How important is the pour?

I pour my beer until I see the particles of sediment start to drain, but lately (could just be imagination) I've been thinking that I notice some off flavors. How "deep" do you pour your beers, and how much effect does the pour have on the flavor, versus the quality of the brew process, for example.

I pour until I see the sediment come into the neck, but I might get a little more liberal on an opaque beer. Even the tiniest bit of sediment can mess up that brilliant, crystal clear beer.

Unless the off flavors you are talking about are yeasty or bready, they shouldn't come from the pour.

On the other hand, a proper pour is essential to opening up the beer fully.


TL

I don't think that's the case but my taste buds may not be refined enough to discern what's going on. Only happened about twice out of about 20 beers of oatmeal irish stout, but there was a bit of a funky aftertaste both times, not enough that I didn't finish the beer, just something a little funny that I can't really put my finger on. That's why I figured I might be overpouring as opposed to having brewed up a batch of funky beer.

Are you bottles cleaned and sanitized well? I've have a couple of my bottles get infections because they were not cleaned and sanitized well. Of course I just dumped them but, you could be getting of flavors instead of infections. Just maybe....?

Personally, once I see sediment enter the neck of the bottle, I stop pouring. Perhaps it is not necessary for all beers, but there can often be a bit of 'yeast bite' or 'sediment bite' when you over-pour some beers. It probably matters most in beers that are really hoppy/dry hopped or beers that have aged for a long time.

On the other side of all this, with other certain styles of beers I'm sure that you want the yeast. I'm pretty sure that with hefeweizens the proper pouring techique involves pouring most of the beer into a proper glass and then leaving a bit of beer in the bottle and swirling that remainding beer to dislodge all the yeast and then finally pouring this in. Admittedly it's a style that is supposed to be cloudy, so I doubt you'd be doing that with a lager or something, .

I must say when it comes to me, I don't want to waste any of my beer so I pour it all into my glass. I like to think that by having the yeast I'm being healthier and increasing my intake of b vitamins. :cross:

JeanLucD said:

I must say when it comes to me, I don't want to waste any of my beer so I pour it all into my glass. I like to think that by having the yeast I'm being healthier and increasing my intake of b vitamins. :cross:

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I reakon you get bit less by insects since you started drinking live beer!