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.

[Dene McDonald]

I never usually notice a problem. I've had one that didn't seem to clear but the others have been fine. My process is similar to yours, the only real difference being that I chill with my immersion chiller while recircing, and when I'm down to temp I take the chiller out, whirlpool with a spoon, and let it sit ffor 20 minutes before I pump it across. I generally use either a hop spider or hop bags.

[Cain Harland]

I have just started using gelatin for my last 2 brews and it makes a huge difference to clarity. Just a tsp of supermarket gelatin dissolved in about 1 cup hot water into the fermenter once the beer has reached cold crash temperature and give it a shake.

Do you a) recirculate through the CFC back to grainfather or b) go straight from grainfather to fermenter via the CFC (as their videos suggest)? a) cools the whole brew evenly b) cools some very fast but the some stays hot for a long time. I'm not sure how this effects clarity but there's a big difference between a late or flame out hop that's been cooled evenly to one that's sat at 90c for 20min waiting to chill.

[Mark Weusten]

I recirc in the grainfather until it gets down to 55 degrees (seems to be as low as it will go) then I pump out to fermenter. Temp coming out is 24c. I have a couple of Pale Ales in fermenters at the moment so will try the gelatine addition.

[Mark Thomas]

Maybe try CF chilling straight out into the fermenter. I've always done that and all of my beers have been clear (after settling down in the keg for a few weeks)

[Mark Weusten]

Worth a shot Mark

[David R]

I've not had a problem, I brewed an APA with 60% Pilsner, 32% Maris Otter and 8% Crystal20, turned out beautifully clear. I use koppafloc and cold crash, no gelatin.

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[Mark Weusten]

David do get a vigorous rolling boil, I dont even when using in doors.......

[David R]

No not vigorous, but strong enough to boil over [just] when I turned my back for a few minutes list time!

[Mark Weusten]

Where do you guys buy your grain from?

[David R]

Brewers Coop www.brewerscoop.co.nz

I get them to crush it and have hit my target 73% efficiency with the Grainfather, just single-step mashing, nothing fancy. They don't have a mail order website and I usually buy in-store, but I phoned them yesterday morning with a grain order and it arrived here [Whangarei] this morning. Great service!

[Mark Weusten]

I get most of my grain from brewshop online looks like others do too so thats not it. I am getting terrible efficiency, I just calculated on my last APA it was 62%.Was your target efficiency from a 60 minute mash?

[Peter Smith]

Are you giving it a bloody good stir every 20mins of the mash???    Stir it like it owes you money!   In my 50L Sanke keg 3v system I bank on 70-72% no stir - 75-77% if stirred.   I get a better eff if I batch then fly BUT I never batch sparge for lower gravity beers, rather assume lower eff and fly sparge until runnings gravity drop too far.  Mash for 75 mins stiring every 20 ish, then it takes about 20 mins to start running clear with a hot infusion to try and lift temp to around 75C   Sparging with 78ish and that normally takes around 20 mins

I crush my own via 2 roller mill and crush quite fine, have no stuck yet.