| One of the brewing challenges that home brewers | | | | at the end. |
| often face is brewing clear beer. Most commercial | | | | 2. Add Irish Moss to your boil |
| brewers use several techniques such as filtering, | | | | Adding Irish Moss to the end of your boil will greatly |
| pasteurization the use of additives to deliver the | | | | improve the clarity of your beer. Irish Moss acts like |
| crystal clear product that we're all so accustomed to. | | | | a magnet for those proteins and tannins floating |
| The good news is you can achieve this same result | | | | around in your wort by causing them to coagulate |
| at home. | | | | and fall to the bottom of your boil. Irish Moss is |
| Why is your beer cloudy? The two main culprits | | | | available at your local home brewing resource and is |
| contributing to the cloudiness of your beer are the | | | | inexpensive. Just add about a teaspoon at the end of |
| grains and yeast. The grains in your brew come along | | | | your boil and you're on your way to clearer beer. |
| with proteins and tannins. Tannins are a naturally | | | | 3. Cool your wort as quickly as possible |
| occurring component of the barley grain that is | | | | The moment that you are finished with your boil, |
| extracted with sugars during mashing. Proteins, the | | | | heat becomes your beers greatest enemy. When the |
| friend you love to hate, come both from dark grains | | | | wort is cooled, suspended proteins and tannins in the |
| and also from some non-barley grains such as wheat | | | | wort coagulate and fall to the bottom. The quicker |
| and oats. Why do you love to hate them? Proteins | | | | you cool your wort, the more aggressively these |
| are essential to the head retention and the fullness of | | | | proteins and tannins clump and fall. The use of an |
| the body of your beer, however, the excess of | | | | immersion chiller greatly helps to cool your wort |
| these proteins leave you with cloudy beer. | | | | down quickly. If you don't have an immersion chiller, |
| Yeast can continue to float around in your beer, | | | | I'd recommend filling your primary fermenter with ice |
| making it cloudy, for quite some time. Eventually the | | | | and then quickly ladling your wort over the ice into |
| yeast will settle to the bottom, but some strains of | | | | your the primary fermenter. |
| yeast take longer than others to do so. This is why | | | | 4. Use a fining agent |
| your beer continues to clear up while it's in the bottle. | | | | There are several types of fining agents that you |
| Producing clear beer from the beginning will allow you | | | | can use to make your beer more clear. A few |
| to forgo that waiting period and drink your beer | | | | popular fining agents are polyclar, gelatin finings, KC |
| sooner. | | | | finings, and Whirlfloc tablets. They are simple to use |
| So how do you brew your beer clear from the | | | | and are added to your secondary fermenter a few |
| beginning? Follow these simple tips: | | | | days before bottling or kegging. These agents work |
| 1. Use a nylon boiling bag | | | | by attaching themselves to the proteins, tannins and |
| The use of a nylon boiling bag can keep your wort | | | | yeast particles suspended in your beer and cause |
| cleaner in the beginning. The less mess you have in | | | | them to drop to the bottom. |
| the beginning, the less you have to try to filter out | | | | |
