About to bottle my first brew and its cloudy

Northern Brewer General
1

so I put the primary in the spare frig. to cold crash. I also bought a packet of $1 isinglass. Will this help and if so when should I add it?

Thanks in advance.

2

Just cold crash it for a few days and you will probably be fine.

I would answer your isinglass question if I knew but I’ve never used it. I’m sure it helps but most likely you won’t need it after cold crashing.

3

i think time is your best clarifying agent. i wouldn’t add any finings at bottling personally. adding supermoss at 10 minutes to go in the boil is my s.o.p. and i end up with very clear beers.

how are you determining it’s ready to bottle?

“dropping clear” or “dropping bright” is a term often used to determine when a beer should be racked or bottled. but using gravity readings is really the only sure-fire way to determine if your beer is ready. i ferment in plastic buckets mostly, so i don’t use the “dropped clear” rule of thumb myself.

4

looking at the directions for isinglass, it says to add to beer at kegging, or add to wine in secondary AND STIR THOROUGHLY, wait 2 weeks, rack off sediment, then bottle.

Unless you are kegging, I would only add this to my beer if I was going to let it sit in secondary, cool, for 2 weeks. If so, DO NOT stir vigorously when you add it. After primary is definitely not the time you want to stir your beer vigorously (adding air/oxygen).

5

[quote=“BlakeW”]so I put the primary in the spare frig. to cold crash. I also bought a packet of $1 isinglass. Will this help and if so when should I add it?

Thanks in advance.[/quote]

what type is it and when did you brew?

edit: did you pull a sample to test for FG and was it cloudy too?

:cheers:

6

I brewed the NB Extract Petite Saison on 12/30/11. I took a FG reading on 1/10/12 of 1.12.

I put the brew in the spare frig last night and have not added anything. I put the frig on the coldest setting. Is this ok?

No, it was not as cloudy in the test jar, but I would like a little more clarity.

7

[quote=“BlakeW”]I brewed the NB Extract Petite Saison on 12/30/11. I took a FG reading on 1/10/12 of 1.12.

I put the brew in the spare frig last night and have not added anything. I put the frig on the coldest setting. Is this ok?

No, it was not as cloudy in the test jar, but I would like a little more clarity.[/quote]

I’ve not brewed that one, but a few things come to mind.

  1. their recommended 2week primary is usually a minimum, not max. With an FG of 1.012 and the yeast they recommend, I’d of thought an FG of 1.007-1.009 might be attainable…your yeast might not be done and that would account for some cloudiness.

  2. the more-clear sample is good

  3. coldcrashing now will certainly help clear it up

  4. it has ‘wheat’ in the recipe which would imply some cloudiness

  5. you made beer! congrats.

:cheers:

8

I assume you mean an FG of 1.012. I would think that yeast would have finished lower than that in 15 days. There are several factors that could have prevented that. By putting it in the fridge and dropping the temp, I think you pretty much lost any chance of lowering the FG. The beer will clear on it’s own after bottling. It probably cleared quite a bit by “lagering” it as you have.

Bottle it. See how it turns out. Brew it again and shoot for a lower FG.