How to get a clear beer

[MarcP]

Hello all,I have recently returned from Sudan where my beer was very welcomed by my "friends" apart from the fact that Sudan is a DRY MUSLIM country, so alcohol is taboo and serious trouble, but thats a different story.

My son recently bought his own beer kit and we now constantly have two batches brewing and never a shortage.

We have brewed, Ausie pale ale, Indian Pale ale, Canadian Blonde, lager, Draught,Pilsner, Classic old dark and plenty more.

I just LOVE the beer.

My question is, although I dont have a problem with a cloudy beer, its when I offer it to my South African friends, they are a bit dubious. I recently brewed a batch of Ausie Pale Ale in clear bottles, and it does eventually become clear but when you lave to lie it down in the fridge, you disturb the sediment and it becomes cloudy.

Is there a way of filtering? To get a clear beer like the commercial beers?

I do get 23l from a batch.

I like to think of myself as a seasoned beer drinker and made 100's liters of Coopers beer, but always cloudy.

Best wishes outta South Africa

Marc

[Muddy Waters]

Hi Marc - There are many ways to help have a clearer beer and filtering is one of them...but I don't know much about that as I bottle at the moment and it is more suited to kegging.

 

One way to help have a clearer beer is not to rush it into the bottle. I brew in a temp controlled fridge and usually allow 1 week for fermentation, then 1 week for the yeast to clean up after itself and for the beer to start to clear and finally I crank up the fridge and chill the fermentor as far as my fridge will take it (about 3C) for a week. This final week makes a huge difference to the clarity of your beer but still leaves enough yeast for you beer to carb up in the bottle. You'll still have sediment in the bottle but not nearly as much.

 

The next step is to let your bottles age suitably and always store them standing up - This goes for when they are in the fridge too. If you have room in the fridge try and get them in there as long as you can before you plan to drink them as this will further help the sediment compact on the bottom of the bottle.

 

Finally when pouring I tend to hold the bottle up to the light and when I get to the last little bit in the bottle you can see the sediment start to make it way towards your glass. Stop pouring before it comes out and discard this last little bit - Seems wasteful but it less than a mouthful of beer.

 

Some or all of these steps, coupled with patience, is guaranteed to result in clearer beer.

 

Good luck [cool]

[SteveM33]

If you need to lay the bottles down then the only real way you can clear most of your beer is to filter it before you bottle. Cold and time will clear your beer but as soon as you invert/lay down/shake/disturb your bottles then they will become cloudy again. There are plenty of comercial beers on the market that still have yeast in the bottom, Coopers Pale Ale and Coopers Sparkling Ale, to name a couple, are brewed to be served cloudy.

 

Another alternative to help clear the beer that some people use is Gelatin. However, you will have the same result.... ie. when you lay down your bottles it will disturb the sediment.

 

If you can't change your practice of laying down the bottles then you really only have 2 choices.

1/ Filter

2/ Put up with it. After all it is only an asthetic issue anyway.

 

[Hairy]

I have seen these things but never used them (sediment doesn't bother me).

 

Sed-Ex Sediment Remover

[guest1525228310]

I have seen these things but never used them (sediment doesn't bother me).

 

Sed-Ex Sediment Remover

 

Craig did a video on

and they look like an option for people who are overly concerned about the clarity of the beer they serve from bottles.

 

The recent explosion of interest in craftbeer has I think made drinking not so clear bottle conditioned beer more generally accepted. A few years ago wheat beers and ales in general were rarely seen in public and everyone was swilling lager.

 

I now find crystal clear beer a bit uninteresting.

 

 

[craigm21]

Alot of people say that getting the wort cooled down quickly will help produce a clearer beer.

Using a bit of irish moss is supposed to help clear the beer as well.

[guest1525228310]

Alot of people say that getting the wort cooled down quickly will help produce a clearer beer.

Using a bit of irish moss is supposed to help clear the beer as well.

 

All good advice Craig but I think the OP is just brewing straight Coopers kits and bottling in clear bottles [crying]

Mind you he deserves a merit award for being able to homebrew in Sudan. Wonder where he found the beer bottles up there[surprised

[Muleyinoz]

Good on you Marc. It's hard to convince anyone that drinks mainstream beer that anything else is good. With careful handling you'll get clear beer from your home brew bottles. Load a six pack in the car, drive a bit and it's cloudy. Most of us don't mind that's the way bottle conditioned beer is.. You could keg and counter pressure fill your bottles to get it otherwise but my bet is they will shut up and drink up because the price is right! [wink]