I just got done lagering a pilsner and I notice with kegging my first 4 beers or so are a little coludy and from then on are very clear. Is this pretty much the standard for kegging?
Sure, think about it. During the lagering process, or any keg that is chilled, the solids settle out to the bottom of the keg and that is where the pick up tube for the keg is…at the lowest spot at the bottom of the keg. So the first few glasses will be a little cloudy. Then it will clear up nicely. If you move the keg around much it will get cloudy again.
If you secondary, crash cool for a few days at 33°F, and fine with gelatin (and allow a few days for everything to settle out), you can then transfer to keg and you’ll serve bright and clear beer from the first pour to the last (if that’s important to you).
I don’t find the above necessary for my longer aged beers or beers that I prefer to drink at cellar temperature, but for brews that I need to finish up more quickly or ones that will be served at colder temperatures, this has worked very well.
Having said that, remember that if it’s mainly chill haze you’re seeing, it doesn’t really affect the flavor of the beer. In my opinion, (and it is just an opinion based on personal preference) if you’re serving the beer cold enough to ‘haze up’, you’re probably obscuring much of the beer’s flavor anyway. But if, like most Americans, you want your beer icy cold and crystal clear, fining it after the haze has formed will do the trick.
+1 to secondary/cold crashing in a carboy. That way, you get as little sediment as possible in the keg.
Another haze thing I’ve noticed as a new kegger is that you may want to keep your kegerator at a higher temperature. I try to keep mine at around 40F. I had it in the low 30s for a while and every beer (even commercially brewed lagers) were hazy at those temps. When they warm up to 38-42F, they get really clear.
