Beer Forum

I brewed using a Dunkel rec. from Mosher's book. I couldn't get to the LHS [Mont.] so i used a 1056 starter from sec. Not sure what I brewed, Brown Ale? Ferm went well, racked to sec. at 7 days,kegged at 14. Beer appeared cloudy. Can I still fine after Carb.? I've never brewed a dark beer before.
9.5 lbs munich
4 oz Carafa II
1 oz Northern Brewer 60 min.
1/4 tsp Irish Moss 10 min.
152 F 60 min.
Glass carb. in 70 F room.

I only fine with gelatin which works best before you carb it up (or as I do, while it's carbing). Haven't really looked into any other products that closely though. You could always close your eyes when you drink it if it's just an appearance thing.

Didn't Prof. Bamforth say something to the extent of prefering a tasty cloudy beer to a clear meiocre brew? If it tastes good drink it, if you're in comp...WTF 3 points won't make or break you. You could, have you the patience, let it sit for a good while....that said, my Marzens nev er make it to Sept.

Racking at 7 is quick. the old advice to get off the primary cake as soon as possible is misguided. You will get a better finished product by letting it sit 2 whole weeks on the primary cake, and if you want to brighten it up, then rack to a secondary, where you can later cold crash and hit it with gelatin or super kleer or other finings.

Otherwise, you can go straight to the keg (primary only). Either way it would be fine.


As far as what style it is, without being able to taste it, I'd guess its probably kinda closer to an Irish Red since you used Cal Ale yeast into a Dunkel grain/hops recipe. There's not enough caramel/esters flavor for any kind of Brown Ale (English or American) and nowhere near enough hops for an American Brown.

All that being said, who cares if it is between styles, unless you are going to send it in to competition, it doesn't matter. It can still turn out to be a tasty brew.

Thanks for the input, I put a small glass in fridge and it cleared nicely. I should have cold crashed first. Tasted good, although not much hop character.

Homegrown.

For the clearest beer, I filter. With my liver.