Sediment, and other gunk when bottling..

I just bottled my second batch (Midwest's Autumn Amber ale). My first batch was Midwest's Liberty Cream ale, I used US-05 yeast for both batches and I used irish moss on both batches with 15 minutes left in the boil. when racking to the bottling bucket on both batches, I left close to a gallon in the fermenter because I was picking up so much sediment.

When I first opened the lid on the fermenter there were floating "yeast balls" and they were chasing my auto siphon dying to get into the bottling bucket. When I got down to the last gallon, I started racking gunk into the bucket, so I stopped. This batch was in the primary for exactly 3 weeks.

Is it normal to have so much waste, or am I missing something?


Liberty Cream Ale. Sorry spilled a little.

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I'm a little concerned about the same thing with the Maharaja clone I just brewed. Things haven't settled yet, but out of 5 gallons, the hop sediments on the bottom are almost at the 1 gallon mark...and that's before dry hopping. Is there any way to make use of that much?

the75 said:

I'm a little concerned about the same thing with the Maharaja clone I just brewed. Things haven't settled yet, but out of 5 gallons, the hop sediments on the bottom are almost at the 1 gallon mark...and that's before dry hopping. Is there any way to make use of that much?

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Screen out the sediment while moving into the fermenter. If you strain it after its cooled you accomplish two things, one clearer beer and less trub, two the act aerates the beer as well. You will have less stuff to deal with come bottling. Also I tend to drop my hops in a big bag when dry hopping. It keeps most of the hop gunk out of the beer. Make sure the bag is much larger than what you need though, hop pellets expand a lot when they soak up wort. Well beer at the point of dry hopping.

Draken said:

Screen out the sediment while moving into the fermenter. If you strain it after its cooled you accomplish two things, one clearer beer and less trub, two the act aerates the beer as well. You will have less stuff to deal with come bottling. Also I tend to drop my hops in a big bag when dry hopping. It keeps most of the hop gunk out of the beer. Make sure the bag is much larger than what you need though, hop pellets expand a lot when they soak up wort. Well beer at the point of dry hopping.

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Ok, hypothetically speaking...if I DIDN'T strain it before putting it in the fermentor, is there any way to strain it when I go to dry hop or will that oxidize my beer?

the75 said:

Ok, hypothetically speaking...if I DIDN'T strain it before putting it in the fermentor, is there any way to strain it when I go to dry hop or will that oxidize my beer?

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That would likely oxidize the beer. You could cold crash it (if you have space in a fridge). That would drop a lot of stuff out. The other option is once you hit the carb levels you like in the bottle just leave the bottles in the fridge 2 weeks or so. Then be careful pouring. .

How long was it in the primary before you bottled? It sounds as though while fermentation may have been done you did not let the yeast fully flocculate, ie, drop out of suspension.

As mentioned you can cold crash a few days to speed this up but 05 usually does pretty well on its own.

We all usually recommend at least 2 weeks primary and most of us do 2-3

My first thought is to give it an extra week or so let the yeast cake compact. My "normal" beers (5-7%) I usually let got for 4-6 weeks before bottling.

and +1 to cold crashing if you can

With the thread hijack, I have no idea who's talking to who.

Rexorotten said:

With the thread hijack, I have no idea who's talking to who.

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I think the same thing applies to you. If you filter/strain when pouring into the fermenter and cold crash prior to bottling you will have a much clearer brew and less waste.

Thanks

My bad rexrotten, guess I assumed it was the same issue. Didnt mean to take over. Thanks for the help nonetheless gents.

Draken said:

I think the same thing applies to you. If you filter/strain when pouring into the fermenter and cold crash prior to bottling you will have a much clearer brew and less waste.

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Also you could give it another week in primary. Try racking it to a secondary for a week. There are a number of solutions. I personally just primary for 3-4 weeks rack to the bottling bucket and be done with it.