Cloudy Porter

I brewed an all grain porter on Oct 16. Fermentation was normal with 1098 yeast. It went to secondary on Oct 29. 10 days in and it still looks thick as mud. Only the top 1/2" is clear and the rest will not let light through. Tasted great when I racked it.

Any thoughts? Will it just take 3 months to drop out?

Are you sure it’s yeast, or could it be some other sort of haze? What’s the temperature? 1098 isn’t the most flocculent yeast out there, but it should have been clear after 13 days in primary.

I am not sure that it is yeast at all. It just looks like there is something in suspension.

You could try cold crashing for 3 days and see if that clears it up. I’m of the “taste first, looks second” camp. As long as you got great tasting beer, what does it matter if you can read the newspaper through it?

I’d cold crash as well to remove yeast as a possibility. But you may be over reacting. Viewing your beer thru the carboy it is going to appear darker than in your glass. Hold judgement till your first glass pour. :smiley:

I agree with the cold crashing idea. If you can get it really cold…like in the low 30’s…do that for a few days (to let chill haze form) and then fine it with some gelatin and leave it be (in the cold) if you really want to settle the stuff out.

All this will take a bit longer, but will probably give you what you’re looking for,

Its a porter…how can you tell its cloudy?

I would like it to look like wood stain as opposed to latex paint. That is secondary though, it tasted great when I sampled it. I am just looking to future batches.

I added irish moss to two batches since the porter. Both are fermenting away with solids floating in fairly clean looking wort. I wonder if that would have been the difference for the porter?

Its a porter…how can you tell its cloudy?

That’s exactly what I thought.
I never fine my porters cause I can never tell anyway.

Unless it is a light brown porter Relax don’t worry…

There’s a big difference between being dark in color and being opaque. If you hold a brown/porter/stout/etc. to the light you should be able to tell if it’s bright or not.

Well, if it’s suspended solids and there’s a significant amount, there isn’t really anything it could be other than yeast. Which is a little troubling since almost any yeast should have dropped bright by now.

Was it finished when you transferred? Have you checked the gravity since? The only thing I can think of is that you might have ongoing fermentation, and that’s why the yeast aren’t flocculating.

If I am holding it up to the light then it won’t reach my mouth.