Transform Your Brew: Essential Tips on How to Clarify Beer for Beginners

We all know that many people in the craft beer industry have a very good hobby-hope their beer will look better. Fermentation is a very complicated process and sometimes leaves unwanted sediment in the beer. Large commercial breweries often use mechanical filtration to “brighten” their beer, and ordinary home brewers use simpler refining agents to help clarify craft beer. You can also use simple techniques like homebrewers to help get better clarity.

Why is beer cloudy?

There are three things in craft beer that will make your beer cloudy. They are tannins, protein, and yeast.

Tannin

Tannins are naturally found in barley chaff, and they may be extracted along with sugar during the mashing process. Of course, tannins may also be extracted when the grain is brewed or soaked.

Protein

Protein is found in all grains (malt, high-fired malt, wheat malt, oats, and barley flakes), and to a certain extent in malt extracts. Although proteins can compete for the body and foam retention of beer, they can also hinder the clarity of the beer. You need to keep the protein content of beer in a delicate balance. You may observe that some of these proteins cause “cold fog”-when the beer is placed in the refrigerator, it becomes cloudy. There are clarifiers that can help reduce the “cold mist” of beer.

Yeast

Yeast will be present in the beer during the fermentation process and will be suspended in the beer for a period of time. In some cases, the yeast will settle down quickly at the end of the fermentation. In other cases, the yeast will remain suspended even after the beer has cooled. Yeast cells hope to combine with other yeast cells to form flocs (yeast clusters that tend to settle quickly). So, choosing a yeast strain with less floc means that your yeast may stay in the beer for a longer time. Selecting yeast strains with good flocs is a good way to improve beer clarity.

Ways to improve beer clarity

The cloudy beer looks very uncomfortable, and it feels that there will be some “dirty things” in it, especially for consumers who are trying craft beer for the first time. Next, we will explain what methods can help improve beer clarity.

Choose low-protein cereal ingredients

Protein can enhance the taste of beer, but it will impair the clarity of the beer. Reserve high-protein supplements for wheat and dark beer, such as wheat, barley flakes, and very dark malt. Because in these cases, clarity is not an important consideration. If you want to brew light beer with important clarity, please choose light malt as the raw material for the extract, and only add dark malt with high enough protein to make the light beer achieve the desired color and body.

Use the wort cooler to cool down the wort quickly

Using a wort cooler is the best way to cool the wort quickly. When you quickly boil the wort to below 80°F, most of the undesirable substances (tannins, protein) will quickly clump and settle to the bottom of the boiling pot. In this way, tannins and protein will rarely enter your beer fermentation tank, and your beer will become clearer. Ideally, you need to let the boiled wort cool to pitching temperature within 15 minutes. This cooling efficiency places high demands on the wort cooler. You need to choose a wort cooler based on your skill level and brewing settings.

Use highly flocculating yeast strains

Flocculation can be simply defined as the rate at which a specific yeast strain precipitates from beer after fermentation is complete. If you choose a yeast strain with a high flocculation rate, it will settle faster than a yeast strain with a low flocculation rate. Flocculation should not be your only consideration. You should also choose a yeast strain that suits your beer style and has medium to high flocculation based on the beer style you need.

Cold store (Lager) your beer

Lagering is storing your beer in a refrigerated environment (ideally 33-35°F). If you have the ability to do this, then this will be the easiest and most effective way to clarify beer. At lower temperatures, tannins, proteins, and yeast strains are more difficult to maintain in suspension. Compared with storing beer at room temperature, the clarification rate of lager beer at low temperature is much faster.
You need to be aware that if you want to bottle and carbonate the keg, you need to wait for the beer to be fully carbonated before storing it. Failure to do so may kill the yeast and cause poor beer carbonation. Of course, you can also make sure that there is enough yeast suspension to help carbonate the beer after bottling. This small amount of yeast will not produce too much sediment in beer bottles or kegs.

Use clarifying agent

Homebrewers can use a variety of clarifiers, which will greatly improve the clarity of the beer. These reagents make them heavier by attaching themselves to proteins, yeast strains, and tannins so that they get out of suspension and quickly settle to the bottom of the fermentor. If clarifiers are added to cold beer, their action will be faster and more effective. The following is the detailed content of the function and evaluation of some clarifying agents.

Clarifier Summary Table

Clarifier	Purpose	Amount	Comments
Irish Moss	Protein Coagulant	1 teaspoon per 5 gallons	A good clarifier for almost all worts, though not recommended for high adjunct worts
Whirlfloc	Protein Coagulant	1 tablet per 5 gallons	A good clarifier for almost all worts, though not recommended for high adjunct worst
Isinglass	Yeast Flocculent	15-60 mg/L or 2 fl. oz. per 5 gallons	Most effective for settling yeast in the finished beer. It Will also settle some protein haze
Gelatin	Yeast Flocculent	60-90 mg/L	Only about one-half to one-third as effective as isinglass, also used in the finished beer
Polyclar/PVPP	Protein binder	6-10 g/5 gallons	A non-aerated slurry should be mixed into finished beer before bottling and allowed to settle out. Should take a day at most
Silica Gel	Protein binder	6-10 g/5 gallons	A non-aerated slurry should be mixed into finished beer before bottling and allowed to settle out. Should take a day at most

7 steps to make beer clearer

Use the following seven steps to improve the clarity of your beer and make it clearer.

Combining beer style to select medium and high flocculating yeast strains;
Use low-protein grains for brewing;
Use Irish moss to achieve a good hot break;
Cool wort quickly to achieve a good cold break;
Adjust the price of clarifier to help beer become clearer;
Condition your beer in a low-temperature environment;
To practice better brewing techniques, you also need to pay attention to the cleanliness and hygiene of beer equipment;

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Get a turnkey solution for brewery equipment

I hope these tips can help you clarify turbid beer and enjoy more delicious beer. If you are going to open a craft brewery, please be sure to contact us. Micet Craft can customize the design of brewery equipment for you according to your brewing requirements, and we will also provide you with turnkey solutions and quotations. Micet Craft is looking forward to cooperating with you!

How to clarify beer?

Why is beer cloudy?

Tannin

Protein

Yeast

Ways to improve beer clarity

Choose low-protein cereal ingredients

Use the wort cooler to cool down the wort quickly

Use highly flocculating yeast strains

Cold store (Lager) your beer

Use clarifying agent

7 steps to make beer clearer

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