Bottle conditioned lager and sediment

[W0nderW0man]

So I've made a lager which didn't turn out bad at all and after fermentation I put it in the fridge at ca 1°C for about three weeks, then turned the fridge up to about 4-5°C now for week 4. The beer has cleared nicely, but as it is bottle conditioned all the stuff is obviously now in the bottom of the bottle. I made some handy little 330ml bottles as I like to drink less but rather more often (girl) but due to the sediment that means I can't just drink it out of the bottle (also thinking of get togethers with friends etc. where I would need a lot of glasses).

Also when pouring it in to a glass, I have to leave quite a bit in the bottle if I don't want the sediment in the glass, which also still tastes a little yeasty.

So... is that normal? The lager tastes nice and clean but if I get sediment in it then it doesn't, which is kind of the idea of using lager yeast...

 

[Leon103]

Is what normal? The fact that there is sediment or that the yeast doesn't taste nice.

Unless you are filtering the yeast then you will always get sediment. Over time it will become more compact so less waste.

In my opinion all yeast tastes bad, you could just mix it all in a glass but it will be cloudy.

 

[W0nderW0man]

Yeah I mean, I guess it is normal, that's just the way things are when homebrewing/not filtering and bottle conditioning/lagering, but I guess what I am wondering about is, if there is a way to get/keep the clean taste of the lager or if I just have to suck it up and accept that it won't be clean. In which case I'm not brewing a lager again but would go for a pseudolager as it's less hassle and tastes the same in the end.

Which also begs the question then: Why do people brew "real" lagers?

 

[jceg316]

Lager yeast is probably the worst smelling, worst tasting of them all. When my beers are fermenting I love the smell of my ales, but my lagers smell like a sulfur mine.

I prefer to drink out of a glass as opposed to bottles where I can, and because I'm a huge beer nerd I also try to match the beer with it's appropriate glass. This is because the smells of the beer can't get through the small bottle opening and so the taste is curbed, whereas using a glass opens up the smells, and using the right glass will channel the smells to the drinker's nose, meaning the beer will have more flavour. My point being it might be worth drinking out of a glass and leaving the sediment in the bottle as this, theoretically speaking, will have the best results.

Anyway, all bottle conditioned beers will have sediment, you could find a way to filter the yeast out the beer then use CO2 to carb the bottles, however on a homebrew scale I'm not sure how viable this is. Alternatively, you could use kegs which would solve the yeast problem but then you'll have to get some glasses. I got some nice lager glasses from a Euro shop (I'm in Ireland) but you could probably get something similar for cheap from Poundstretcher etc.

It's also worth noting that the longer you leave the bottles, the more the yeast compacts making it easier to pour and you won't lose so much in the bottle, plus the flavours will improve over time. Refrigerating the beers for 4 hours or so should help compact the yeast too.

 

[Covrich]

you cannot drink home brew out of the bottle (well you might if it was something where the sediment is desirable) because of the sediment.

To be honest Beer is better out of the glass as the neck of the bottle restricts the aromas which can affect percieved flavours. Just got to be careful with your pour

 

[W0nderW0man]

Okay, that's what I thought! It's still a young beer anyway so will "settle" more. Because I only brewed a small batch I have them all in a fridge :)

 

[spsmike]

I dislike sediment and only force carbonate. You need to have a source of CO2 though, I use a pub gas bottle and get it refilled by a mate with a pub. Makes your beer very clean with no yeast smells.

 

[JapanBrew]

As you get deeper and deeper into homebrew you can go one hefty step up to kegging. From there, you can condition in the keg like normal but a cool thing is, you can get a beer gun for bottling. Look on YouTube and you'll see how cool it is. This leaves almost zero sediment.