Slightly cloudy Lager

[Dale Leggett]

Hi all,

Have jst brewed my first Australian Premium Lager and am about to bottle it. However, I have noticed that it appears cloudy and has small bits of what I assume is yeast floating in it.  I just wanted to check if this is normal and that it will settle after bottling or if I should do something else to clear it up before bottling?

Many thanks 

Dale

[Mike A]

I'm a novice, still, here's my understanding.  Hopefully someone with better knowledge can correct me or add to anything I put here.

First yes looks like yeast to me & completely normal.  Much of it well settle, but may not go completely clear.  One piece of advice I can give based on what I've seen so far, when you get to "fermentation complete" and are about to bottle/keg, take about double that amount you poured in the glass and just let it sit there for 5 minutes.  You should see the top of it getting clearer.  That first ~200ml is the least clear you'll get out of the beerdroid after a brew competes.  The rest should be more clear as you keep emptying it.

Here's some generalisations based on my reading.

1. Bottom of the bottle / first draw on the keg will have more yeast in it as the yeast settles to the bottom
2. The clumps you're seeing is called flocculation, essentially means yeast clumps together.  Natural to occur more rapidly after fermentation is complete as the yeast goes into hibernation, part of it's survival strategy.
3. If you leave the beer cold enough for long enough, often called cold crashing, the yeast will sink to the bottom more rapidly & somewhat come out of suspension.
4. Home brew isn't usually completely clear unless you do something extra to it, such as adding finings, filtering or other methods of making beer clear, a little haze won't be a problem and is to be expected.  This is usually done at bottling stage, I wouldn't worry about it for now.
5. Depending on yeast strain & beer style, these too will contribute to beer clarity, yeast will have different flocculation rates & suspension rates.  For example wheat beers / weissbier / heffewizen all essentially use similar yeasts that will remain in suspension and is in fact a feature of the beer.  Most (but not all) largers are descendants of that style & i think (but haven't confirmed) related to that yeast.

In all, if you enjoy the beer, then I wouldn't stress over it.  But as you improve your brewing, you may want to experiment with various methods of cold crashing & clarifying beer.

The main thing you'll want to do from here is package it up, add the priming sugar, assuming you're going that way, then leave it for a few weeks (6 seems the most optimal for most styles I've seen)  Keeping in mind it takes 2 weeks for secondary fermentation / carbonation.  I recommend putting in the fridge for at least 48hr before drinking, more yeast will settle that way.

Congratulations on your first beer.  It looks great!

Hope that helps.

Edited January 5 by Mike A

[Rob Courtney]

22 hours ago, Mike A said:

I'm a novice, still, here's my understanding.  Hopefully someone with better knowledge can correct me or add to anything I put here.

 

Nope, nailed it.