I made a two gallon batch of ginger beer, based on a recipe I found on Stack Exchange. It fermented dry, is quite tasty, but obviously still full of yeast. I plan to make a dry, fizzy, alcoholic drink, do I need to let it clear, prior to priming and bottling. Any insight is appreciated! Thanks, Q
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1 Answer
When you bottle it, it will clear up somewhat, this is because when you bottle it to naturally carbonate (with priming sugar), the few weeks you have it resting and in the fridge will be a light cold crash. As long as you don't swirl the bottles prior to pouring you will have a fairly clear beer.
You can cold crash it in the fermenter to clean it up, this should drop the yeast from the beer. The other school of thought is to use a secondary fermentation vessel to let the yeast clear up. This increases your chances of infection however, so I would recommend priming and bottling, then leaving it upright in the fridge for a couple of weeks after it's primed.
Pour slowly to prevent the trub going into your glass, you'll be able to see the trub from the outside of the bottle, you'll probably want to stop pouring with a 1/4" of beer left in the bottom.
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I've made a lot of beer but never cold crashed a batch, right now I've got them in the refridgerator. How long should they go or just play it by ear as they appear to clear?– QuentinCommented May 12, 2015 at 19:42
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Normally, the rule of thumb is two weeks. But you can pull one out whenever you feel like it to check. Commented May 12, 2015 at 19:42
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OMG, let it sit for a couple of months, amazing flavors, added a little simple syrup to each glass, as it is dry, dry, dry and a bit tart. A little sugar rounds it out nicely. Hmmm, wonder if a shot of rum would make a good Dark n' Stormy?– QuentinCommented Jul 2, 2015 at 22:25