Beer Clarity

It is probably a truism that, many years ago, if a golden lager beer was not “clear” but cloudy this might have been perceived as a negative connotation for “Quality”. This was because, in those days, beer clarity used to be taken into consideration as to whether a beer was considered infected or, at the very least, the flavor of the beer might have been suspected of being compromised.

Because of this perception, beer clarity was a primary emphasis for many, many years in the brewing industry with the goal of producing a beer as “bright” as possible for presentation purposes. For some considerable time, fining was considered an acceptable practice and, for many brewing companies worldwide, isinglass finings became a preferred method. Subsequently, this led to various separation practices using centrifuges and filters or a combination of techniques.

A free sample of Draftec's beer line cleaner is available for professional line cleaners and beer distributors. To request a sample, please email us at info@draftec.com or call us at (888) 226-8228.

Ultimately, so much emphasis was put on beer clarity that “brilliance” was considered by some to be a virtue of a “Quality Beer," and the more brilliant the beer, the better. Some breweries might even clarify using a centrifuge followed by primary filtration and eventually polish filtration to obtain a brilliant beer. The negative side of too much filtration or too tight a filtration, however, is to risk stripping flavor (and foam) from the beer.

Various fining techniques are still used today, including isinglass, as are the other separation practices as stated above, but the ultimate need to display a brilliant beer resides more with the Brewmaster and what the Brewmaster intended as well as the need to be true to a specific beer style. Today, with the high demand for wide consumer choices in beer styles, originality, and genuineness, as well as the objective of delighting the palate with taste, beer clarity is not as important as it once was, as evidenced by the many beers in the marketplace that are purposely hazy or cloudy to varying degrees.

Today's educated consumer expects a quality product and is generally knowledgeable enough or curious enough to ask questions about brewing materials, brewing technique as well as the beer's style. Whatever the beer style or brewing technique, your friends at AC Technologies (manufacturers of Draftec beer line cleaner & Master Brewers Standard tank cleaner) always want the beer consumer to experience the beer as the Brewmaster intended and for beer never to be compromised by tanks or beer lines which are not fully up to the highest possible cleanliness standards. This is the reason why we at AC Technologies place so much emphasis and passion to have sparkling clean equipment and beer-clean lines. AC Technologies - clean once, clean right!

A free sample of Draftec's beer line cleaner is available for professional line cleaners and beer distributors. To request a sample, please email us at info@draftec.com or call us at (888) 226-8228.