Imagine cracking open one of your home brews and serving a nice clear beer you can see through with no floaties to ruin the ‘look’ of the beer…
… Even if you don’t use any fining agents or Irish moss…
Well, that’s what this blog post is about… getting crystal clear beers…
I remember the first time I forgot to add Irish moss to my beer at the end of the boil… I freaked out and thought I’d just ruined my beer…
I did a little bit of research and found out it was only used to help clarify the beer…
So when I went to open up my first bottle, I was expecting… well, I actually didn’t know what to expect… a cloudy beer? floaties?
Anyways… turns out the beer was just as clear as I had hoped it would be and that was one of the notes I added to my home brewing binder…
Turns out that Irish moss and finings are not the only way to clear up your beer… Here are 5 ways you can brew a clear beer…
1. Irish Moss and Finings
Irish moss is added at the end of the boil… usually within 5 minutes before the end of the boil. Finings on the other hand are usually added after fermentation is complete, a couple of days before bottling your beer.
Irish moss helps haze producing proteins coagulate during the cool down process which yields a clearer beer. Finings on the other hand help yeast as well as proteins drop out of suspension to the bottom of the fermentor, which gives you a clearer beer.
2. Cool Your Wort Quickly
The quicker you cool down your wort after the boil the more haze producing proteins you’ll coagulate during this process. A wort chiller is usually helpful to cool your wort faster, but an ice bath done correctly can also give you a nice clear beer.
This protein coagulation is what brewers like to call the “cold break”.
3. Choose A High Flocculent Yeast
Flocculation is the term used to describe yeast clumping up together. When yeast clump up together they either rise to the top of the fermentor or drop to the bottom. Most will drop to the bottom, but either way, you can siphon the beer without sucking any of the yeast into your bottling bucket or keg…
A low flocculent yeast means the yeast will remain suspended and you will get cloudy beer if you don’t use any of the other techniques.
4. Use Grains With Low Protein Levels
This is mostly a tip for all-grain brewers, although some extract brewers may come across recipes that have you steep grains high in protein. More than likely it will be a partial mash. The point is, these grains have more haze producing proteins that will show up in your beer if you don’t use one of the other techniques…
5. Cold Store Your Beer
One thing you can do to help your yeast precipitate during conditioning is to store your beer at colder temperatures. This is one way you can get clear beer even if you forget to add Irish moss during the boil…
The first beer that I brewed without Irish moss was one of the first beers I brewed before I’d gotten a temperature controller for my fridge. The thermostat in the fridge sucks as far as precision goes and I accidentally lowered the temperature more than I had intended to…
I didn’t know it at the time, but that was one of the reasons why my beer was still crystal clear even though I forgot to add Irish moss during the boil. When you are just learning how to brew beer this isn’t as straightforward so hopefully this helps you improve your brewing…
How do you clear up your beers?
...blogs about the age old art of deep national importance known as home brewing & loves to visit local micro-breweries to a) Drink beer b) Drink more beer c) Wink at the Sexy Gals and d) Discover how great tasting beer is made and shares it with the world... To peek inside Jorge's head and get the same Einstein-like brewing knowledge check out: How To Brew Beer 
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