Cloudy beer

[Mark Weusten]

I was hoping for some feedback from Grainfather uses about the clarity of the beer they end up with. I have not had a clear beer yet so I am thinking there must be something wrong with my process. I thought I might not be mashing long enough but have done 90 minute mashes. I add 1 gram Koppafloc in the last 10 mins of the boil. It makes no difference if at flameout I chill immediately or if I I steep for 20 mins then chill. I don't use gelatin but cold crash my beer at 2 degrees for around 5 days before bottling. Only thing I can think of is the counterflow chiller takes too long to pull the temperature down. I think I will borrow an immersion chiller for my next batch. By the way I have tried different yeasts and it doesnt help. I normally have the beer on the yeast for 2 weeks. All comments appreciated.

[Des Ross]

I have no idea as to the best mashing technique for a Grainfather but with my HERMS 3V setup, I ensure the grain is free of lumps at mash in, set my target temperature on the PID and NEVER disturb the grain bed from that point on...if the crush is correct, you will have a perfect filter bed, excellent efficiencies and crystal clear wort...on my system it's consistently at the 90% level. My experience is that stirring the mash is counter productive to producing high quality, clear wort..

[DMAC]

I guess you are referring to mash efficiency for those that may confuse it with total efficiency

[Dene McDonald]

I get my own form my own (new) home brew store (shameless promotion here!) http://www.brewphoria.co.nz 

I've had plenty of time to play with the level of crush and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I was having a bit of trouble with my mill for a start and was getting a lot of flour. There was no problem with clarity at all. Recirculation on the GF seems to be really good at clarifying the worth and by the end of the mash it's the clearest I've seen it on any brew system.

[Mark Thomas]

I used to live a few blocks away from Brewer's Coop, but now I generally buy online from Brewshop. They're bloody quick - a couple of times i called an hour after placing my order online, and they'd already packaged the order.

I have had very slow sparges with crushed grain from Brewshop. I had never noticed that with Brewer's Coop, but maybe I just didn't notice (rather than any particular difference in the crush)

[David R]

I've not had any issues with the crush from Brewers Coop. The other good think with them is that they turn over a huge amount (over two ton a month, last time I asked!) so it's always fresh.

[DMAC]

Perhaps a temperature problem with the mash could cause low efficiency and cloudy wort. Have you checked the mash with a thermometer?

[Mark Weusten]

Yeah I need to get an accurate thermometer and check my GF's temps. I have a temp gun but I think I need to buy something to go in the wort.

[Peter Smith]

stick an stc1000 probe in the mash mark...  they are not perfect but a great free digital temp meter that most of us already own