Finings and clearing agents?

[philosobeer]

Hey everyone! First post in a forum ever, so be gentle if I screw up haha. Anyway, my question is this: I forgot to add my Irish moss into the boil (D'oh!) and now my beer is hanging out in the primary fermenter. Im going to rack it in 5 days into the secondary with some hops for that sweet dry hop action. Are there any finings or anything I can add to clear my beer up from the general gunk that adds up? This is my 4th brew, so no kegging and I'll be honest, I have no idea what cold crashing is. I have the cheapo 5 gal. system that everyone starts with and cant really lager a beer. Thanks for the help!

[mabrungard]

You might consider PVPP (polyclar) in this case.  Since you're dry hopping, there probably will be a haze from that treatment.  PVPP does help clear that polyphenol haze.

[kylekohlmorgen]

How cloudy is the hydrometer sample now? Is that too cloudy for your liking?

If its ok - dont worry about it!

Otherwise Polyclar (PVPP) is great - just ask your LHBS how to use it.

Happy brewing!

[andrew000141]

Or if its not too hazy you could put it in your fridge to try and get everything to fall out of suspension. this is essentially what cold crashing is.

[garc_mall]

I would simply dry hop and forget about it. I dry hop almost all of my pale beers, and the dry hops give their own haze. I honestly wouldn't even rack it to secondary. Just toss the dry hops in, close the fermenter back up, and give it 7 days (or whatever the recipe says) and bottle. The little bit of haze you might get isn't that big of a deal.

[erockrph]

I would simply dry hop and forget about it. I dry hop almost all of my pale beers, and the dry hops give their own haze. I honestly wouldn't even rack it to secondary. Just toss the dry hops in, close the fermenter back up, and give it 7 days (or whatever the recipe says) and bottle. The little bit of haze you might get isn't that big of a deal.

+1 - Frankly I love seeing a bit of hop haze in my beers. Those are generally beers i want to drink fresh, so I'm not really worried about the effects on long-term storage.

And for the most part, putting the bottle upright in the fridge for a day or two is a good enough of a cold crash for me. If you're looking for a gin-clear beer then by all means go for some fining in the secondary, but for a fresh, hoppy beer I don't personally see the need.

[philosobeer]

Hmm... You guys do make good points. Ill look into that PVPP, but now I'm leaning more towards the not worrying about it view. The haze in the hydrometer wasnt awful, so Ill take that as a good sign. Thanks for the info!