General Considerations

  • Cloudy worts contain material which will be dissolved during wort boiling and lead to greater sediments later in the process.
  • Brightness of worts is affected by:
    – type of mash separation system
    – level and nature of adjuncts
    – particle size of the grist
    – degree of agitation upstream (e.g. in the mashing vessel)
    – depth of bed and speed of wort run-off
    – temperature of the wort
    – gravity of last runnings.

Range of Values

  • Haze readings should be less than 6 EBC haze units in the middle of run-off and not higher than 12 units for the first and last runnings.

Operational Protocols

  • Best clarity from mash tuns is obtained with a slow run off. Uneven plates and too rapid run-off can cause problems.
  • When using lauter tuns wort should be recirculated after dropping to obtain clarity. The depth of rakinq of beds should be minimised to maintain pressure differential over the plates. Worts should be recirculated after raking and should not be run to the copper during raking.
  • When using mash filters and Strainmasters wort clarity can be achieved by control of milling (see Topic 4) and by recirculation of wort (10 – 30 mins). Last runnings of low gravity should be avoided (see Topic 6).

Measurement Protocols

  • Wort clarity is monitored by the mash room operator.
  • Haze is measured using an appropriate meter.