Sediment, to drink or not to drink that is the question?

[Andy O'Leary]

I am now drinking my 2nd ever batch of beer, and whilst I have a lot less sediment than my first batch, I still have a small amount within the bottles. I believe again I was a little too impatient and bottled a little too early. Anyways, every time I open a bottle i end up poring a small amount of beer down the drain because of the sediment, am I wasting perfectly drinkable beer or am I doing the right thing?

 

[dad_of_jon]

Sometimes I drink it sometimes not, depends on the beer and the yeast and If I need to have a ****

 

[Drunkula]

If it's a wheat or something with a tasty yeast I have a taste while I pour then swirl it in. If it's a non-drinky yeast I pour out as much as I can then swig the rest of the bottle then give it a quick blast under the tap, pour it out, cap back on, back in the bottle dungeon. So I always drink all of the beer.

 

[Horners]

I am now drinking my 2nd ever batch of beer, and whilst I have a lot less sediment than my first batch, I still have a small amount within the bottles. I believe again I was a little too impatient and bottled a little too early. Anyways, every time I open a bottle i end up poring a small amount of beer down the drain because of the sediment, am I wasting perfectly drinkable beer or am I doing the right thing?

Nowt to do with bottling early. Bottle conditioned ale will by definition have some sediment. Just need to perfect the pouring technique - one easy smooth action leaving last few mls behind. Some yeasts 'pack down' better than others whereas others are more easily disturbed from the bottom of bottle.

 

[DavieC]

Hi Andy, I used wilkos ale yeast with their IPA kit,I think its made by 'Nottingham' yeast, the beer is crystal clear and the sediment just sticks to the bottom of the bottle( as it did in the fv) the brews ive done since( only 2!) I used the kit yeast and both pull a little sediment up when I pour. Doesn't bother me though because I read its a good source of vitamin b and I bought some tasting glasses the other week that had a small glass for tasting the yeast from the last of the pour.Try a different yeast next time and see if it helps.

 

[Clint]

Depends how trumpy you want to be..

 

[Oneflewover]

Yeast that doesn't compact at the bottom of the bottle is one of my pet hates. Not only do I not like wasting beer, I don't like getting excess yeast in my drink. So much so that in addition to chilling the beer before bottling to drop the yeast out of suspension I also almost exclusively use highly flocculant yeast

 

[MickDundee]

Depends how trumpy you want to be..

 

[Andy O'Leary]

Depends how trumpy you want to be..

Now that might just explain a few things. Didn't realise this was a side effect.

 

[matt76]

If it's a wheat or something with a tasty yeast I have a taste while I pour then swirl it in. If it's a non-drinky yeast I pour out as much as I can then swig the rest of the bottle then give it a quick blast under the tap, pour it out, cap back on, back in the bottle dungeon. So I always drink all of the beer.

I had been wondering exactly this - my Belgian witbier is about ready for first tasting, holding a bottle up to the light the beer looks pretty darn clear but I'm sure it's normally a little hazy/cloudy. Maybe I'll just have to try two side by side, with & without the yeast

(I know for sure when I've had Weizen in Germany they pour most of it and then deliberately swirl the bottle to get the yeast out in the last little bit )

 

[Brewed_Force]

If you use a high flocculation yeast then it will compact at the bottom of the bottles and you should be able to pour with very little loss.

 

[Drunkula]

Maybe I'll just have to try two side by side, with & without the yeast

It can be quite different. Without the yeast it can be more crisp and lager like, then when you swirl it in it gets more creamy, sometimes with a little tartness. It's good.

 

[lancon]

Won't it depend whether you have fined or not, as would you want to drink them?

 

[bobukbrewer]

if you order an Erdinger in Italy, they pour most out, then swirl the bottle, and tip it in your glass. So for second one I asked if I could pour it myself and gave him the bottle back with a couple of cms of beer left in it,.,.

 

[matt76]

if you order an Erdinger in Italy, they pour most out, then swirl the bottle, and tip it in your glass. So for second one I asked if I could pour it myself and gave him the bottle back with a couple of cms of beer left in it,.,.

Yes, this is exactly how it's done in Germany and how it's intended to be served.

 

[Ghillie]

Just no

 

[-Bezza-]

if you order an Erdinger in Italy, they pour most out, then swirl the bottle, and tip it in your glass. So for second one I asked if I could pour it myself and gave him the bottle back with a couple of cms of beer left in it,.,.

Each to their own - it's you drinking it at the end of the day - but a wheat beer is typically meant to have the yeast roused and poured in. For an English Ale however, I'd be wanting to leave the greyish-brown lumps of yeast behind!

 

[Ghillie]

Each to their own - it's you drinking it at the end of the day - but a wheat beer is typically meant to have the yeast roused and poured in. For an English Ale however, I'd be wanting to leave the greyish-brown lumps of yeast behind!

I'm a firm disbeliever in the old: "we've always done it that way!"

Regardless of style, I can't see why you'd want to stir up yeasty sediment.

I'm not disputing that what you've said is false, you're more than likely 100% accurate. But that nonsense just isn't for me.

Look at Camra and look at craft... If Camra got away with their "Reinheitsgebot" mentality, we wouldn't have the majority of the banging beers we see today.

Leave the yeast in the bright tank or filter and give me some clear, well carbonated beer

 

[-Bezza-]

I'm a firm disbeliever in the old: "we've always done it that way!"

Regardless of style, I can't see why you'd want to stir up yeasty sediment.

I'm not disputing that what you've said is false, you're more than likely 100% accurate. But that nonsense just isn't for me.

Look at Camra and look at craft... If Camra got away with their "Reinheitsgebot" mentality, we wouldn't have the majority of the banging beers we see today.

Leave the yeast in the bright tank or filter and give me some clear, well carbonated beer

As I say, everyone has the right to choose how to drink their beer without someone telling them they're wrong. But the point is there's yeast and there's yeast. We have a big long list of yeasts to choose from because they all do something different and one of those differences is that weissbier/witbier yeast has a characteristic that adds flavour to the beer. With a hefeweizen, the clue is even in the name (https://www.deepl.com/translator#de/en/hefeweizen)! The saison that I made recently settled a little too well and putting a little of the swirled yeast sediment back into the beer (not all of it mind) picked up the flavour a lot.

It's a bit like saying you won't eat chicken skin when you eat roast chicken because you don't eat cow skin when eating roast beef. Perhaps.

 

[Dutto]

For me, the three deciding factors (in order of importance) are:

1. Style. Some styles of brew are designed that "rolling the bottle" before opening and pouring is part of the experience; and I will happily drink them.
2. Yeast. If the yeast used is part of one of the above styles then I will happily drink it, but there is no point in brewing a particular style with the wrong yeast. I would tend to give these brews a miss.
3. Finings. I don't use finings when brewing a beer. However, as I have no desire to spend the following day on the toilet, experience has taught me that drinking a beer that was cleared with gelatine will loosen up my bowels better than a prescribed suppository!

Obviously, I will happily drink brews that contain the occasional "cloudiness" due to a poor pouring technique (mine gets worse the more I drink) or a lack of conditioning time; and so far I have suffered no adverse reactions.