Murky Ale with US05

[Dan]

Has anyone had problems with US05 not clearing out in the bottle??

The last couple of pale ales Ive done with 05 have not flocculated well and left the poured beer looking murky and powdery at 2 weeks in the bottle.

I normally brew lagers and never have a problem. Im anal about not getting any break material into the fermentor so I know its not that. It looks like suspended yeast to me.

They taste bloody good (not yeasty) but the clarity bugs me.

Mashed at 67deg and got full conversion, OG was 1.065 so I used 2x packets of us05 and hydrated first. Fermented at 18deg for 2 weeks then bottled (FG 1.010). The only thing I can think of was that 2xpackets was too much yeast. Any thoughts/comments appreciated. Will it clear in time? Something tells me that if it hasnt cleared yet, it wont..........

Recipe  below fyi

[oliver]

US-05 seems like a medium floccer to me, so it does take a bit more work to get it to drop out than lager and english ale yeasts. 
Not sure how long you've been brewing Dan so sorry if I'm pointing out the obvious :p. Here's some ideas:

1. At 2 weeks in the bottle (assuming you're bottle conditioning) the yeast is probably still working on the sugars so it's in suspension for a reason :p. Leave them for at least 2 more weeks, then put the bottles in the fridge for at least a couple days before drinking. When you pour, make sure you pour gently and leave behind the yeast cake that forms in the bottom of the bottle. If you've highly carbed the beer and you've got a lot of yeast in the bottle you're kinda screwed as the CO2 will kick up the yeast as soon as you crack the lid. 

2. Make sure you crash cool or find some way of dropping out as much yeast as you can before bottling to minimise the amount of yeast in the bottle.

3. Rehydrate the irish moss if you're not already doing that, or try koppafloc/whirlflok etc.

4. I've had murky beers when something went wrong either mash/boil pH, unhealthy ferment, infection, etc. These beers never come right in my experience. Are you controlling the ferment temp?

If you're sure it's not yeast in suspension then I'd probably look into pH and sanitation, good luck :)

[Dan]

Thanks Oliver

Ive been brewing a while so know most of that stuff.

The Mash PH was bang on 5.2 and the mash fully converted (mash eff 85%). I dont think its infection or unhealthy ferment as the wort  fermented out and the beer tastes really good at 2 weeks. My theory is similar to yours that the yeast is still working, hence in suspension. I also reckon I may have over done the yeast with 2 packets.

I left one bottle in the fridge for 3 days after 1.5 weeks in the bottle. it didnt make any difference. Ill try leaving them another 2 weeks and see how we go.

I didnt know the moss rehydrate trick. thanks

[oliver]

Nice, sounds like you've got it under control. More yeast doesn't mean less clarity IMO, if you would have only used one packet you might not have gotten quite as much attenuation (in my experience with US-05). Have a crack at crash cooling after fermentation if you're not already doing so.

[Paws Xa]

If it is suspended yeast and not chill haze just give it more time in the fridge. I always found that my bottle conditioned beers were cloudy until they had at least a week in the fridge for all the yeast to drop out.

[Dan]

Definitely not chill haze as murky at room temp. Cheers

[MrC]

I've experienced this with US-05 at times in the past.  Gelatine is your best bet to clear up the beer but I guess it's too late at this stage.  Cold storage is your best bet at this stage.

[Paul Finney]

Hi Dan, the amount of Irish moss looks a little low. Do you BIAB, or use a mash tun? I have recently been BIABing whilst i rebuild my mash tun and without using at least 1 teaspoon of irish moss i get really murky beer. With a mash tun it may be enough, but if it was BIAB then that could be causing issues. 

[Dan]

Hi Paul.

I use a mash tun and I should clarify that I use "Super Moss" not irish moss flakes so 0.25 tsp is about right. I did find that the "super moss" powder  soaks up moister and goes hard in the container after a while. I did wonder weather it had lost effect so have gone back to good old irish moss flakes since then. Cheers

[Paul Finney]

Interesting. I do have a few people who say that the US05 tends to be cloudier than the Mangrove jack M44. The M44 puts a few off with its slower lag time though  but in general i have found it to be fine. 

[Mark Weusten]

On the weekend I was doing a 40 litre batch with a friend and got sent the wrong yeast so ended up mixing a M44 with US05 so that will be interesting as it took off quickly but will be interesting to see if it is clearer than my last batch of the same with just US05. Hopefully they dont fight and ruin the batch....

[Matt Smith]

Once they're carbonated, get those bottles as close to 0 as you can for at least 2 weeks and they should be nice and bright. US05 does take a bit of work to clear if your not using finings post ferment.

[Dan]

Just thought Id close this off. This brew has been over 4 weeks in the bottle now. They have sat in my cool garage (6-10 deg) the whole time and are still murky. Ive tried a couple in the fridge at 2 deg for over a week and no difference. When I say murky I mean muddy and cant see through at all.

Im picking that somehow I must have got too much cold break into the fermenter, which is weird as I didnt change my routine and top siphoned after cooling,whirlpooling and settling in the boil pot.

The only other thing I can think of was that my aroma steep (50g hops steeped in 400ml wort(in hop bag), cooled and put in fermenter at 7 days) may have caused?? It was very cloudy when it went in.

Im thinking Ill try this recipe again and use WLP060 yeast and skip the aroma/dry hop additions and see how it goes.