Beer turns cloudy in fridge

[Beermaster37]

Hello brewers,
Hope this reaches the right folks for an answer. I'm new to this forum. Here's the problem:
Made a batch with dry malt. All went well as best I could see. Beer cleared well. (Nice n Shiny) Allowed to set for a month. Upon putting in the fridge, the beer went cloudy. Any ideas?

Michael in Oregon

 

[31bb3]

sounds like chill haze

 

[kev]

Did you brew a kit or did you boil? If it's been boiled (which I assume it is but you don't mention your process) then you haven't effectively precipitated the proteins then cleared them from the wort before transferring.

The cloudiness is the proteins coming out of solution at lower temperatures. They dissolve at room temperature but chilled they bind together and come out of solution.

There's nothing wrong with your beer, it's just cloudy.

K

 

[fbsf]

There's nothing wrong with your beer, it's just cloudy.

Amen to that. Anything I hop-tea or dry-hop seems to suffer the same, so I've given up worrying about clear beer and concentrate on the flavour instead!

 

[Sandimas]

Same here. It's just we Brits don't chill that much of our beer, the only stuff that goes in my fridge is lagers or stouts - if they're made from kits they clear fine, if I make them myself with DME and hops they're cloudy (chill haze) but clear as they warm up. The beer is fine. :thumb:

 

[morethanworts]

I like the unfortunate combination of (reasonably) well chilled and well dry-hopped bitters, so I'm going to have to get used to hazes, I think.

 

[Cheshire muzz]

Mine does the same. Did a kit beer and dry hopped it for a week in a secondary. After a few weeks of conditioning I put a few bottles in a fridge to chill them a bit as it was in the middle of our heat wave and they all went cloudy. Took them out and they cleared up again!

At lest I now know why...

 

[nixhaz]

Drink out of something opaque and you'll never know the difference :)

 

[brewtim]

They invented Polyclar for chill haze didn't they, for removing negatively charged proteins and leaving yeast in suspension?

 

[Beermaster37]

Hey
A great big thank you to all who responded. Some details: used a dry malt and boiled for one hour. Boiled in the hops. Did not use any dry hops. Yes the brew tastes fine. O K I'll use an old tankard and enjoy. Oh by the way, my wife is a Brit, I've had the pleasure of sitting in many a local pub and know much about local beers. Mostly with brother-in-law Martin in a small village in Norfolk. Stand by for some real brewing problems as I progress in the sport.

Cheers
Michael in Oregon

 

[mistycat]

polyclar works a treat but you will need to chill your entire batch down to about 4 c so you will need a temp controlled fridge to put your fermenter in.

 

[brewtim]

polyclar works a treat but you will need to chill your entire batch down to about 4 c so you will need a temp controlled fridge to put your fermenter in.

Agreed, are there other finings that will remove protein haze without chilling?

 

[morethanworts]

polyclar works a treat but you will need to chill your entire batch down to about 4 c so you will need a temp controlled fridge to put your fermenter in.

I have a fridge to do it, but do you have to use finings with Polyclar, or does it work on its own? It sounds like a good plan, as long as it doesn't strip out any of the volatile oils.

 

[brewtim]

polyclar works a treat but you will need to chill your entire batch down to about 4 c so you will need a temp controlled fridge to put your fermenter in.

I have a fridge to do it, but do you have to use finings with Polyclar, or does it work on its own? It sounds like a good plan, as long as it doesn't strip out any of the volatile oils.

Here's a manufacturers tech sheet for poyclar: http://www.ashland.com/Ashland/Static/Documents/ASI/PC_11446_Polyclar_Plus730.pdf

Different finings do different things, Isinglass for yeast & polyclar for haze for example.

Murphy's have alot available :http://www.murphyhomebrew.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=8

And you can buy smaller packs of polyclar from the malt miller. I stir in polyclar in the fermenter then drop the temp to 1 C (which takes 12 hours), hold it for a day or so then raise the temp to 12 C and add isinglass, wait another day or two then rack to a cornie, I then bottle clear from a corny once carbonated at 4 C :thumb:

Here's agood article about chill haze: http://byo.com/stories/item/486-conquer-chill-haze

 

[morethanworts]

polyclar works a treat but you will need to chill your entire batch down to about 4 c so you will need a temp controlled fridge to put your fermenter in.

I have a fridge to do it, but do you have to use finings with Polyclar, or does it work on its own? It sounds like a good plan, as long as it doesn't strip out any of the volatile oils.

Here's a manufacturers tech sheet for poyclar: http://www.ashland.com/Ashland/Static/Documents/ASI/PC_11446_Polyclar_Plus730.pdf

Different finings do different things, Isinglass for yeast & polyclar for haze for example.

Murphy's have alot available :http://www.murphyhomebrew.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=8

And you can buy smaller packs of polyclar from the malt miller. I stir in polyclar then drop the temp to 1 C (which takes 12 hours), hold it for a day or so then raise the temp to 12 C and add isinglass, I like to bottle clear :thumb:

Thanks for that. The kind man at my LHBS just gave me an out of date sachet of Polyclar to try for free. It's a year out, so hoping it works OK.

I bottled a Kriek when it was Feck-test clear recently, and despite a biblical amount of priming sugar (100g in <12L), 2 weeks warm and 4 further weeks slightly cooler, it's yet to get properly fizzy. I'm getting slightly nervous about bottling 'clear' beer. :hmm:

 

[brewtim]

4 further weeks slightly cooler, it's yet to get properly fizzy. I'm getting slightly nervous about bottling 'clear' beer. :hmm:

Sorry I made an edit after you'd posted, I bottle from a cornie once it's carbonated

I don't know much about lager and conditioning in the bottle, sounds like tired yeast (high alcohol?) because there should be plenty left in suspension if you haven't fined.

 

[brucestevenson916]

Mine does the same, I put it down to the gentle vibration of the fridges pump disturbing the sediment in the bottle. It doesn't get it when in my cold basement cupboard!