Lallemand London yeast = completely opaque after cold crash and 3 weeks

[grooves]

Hi

Three weeks ago I brewed a beer based on Firestone Walker Extra Pale Ale - just pale + munich + carapils - no wheat or oats etc and I used Lallemand London yeast, which I've only used once before. Flocculation is noted to be low - but the beer is NEIPA murky after 2 weeks in FV including 4 day cold crash and a week in the keg - is this normal? Will it clear before I neck it all?! It tastes great already, but will hit its stride in another 3 weeks or so I think. It would be nice if it was clear by then. Chances of this?

 

[dmtaylor]

I've not really experienced this with the London yeast. It will have a slight haze for a while, but not murky.

It might still be fermenting. That might be active yeast eating in there still. You could have the "hop creep" effect if you dry hopped it. Contrary to popular belief, even in cold temperatures, as long as there's both yeast and sugar present (the sugar likely being generated via enzymes in the hops), the yeast will keep on eating it. While the yeast does see your cold crash and it does slow them down, they also see the sugar, and perhaps they are just THAT excited about eating the sugar, more than they are dissuaded by the cold temperatures. I have made many batches of cider from apple juice that sat too long in the back of the refrigerator at 2-3C. These are not sweet ciders; they are very dry. The yeast will eat sugar regardless of temperature, just much more slowly at cold temperatures.

My advice: Warm it up for another week. Maybe that will speed things up for long enough for the yeast to finish eating what they want and finally settle down for a nice permanent nap.

You might also have NEIPA style hop haze in there (and I'll admit, I don't fully understand all the chemical reactions that cause this, other than I know it's real). How much hops did you use? My guess is "a lot". I mean... it's an American Pale Ale... in which case, some amount of haze is understandable, at least while it's still young and fresh, which at 3 weeks, it definitely is.

 

[grooves]

Hops were 84g in boil, 28g hopstand , and 28g dry hop (~5 days) so a fair amount, but nothing outrageous.

The keg is at ambient - I haven't noticed any increase in pressure that might indicate active fermentation over the last week.

In any case, I'll have a pint later and leave the rest for a week and see how it goes.

 

[dmtaylor]

Hmm. That does sound reasonable.

Did you possibly mash hot, like 70C or greater? Have you calibrated your mash thermometer in both ice water and boiling water to ensure it reads properly at 0C and 100C? I ask because my next theory is that perhaps you mashed warmer than you thought and killed off the enzymes early in the mash, resulting in a starch haze.

 

[grooves]

mash schedule was 63c 30mins, 68c 15 mins, mashout 76c 15 mins in a Braumeister (PT1000 probe that has recently been calibrated)

The bottom of my glass last night was coated in a thin layer of yeast - so it seems just to be that it hasn't dropped clear yet. I didn't use any gelatin on this brew to speed up flocculation. I'm still surprised at how murky it is - it's well beyond cloudy.

 

[grooves]

Surely should be clearer than this three week after brewing... tastes great though

 

[dmtaylor]

Looks like wort. The mash schedule is relatively short and low temperature. What percent of each malt did you use? Munich has less enzymes than other base malt, and Carapils has no enzymes. I think I might be on the right track regarding mash temperature, except mash temp was kind of low instead of high, and mash TIME was relatively short. Combine all these factors with the London yeast being relatively slow to finish, and you might have built a perfect storm of uniqueness.

 

[grooves]

The wort was crystal clear - the murk has come from dry hop + yeast.

80% pale 14% Munich 6% Carapils

It fermented out to 1.010 - a bit below what I expected. It probably just needs more time. Next time I'll help London along with some gelatin.