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  • 1.  Beer clarification

    Posted 07-04-2025 17:11

    Hi fellows. 

    Simple theoretical question: 

    I have notice that when taking a pint from a crashed cold fermenter, it will be a bit hazy in the first couple of days and will get clearer as we all have seen, but this pint will clarify faster on my desk than in the crashed fermenter.

    Does anyone has a "clear" explanation.

    Cheers.



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    Dominic Charbonneau
    President & Technical Chair
    MBAA District est du Canada
    Cell : 514-267-3369
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  • 2.  RE: Beer clarification

    Posted 07-07-2025 14:19

    Perhaps others can offer a more thorough or technical explanation, but I would hazard to guess that this has a lot to do with the much smaller vertical distance that particulate matter needs to travel to get to the bottom of a pint glass than to get to the bottom of a CCV. I assume there is sediment/sludge at the bottom of your pint glass? This is similar to what we see in a horizontal lagering tank -- less vertical distance for yeast/proteins to flocculate through results in faster and more thorough clarification.



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    Alex Green
    Quality Assurance Manager
    Black Tooth Brewing Co
    Sheridan WY
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  • 3.  RE: Beer clarification

    Posted 07-07-2025 14:19
    It's a matter of distance. The beer in the mug would be maybe 15 cm deep. When the particles fall that distance, the beer is clear. The equivalent distance in the fermenter (top of beer level to sampling point) is usually more than 2 m (200 cm). It takes longer for the particles to fall that far.

    Roger Barth, PhD
    Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
    West Chester University
    rbarth@wcupa.edu

    Author of
    The Chemistry of Beer, The Science in the Suds, Second Edition. ISBN 978-1-119-78333-0
    Mastering Brewing Science: Quality and Production, Second Edition ISBN 978-1-394-20699-5

    ________________________________

    This e-mail message was sent from a retired or emeritus status employee of West Chester University.




  • 4.  RE: Beer clarification

    Posted 07-07-2025 14:21
    Hi Domenic,

    Your cold beer from the fermenter has reversible chill haze caused by non-covalent bonds between polyphenols and proteins.  When you warm it up a bit, the bonds break and the beer clears.  This is why you want to filter beer very cold, so that the chill haze particles are removed.  Eventually reversible chill haze can become permanent haze through oxidative reactions.





  • 5.  RE: Beer clarification

    Posted 07-08-2025 08:42
    Edited by Walter Heeb 07-08-2025 12:22

    David, yes, this is the way, totally agree. You can test for chill haze by warming a sample up in a a microwave. With that, yes, distance if its yeast and other big stuff. Cheers,

    Jeff



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    Jeff Biegert
    NBB Sponsored CSU Fermentation Science & Technology Faculty & Brewmaster
    Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
    New Belgium Brewing Co
    Fort Collins CO
    (970) 221-0524
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  • 6.  RE: Beer clarification

    Posted 09-19-2025 20:19

    This is the answer 



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    Matthew Poselwait
    Head Brewer
    Sapporo-Stone
    Richmond, VA
    (804) 938-9515
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