A hazy pale ale, for example. Others require them to be pretty clear to fit the style. For some it's a thing. It never used to bother me, but these days I do like it when I pour a beer, I hold it up to the light and see that it's nice and clear. It's not a deal breaker for me, but it's nice.

    I focus on taste over looks when it comes to my beers. I still fine the ones I like to be clear with gelatin though. It's just a nice to have. For me. It's not a lot of effort at all. A few days post fermentation I'll just cold crash the batch, mix in some gelatin and let it stand for a few more days before bottling as usual. Done.

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    • #3
      I also didn't care about clarity and I'd even clean up a NEIPA if I feel like, not that I make neipa's anymore. American wheats are also nice and cloudy, as they should be. I'm "over" IPAs, perhaps I made too many of them? I do enjoy a crystal clear beer more, feels like you went that extra effort to ensure it's clean. Some "craft" breweries make "unfiltered, unpasteurized,natural" pilsners and market it like it, but more likely it's a rush job or some misstep or a gimmick. Pilsner does have anything in the grainbill to hide your mistakes behind and neither should it have hop/yeast/grain particles floating around that can alter the more subtle hop/malt marriage.

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      • #4
        I found racking to secondary fermenter after 7 days in primary for another 7 days and cold-crashing a day before bottling clears up my beer. Don't do anything else and they are quite OK.

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        • #5
          Thanks for sharing your thoughts gents, looks like I'm in the minority so it makes sense that it is regularly talked about/mentioned.
          Taste is critical, I just find myself excited when I try a new beer and it has a nice haze to it I get much more excited.
          Well if anyone 'missteps' and clouds up a beer not to their liking, then I'm happy to assist with the disposal

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          • #6
            Im with Toxxyc on this one and basically do exactly as he does. I dont care for clear beer but most of the time they actually turn clear by themselves by the last ¼ of the keg
            The Problem With The World Is That Everyone Is A Few Drinks Behind.!

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Dewald Posthumus View Post
              I found racking to secondary fermenter after 7 days in primary for another 7 days and cold-crashing a day before bottling clears up my beer. Don't do anything else and they are quite OK.
              You'll probably get the same results without doing secondary

              Secondary is so yesteryear and only really necessary when adding adjuncts like fruit to your beer, so it's something I'll never really do.
              The Problem With The World Is That Everyone Is A Few Drinks Behind.!

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              • #8
                Originally posted by JIGSAW View Post
                You'll probably get the same results without doing secondary

                Secondary is so yesteryear and only really necessary when adding adjuncts like fruit to your beer, so it's something I'll never really do.
                This. Also, I find that in secondary you'll have a lot less yeast that can clean up your beer than if you just leave it on the cake. So I don't rack. Not even my meads anymore. It's more work, more cleaning and more risk. So I just ferment and bottle straight from there.

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                • #9
                  Thanks for the input, how long do you leave in primary then? 14 days?

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                  • #10
                    if you can coldcrash for a few days with fining agents like gelatin, kieselsol and chitosan and many others you can reduce your duration in primary. pilsner clears over time as you'd lager if for weeks, if doing a true to style pilsner

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Dewald Posthumus View Post
                      Thanks for the input, how long do you leave in primary then? 14 days?
                      10-14 days usually yes, but I've had beer in primary for as long as 4 weeks already
                      The Problem With The World Is That Everyone Is A Few Drinks Behind.!

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                      • #12
                        I left a beer in primary for something like 9 weeks before. To be fair, it was a busy time and I kinda forgot about it (fermenter stood in the spare bedroom). Beer was clear when I bottled, but clouded up in the bottles again.

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