Poor Clarity With Added Hops

TrevTheBev · May 2021

I have restarted homebrewing this year after an absence of over 30 years.

My first few kits have all been Mangrove Jacks and they have been brilliant. Lovely taste and very clear. However, one of my latest was a Juicy IPA which meant I had to add a packet of hops at the end of it, which I duly carried out. It has now been bottled for the best part of 2 months and although it is a very, very tasty brew, it is extremely cloudy.

I have since made a "Simply" lager and decided to add some El Dorado hops at the end of the brew but it too, has remained cloudy, despite me using finings this time.

I am extremely disappointed with the finished article of these two and I think I will just have to go back to making these kits without the addition of the dry hops. I must stress that this is not a complaint with Mangrove Jacks as they are a great kit and I will continue to use them but if anybody can offer advice on how to make them crystal clear, I'd appreciate your knowledge.

HBO_Staff · May 2021

Hi TrevTheBev, great news the brewing is going well, adding hops is a great way to personalise a brew to your linking too. Can you advise if the the beers with the hop additions taste good, and it is just the appearance that the hops is causing to be cloudy?

Is it a case that the hops are suspended in the brew, or just the brew itself has a really fine cloudiness to it?

Also, is the cloudy appearance there all the time, or does it get worse or better when warmed up/cooled sown in the bottles?

TrevTheBev · May 2021

Hi, The Juicy IPA tastes fabulous [I bought it after watching your review on YouTube]. I brewed it for 2 weeks then after bottling, conditioned it in my boiler cupboard for another 2 weeks before placing out in my garage which is colder [It has been there for 4-5 weeks] Surprisingly, I thought because the garage was colder, it would clear better but in fact that seems the opposite. It was cloudy in a box in the garage so I brought it back into my lounge where it cleared slightly but still cloudy. Slightly warm in the lounge so before drinking it, I put it in the fridge to have it cold and ...... It became even more cloudy !!

The lager is still in my boiler cupboard conditioning so haven't tasted it yet but as I type, it is extremely cloudy and I feel it must be something to do with the addition of the hop pellets as any of the other Mangrove Jacks kits I have made [Without the addition of hops] have all turned out nice beers and clear.

HBO_Staff · May 2021

There could be a couple of issues here, the fact you have used finings to help settle out any particles before bottling will usually help it to clear so that will have helped.

One factor can be how long the hops were in there, ideally 2 or 3 days at the end of the brew, more and this may affect the appearance.

The type of hops can also affect this, hops that are high Alpha acid such as El Dorado can have an impact on the clearing, some of the popular IPA's can be cloudy as they don't clear very well with all the hops in them.

From you description the temperature seems to be playing a part in this too, a chill haze can be an issue for home brewers, more info on it is here:

'Chill Haze - A chill haze is not to be confused with cloudy brews, it can sometimes develop when a brew is chilled down in a fridge, etc, and will sometimes clear again when the brew is warmed back up. It is due to haze-producing proteins and polyphenols suspended in the brew, when the brew is chilled they react and clump together into tiny particles which reflect the light, making the brew look hazy. Whilst it doesn't look great, it in no way affects the taste and is not a problem. Allowing the brew to stand so it settles may help, but there is little that can be done about it.'

Hopefully this will help to shed some light on it

Poor Clarity With Added Hops

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