Opened a bottle to test it and whoa!

OK - here’s a question - I didn’t do anything to “filter” out the hop particles. I tried to leave as much as I could on the bottom of the bucket, but that’s all… am I suppose to literally use a filter???[/quote]

What I do is put a nylon or paint strainer on the racking cane and put a rubber band around it. So far this keeps 98% of the crud out of my beers.

That’s another great idea - turned out to be a great day!

:cheers:

If you can find away to cold crash future batches it will go along way for clearer beer. Try to get the beer down to 33° for 3 days and the yeast and hops will settle out and pack down on the bottom.

I do have a mini fridge, but I don’t know if it’d go all the way down to the mid 30’s though. That’s something I’m going to have to research. From the quick read I did - I’d have to do bottle conditioning for 4-6 weeks. Right now, that’s far beyond my patience - what can I say. :slight_smile:

I hope to grow in my patience as I grow in my brewing - LOL

:cheers:

The hops particles becoming nucleation points for the CO2 in the head space is probably correct. Chill two bottles for 5 days to force the CO2 into solution. May still have gushers until the hop particles drop out during bottle conditioning. Bottle condition for at least three weeks. This is the same effect three weeks in the primary would have. The difference would be that the hop particles would not end up in the bottles.
Do a smooth pour. No glugs. You may end up leaving more beer in the bottle, but you will have an IPA to drink.

I’ve found that this is enough to clear the hop particles out. I used to use the mesh bag, but found this is just as effective. It only takes a couple days and a temperature drop of at least 10F to do a cold crash - you don’t need to get down into the 30s, though the colder you go the quicker everything drops out.

Just be cautious when cold crashing. The temp reduction of the beer creates a vacuum that likes to suck airlock contents into the beer. It is also sucking air into your carboy/bucket. I ended up avoiding the cold crash when I was bottling and just used time to allow things to settle.

I usually remove my airlock and just put some sanitized aluminum foil over the top of my carboy when cold crashing to prevent sanitizer from getting sucked in the beer.

For this batch, I would wait till it was fully carbed then just put a bunch of it in the fridge for a week. It will essentially cold crash in the bottle. Just be sure to pour slowly and carefully and leave about 1-2 oz at the bottom of the bottle.

I do have a mini fridge, but I don’t know if it’d go all the way down to the mid 30’s though. That’s something I’m going to have to research. From the quick read I did - I’d have to do bottle conditioning for 4-6 weeks. Right now, that’s far beyond my patience - what can I say. :slight_smile:

I hope to grow in my patience as I grow in my brewing - LOL

:cheers: [/quote]
Any chilling will help. The closer to 32° the better but even mid 40°s is going to do wonders.

I don’t have the means to cold crash but I find that time does a pretty good job. I usually bottle after 4-6 weeks in the fermenter/secondary and get very little particulate and it’s pretty darn clear. I also run the wort through a strainer going into the bucket. If it’s a fairly small beer with no dry hops, you could get away with three weeks and still have pretty clear beer.