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Author Topic: the eye of the murky IPA beholder  (Read 2531 times)

Offline homoeccentricus

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the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« on: May 26, 2015, 12:22:21 pm »
I'm tasting my IPA two weeks after bottling. The taste is ok, but the beer looks very murky. Other beers become much clearer after a while, but, of course, an IPA has to be drunk as quickly as possible. Do you guys filter your IPAs? Will the filtering not remove some hop flavor? What do you do to get this nice orange haze that many IPAs have?
Frank P.

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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2015, 12:38:53 pm »
could still be young. give it a couple days/weeks in the back of the fridge. This should help drop yeast out and clear things up. assuming the beer didn't get horribly aerated during transfer a couple more weeks is not going to damage your hop impression significantly.

if it's already cold and it's murky that sounds like bad chill haze and you should address your mash pH
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Offline erockrph

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2015, 12:54:01 pm »
could still be young. give it a couple days/weeks in the back of the fridge. This should help drop yeast out and clear things up. assuming the beer didn't get horribly aerated during transfer a couple more weeks is not going to damage your hop impression significantly.

if it's already cold and it's murky that sounds like bad chill haze and you should address your mash pH
+1 - Even IPA's benefit from a little bit of maturation to smooth out the rough edges. While dry hop character does tend to fade quickly, I've had IPA's with a large amount of whirlpool hops go six months or more while still retaining a good amount of hop character.

Once the beer is fully carbonated, try storing it as cold as you can (30F/-1C if you can manage it). That will help preserve it while dropping out as much particulates as possible.
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Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2015, 01:25:46 pm »
I don't think it's chill haze. I did check mash pH when brewing (although I didn't adjust it, so maybe something went wrong there?). I also added an enormous amount of hops in whirlpool. So I'll store it in my fermentation freezer for 2 weeks and see whether it becomes less murky. If I'm able to not touch it, that is.
Frank P.

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Offline YooperBrew

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2015, 07:55:42 pm »
I don't think it's chill haze. I did check mash pH when brewing (although I didn't adjust it, so maybe something went wrong there?). I also added an enormous amount of hops in whirlpool. So I'll store it in my fermentation freezer for 2 weeks and see whether it becomes less murky. If I'm able to not touch it, that is.

Hops may create a bit of a haze, but a hops haze is more hazy, and not 'murky'.  If it's murky, it could be chill haze, a yeast haze due to a non- or low- flocculating yeast, or an incomplete conversion of starches (a starch haze).  If it clears in a few days, it's either a yeast haze or a protein haze (chill haze), but those generally are described as 'hazy' and not 'murky'.  "murky" is often more of a conversion problem, so will not clear much.  Beers with a ton of wheat will sometimes be murky, but even those clear readily with a bit of cold conditioning.

Offline erockrph

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2015, 09:26:18 pm »
I don't think it's chill haze. I did check mash pH when brewing (although I didn't adjust it, so maybe something went wrong there?). I also added an enormous amount of hops in whirlpool. So I'll store it in my fermentation freezer for 2 weeks and see whether it becomes less murky. If I'm able to not touch it, that is.
Define "enormous amount of hops". I find at about 4 oz per gallon I have problems with murky IPA's. As of right now, my best guess is that it is from having a lot of fine hop material in suspension from pellet hops. I need to test to confirm, but I didn't have as much of a problem with murky beer prior to switching to all-pellet hops.
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Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2015, 02:45:31 am »
27 grams/liter whirlpool & dry hops. For me, that's a shipload.  So same order of magnitude.
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Offline theoman

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2015, 06:18:24 am »
There's no need to rush it. 2 weeks in the bottle is too young, in my opinion. I just won 1st place in a homebrew competition with an IPA that's been in the bottle for 6 weeks (there's still a bit of haze).

Offline erockrph

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2015, 06:42:48 am »
27 grams/liter whirlpool & dry hops. For me, that's a shipload.  So same order of magnitude.
Yep, that's the same ballpark as my IPA's. That's a shipload for anyone. Bravo!

Did you use pellets, whole hops or a combination of the two? To be honest, my murky IPA's have never really cleared as much as I would like. I'm hoping a switch to whole leaf hops might make a difference with that.

Eric B.

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Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2015, 06:48:08 am »
27 grams/liter whirlpool & dry hops. For me, that's a shipload.  So same order of magnitude.
Yep, that's the same ballpark as my IPA's. That's a shipload for anyone. Bravo!

Did you use pellets, whole hops or a combination of the two? To be honest, my murky IPA's have never really cleared as much as I would like. I'm hoping a switch to whole leaf hops might make a difference with that.

I used four hops, I think 3 of them were pellets. One does not always have a choice in Belgium. But I brew small batches (10 liters), so I'm afraid I'll loose to much beer with whole leaf hops.
Frank P.

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Offline erockrph

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2015, 07:39:32 am »
27 grams/liter whirlpool & dry hops. For me, that's a shipload.  So same order of magnitude.
Yep, that's the same ballpark as my IPA's. That's a shipload for anyone. Bravo!

Did you use pellets, whole hops or a combination of the two? To be honest, my murky IPA's have never really cleared as much as I would like. I'm hoping a switch to whole leaf hops might make a difference with that.

I used four hops, I think 3 of them were pellets. One does not always have a choice in Belgium. But I brew small batches (10 liters), so I'm afraid I'll loose to much beer with whole leaf hops.
I brew the same size batches, and I just plan on losing some wort to the hops. I target an extra half gallon pre-boil and end up maybe a liter or two short of my usual batch size into the fermenter.

We hardcore hopheads need to make some sacrifices for our beer :)
Eric B.

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Offline Joel5000

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2015, 07:03:20 pm »
Yeast strain makes a big difference also.  I used to use Chico for most of my IPAs, and always had clarity problems.  I've used Wyeast Scottish Ale for the last several, and they are all crystal clear after 2 weeks in the keg.  Great mouthfeel with that strain also.

Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #12 on: May 29, 2015, 12:58:52 am »
It was Denny's Favorite. Do you think Denny is murky?
Frank P.

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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #13 on: May 29, 2015, 05:58:49 am »
He's not so murky but the yeast is a low floccer.
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Offline gymrat

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Re: the eye of the murky IPA beholder
« Reply #14 on: May 29, 2015, 05:52:52 pm »
Just to clarify, I thought it was I who is supposed to be drunk as quickly as possible, not the IPA. Am I missing something here?
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