Cloudy Beer Please help

Question

Newbie to the word of brewing here in need of a little help please. I have a couple of questions I can't find the answer to first off. Cloudy beer I have brewed a Coopers dark ale from a tin kit it was started on Saturday 29th Feb 2020. I used a spray malt enhancer as advised by Coopers. It brewed very well started off with OG 1040 and now has a reading 1010 smells and tastes great even if flat and warm lol. The issue I have is it does not look to be clearing at all. Is there anything I can do to speed up the clearing of the beer? I want to bottle next weekend but I don't want to bottle very cloudy beer. Please help a struggling beer brewing virgin.

Second question: How long should I leave the brewing vessel on a heat pad for? I'm using a pad as we don't have anywhere with a constant temp. Is it for the whole fermentation of just the first couple of days? I can't seem to find the answers to the two burning questions. Can anyone please help? Thanks John

Answer 1

Answer on your first question: young fermented beer is always cloudy, it will only clear in the bottle. The cloudiness in this stage is caused by the yeast, and that takes some time to drop out.

And, it is connected to your second question. By keeping it warm, your beer will ferment out fine, but it will stay cloudy longer, because the yeast stays active.

So, turn off your heat pad, and let your beer stand another week before bottling.

I you have the possibility to block the airlock so that it does not suck in air (using a plug or something), move your fermentation vessel to a cooler place for this week. This will help drop out the yeast, and clear your beer.

After bottling, keep your bottles for two weeks at ambient temperature so that it carbonates, then put it for two weeks at cellar temperature. At the end of the first two weeks carbonation, take a bottle, put it in your fridge for 24h, then open it to inspect carbonation and taste.

You will notice, when you keep the bottles against the light, a bit of cloudiness. This will normally be yeast still in suspension. You won't taste it. The longer your beer rests, the more clear it will become.