34
using 30ml again. Make sure the tank valve is closed
before you clarify and only open it after the pot rinsing step.
Belgian and Wheat beer yeast can be very hard to clear at
times, but all others should be okay after 3 clarifications,
especially once the bulk of the settled yeast is removed to
give the 3rd clarification a better chance of working. If not,
it’s likely a quirk of brewing and the yeast for some reason
are not playing ball (relating to static electrical charges on
the yeast cell walls) and for some biological reason that is
hard to understand, they just won’t settle and you’ll have
to wait a few more days for it to happen over more time.
Or just consume the more hazy beer and move on to
the next brew. In 95% of brews using ale or lager yeast,
the yeast should clear without too much drama and two
clarifications are enough. For the Belgian and Wheat beer if
3 clarifications don’t do it, they will likely need quite some
days to clear by settling naturally so it’s likely its easier just
to accept some haze (as in the commercial examples of these
beer styles) and enjoy their flavours as you consume them.
full of sediment or more (see Figure 52), depending on the
yeast and beverage type.
SECOND CLARIFICATION
A second clarification can take place 24 hours after the first
clarifications so in general, Day 5½ for ales and Day 7½ for
lagers.
15. Close the vessel valve (to avoid disturbing the settled
yeast) and close the 3-way valve (X position). Then perform
another clarification as described above from steps 7 – 13
with 20ml of clarifying agent. Ensure the last step (step 13)
of turning the 3-way valve to the tank is performed so that
the beverage can equilibrate with the CO
2
cylinder pressure.
16. Then open the vessel valve to allow a second lot of new
sediment to settle over another 24 hour period at least, but
36 hours in general. The new sediment will push down on
the first lot of sediment and in most cases both lots will
be in the bottle over this time period and the sediment
bottle should be about ¾ full of sediment (see Figure 53)
depending on the yeast and beverage type and there should
be some clear beverage above that.
As explained in Appendix 8, some yeast are harder to clarify
than other yeast and as you brew more you will gain more
experience in this aspect of brewing.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR BEER ISN'T CLEAR YET
1. If after the second clarification the yeast looks settled but
the yeast/haze is above the tank valve and cloudy beer is
being poured, then pour off a pint. Often the line of clearer
beer is just above the valve and excess sediment can be
taken out the beer tap and clear beer will follow. Then just
remove the sediment bottle as per normal at the end of a brew.
2. Alternatively, you can also just wait another day for it to
compact into the bottle more. The sediment is quite “fluffy”
and compacts more and more each day.
3. If the yeast looks unsettled and messy, and there are
volcanoes erupting and CO
2
bubbles shooting up into the
tank, then the yeast is misbehaving and clarification is
being compromised. The best thing to do would be to close
the tank valve, remove the sediment bottle like you do when
you first clarify, and dump that sediment and rinse the
bottle. Fill the sediment bottle up with foam from the tap as
you do during clarification and put it back on the brewery.
Make sure the gas cylinder is onto the vessel to maintain
pressure as it should be at this stage. Then very gently
open the valve and let the beer that’s in the cone drop
into the sediment bottle. You might want to do this over a
few openings and closings to let it settle without shooting
back up into the tank e.g. 10 little openings and closings
with a 10 second break between each opening. When the
sediment bottle is full, open the valve fully and leave that
overnight. Hopefully it’s then clear. Usually you’ll find you
just have some sediment above the valve and it’s only a few
inches that settles overnight. But at least the beer has a
chance to settle better without erupting yeast delaying it.
You hopefully can see the beer line easily and it clears up by
this extra day.
4. If the beer still isn’t clear, it may take a 3rd clarification.
So after performing point 3 above, just do a 3rd clarification
Fig. 53
