Does BIAB beer suffer from poor clarity?

[Mods- I'm putting a thread here to keep it out of the way of the My First Post thread. Move it if you want.]

scarer wrote:Hi there

I'm in the UK and have been brewing all-grain at home for about 2 years but I'm interested in brewing in smaller batches so that I can brew a wider variety of styles because 21lts of beer lasts me ages!

I also brew for a craft brewing club and smaller batches would make it easier to keep up with the brewing schedule.

I'm intrigued to find out if BIAB will produce beers as good as the traditional method (no offence!) particularly where clarity is concerned.

Hi Sara, that's a really good question and no, I'm not offended at all!

Now, I know you didn't say this explicitly, but reading between the lines, I'm not sure where the link between cloudy runnings and cloudy beers comes from, however it would seem intuitive anyway as BIAB does indeed yield quite cloudy runnings. However, the wort boil takes care of the aggregation and precipitation of particulates and complexes which form cloudiness and haze and there seems to be no carry over of poor clarity into the finished beer, particularly when using cargeenan, PVPP and so forth.
Let there be no mistake though, there's plenty of cloudy BIABs out there and I've made quite a few myself, but there's also plenty of cloudy kit, extract and 3V beers too, but I'll put my neck on the block- there's no direct link between BIAB and poor beer clarity! However, BIAB has just as much likelihood of cloudy beer as any other method.
I've found that a few things should help clarity, regardless of method: Whirlfloc (cargeenan), a longer boil (90 to 120 minutes), scum skimming at the start of the boil (debatable), water profile, yeast strain, gelatine/ agar, cold conditioning, Polyclar (PVPP). IMO clarity is mainly a cosmetic feature and haven't really invested much effort in it, so long as it is not excessive I don't think it has that much impact on flavour and aroma, but competitions demand it so I have to oblige, but I'm not likely start filtering beer.

As far as 'beers as good as the traditional method' goes, how's this lot sound for competition results, also the Brisbane Club winner last year too (BABB- BeachBum may elaborate). In this year's Queensland State competition (QABC), the fact that BIAB has taken out two of the three places in the Pale Lager category is probably significant, it has always been regarded as a particularly tough nut to crack for BIAB. But, as I say, BIAB isn't likely to have clarity issues any more than other methods, so I don't actually support that assertion (I'm just narked that we didn't win it... Oh well, there's always next year!). Oh, first place in New South Wales state competition in Pilsner, plus other placings too.

Hope this helps, always happy to discuss!

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Hi there Sara and welcome to the forum .

Regarding the questions in your first post, I think Ralph might be the man to assist you in brewing small batches. He has done heaps!

Regarding your second question (a good one) BIAB will certainly give you a beer as good as a traditional. I used to 3 vessel and now don't but this was not before doing a couple of blind tastings etc, etc.

You can and should get a non-cloudy wort from BIAB. If your bag or grain crush combines to give you a cloudy wort, this is not a problem though. You can either let your kettle settle after the boil and drain it carefully as most traditional brewers do or you can even let the trub through as it quickly settles.

Lots of information I have read says that a cloudy wort is a good thing (e.g. Briggs) but I aim for a clear wort with BIAB and get it easily.

For several years, I couldn't understand why I got higher efficiency and just as clear wort with BIAB. I actually even used to write posts saying you'll probably get cloudier wort with BIAB (even though I never did ). Recently it all came clear to me why BIAB worked and I wrote some thoughts on this here.

But, one of the nicest beers I brewed was a disaster clarity-wise. It's a long story but we basically pumped the contents of the kettle into the fermenter.

It was a very good beer that one and actually turned out very clear.


PP

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Two If By Sea wrote:Just look at this one:

Came out fine.

I guess that really addresses my question in this thread. Thanks for posting this picture.

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