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Author Topic: How long for your lagers to drop clear?  (Read 13530 times)

Offline woody

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How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« on: November 10, 2009, 06:31:08 pm »
How long cold conditioning does it take for your lagers to drop clear?   Not necessarily "filtered" looking clear, but clear...
Usually after 2-3 weeks at 32, my ales are brilliantly clear, but my lagers tend to hold onto the haze for a bit longer.    I had a Czech pils this summer that refused to clear (until I persuaded it with gelatin)   
My Oktoberfest (with WY 2206) was brilliantly clear within 5-6 weeks.   The last German Pils (Wy 2124) I did still hung onto a tiny bit of haze even after 4-5 weeks.   
fwiw, my cooler is set at 32 (perhaps a degree or two lower-  the beer doesn't freeze, but the condensation tends to ice up on the bottom of the freezer)   

Just curious what others experiences are
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Offline crabber

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2009, 07:22:02 pm »
Do you brew all grain (can't remember)?  It sounds like your haze shows up in Pils based malts.  Do your Pils malt based beers show a lot of protein coagulation in the boil?  Mine do - like a big bowl of egg drop soup.  Do you do a 90 minute boil?

Offline woody

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2009, 07:29:48 pm »
Yeah, all grain and I do 90 minute (vigurous!) boils.
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Offline blatz

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2009, 07:39:03 pm »
generally two weeks for it to clear, 3 for crystal almost filtered looking.

here's my recent german pils after 3 weeks lagering:



you said you have not gotten into water chem yet - that might be your culprit!
« Last Edit: November 10, 2009, 07:40:34 pm by blatz »
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Offline woody

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2009, 07:44:09 pm »
Yeah I need to get a sample off to ward labs. 
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Offline ryan6458

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2009, 11:49:27 pm »
Yep, I'd put my money on water chemistry as well. I always had this problem with lighter beers. If your O-fests are clearing fairly quickly, then hopefully this means your water is only moderately alkaline. FWIW, here's my boston lager clone next to the real thing after 5-6 weeks of lagering. 8)

Offline woody

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2009, 03:07:07 am »
if its moderately alkaline, what measures am I going to have to take for the lighter beers?
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Offline dbeechum

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2009, 03:08:45 am »
Either cut down the water with RO to reduce the akalinity or if it's not that far off you can probably bounce it closer in line with acidification.
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Offline drf255

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2009, 03:43:51 am »
+2 to water chemistry.

Once I got my mash pH correct, cloudy/hazy beers have all but been eliminated.  I never thoght it would make the difference that it did.

Offline bluesman

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2009, 10:56:29 am »
Water chemistry and time.

I use bottled water...Poland Spring water with no additions and my O-fest is pretty clear after 2 months of lagering.

I could add some gelatin and get it to clear faster but I'm fine with it clearing in due time.
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Offline smurfe

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2009, 12:57:21 pm »
Another vote here for H2O chemistry. I normally lager for a minimum of a month and normally have clear beer.
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Offline woody

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2009, 03:07:50 pm »
water chem it is!   I'll have to package up a sample and ship it out.  Hopefully Friday.   

So the water being a bit alkaline would cause this?  What other problems could this be causing that I'm not noticing?   

First I was happy with extract brewing and said I had no need to do all grain...   then I went all grain and said my beer was fine and I wasn't gonna worry about the ph.    A few colorphast strips later I said I wasn't gonna worry about water chemistry.....    ha ha what's next?   
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2009, 05:28:33 pm »
A few colorphast strips later I said I wasn't gonna worry about water chemistry.....    ha ha what's next?  
Open fermenters and wild (spontaneous fermentation)

Check this out:

This one is from Czech brewery.
Well they do not do spontaneous fermentation there.
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Offline woody

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #13 on: November 11, 2009, 05:41:12 pm »
No open fermentations in my basement until I get rid of mamas cat ha ha.  I don't even wanna open the carboy to take a hydro sample with the litter box down there
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Offline wzl46

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Re: How long for your lagers to drop clear?
« Reply #14 on: December 09, 2009, 08:36:15 am »
1 year lagering:



I thought the beer was pretty clear going into the secondary, but this is what was left after that year:

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