Junk floating in my commercial beer

I've had a few issues with junk floating around in my commercial purchased beer. It's not flies or dirt clods, it's white chunks. It's disgusting.

I could understand if it's bottle conditioned but it's not. I was thinking maybe the beer had been sitting on the shelf for a LONG time. Now I don't go to the shops that I think have low inventory turnover. I check the beer against the light for floaties.

Last week, I got a Sweetwater IPA from Kroger because it's a great beer. I've never had an issue with it before, but this time, it's got floaties and sediment in the bottle. Every bottle in the 6 pack. I let it sit for a week in my fridge and did a home brew pour and I was able to keep the chunks in the bottle. A few day later I went to another Kroger to get a pick 6 6pack and noticed the Sweetwater IPA has floaties in it. The 420 Extra Pale Ale had floaties. I checked several bottles and all like that.

Not to dog out Sweetwater. Their beer is great. But I've never had that problem with Sierra Nevada or Boston Beer Co.

Can anyone give me some insight on why this happens? What to look for in a beer in the store to insure it's not old and nasty?

I think Sweetwater bottle conditions some of their beers, but I can't say which. Their website says that the IPA is unfiltered, so there may be sediment. Not sure about the 420.

Some companies do not say "Bottle Conditioned", but they do not filter the beer. As rajun50 said, unfiltered could mean settling. Just get used to the fact that you should always pour slowly into a glass.

Look on the bright side - some beer's yeasts can be harvested and brewed into a great beer...

They probably pumped down too far onto the brite tank. The overworked minimum wage employees probably couldn't care less that you spent over a dollar on that bottle. The yeast was probably a clumping yeast.

I've recently seen this in Left hand Brewings's 400# monkey and Smuttynose IPA.

I poured out a Founders Breakfast Stout last weekend, and at the bottom some kind of slime ball fell into the glass. I scooped it out with my finger and drank the sh*t out of it.

I aint' skuuuurd.

Simple: Hold the bottle up to light - bright light. Look at the bottom of the bottle - actually, easy to see!

grathan said:

They probably pumped down too far onto the brite tank. The overworked minimum wage employees probably couldn't care less that you spent over a dollar on that bottle. The yeast was probably a clumping yeast.

I've recently seen this in Left hand Brewings's 400# monkey and Smuttynose IPA.

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Yea that makes sense. And I just dumped one that I poured too far down. And yea I thought, that was $1.50 down the drain. It's a bit harder to do the pour since my home brew yeast (Wyeast American Ale 1056 and Safale US-05) seems to pack down and coat the bottom pretty good. The gunk in these float around with the slightest bump even after a week in the fridge.

I have a Left Hand 400lb monkey that's like you describe.

r2eng said:

Simple: Hold the bottle up to light - bright light. Look at the bottom of the bottle - actually, easy to see!

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LoL yea, thinking about besides the Gerber Chard Keychain tool I have with my keys, maybe I need a bright LED keyfob light thingie to rule out the nasty bottles.

davekippen said:

I aint' skuuuurd.

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Dude I am scared for sure. Scared I won't make it into the toilet to unload whatever that gunk is from my bowels before it blows in my pants.

Davekippen, your comment was the funniest thing I've read in a while. I'd have done the same.

My brother used to work at craft brew store and he used to have customers come in every now and then asking about stuff in their beers. He used to say it was "character".

I have to admit, I did give that slimeball a sideways look for a few seconds. I think it went something like this in my brain "wtf is that? Ehh, how bad could it be.... gulp gulp"

I had to follow up because I just poured out a $1.50 beer because of chunks.

I got to say the slime ball comment disgusted me away from this thread. I mean what's the point if homebrewer's standards are so low. I figure Davekippen is just teasing and making it sound a bit grosser than it was... but even a little slimball is just extra nasty. It makes a hair in my salad sound appetizing.

How a food item looks is VERY important. For the pros, a lot of thought goes into presentation of the food on the plate. Is a chocolate dish crafted like a turd appetizing? Does a beer that looks like sewage get someone eager to taste?

I did a tour with Thomas Creek brewery in Greenville, SC. I asked them about the issues with the chunky beer. He said it could be mineral deposits perciptating out of the beer but more likely poor filtering. They use plate filtering and moving to centrifuge. I've never seen gunk in their bottles.

It's preference I guess. I have cast iron grates for my grill and turn my steaks so they have diamonds. My brew is going to be as clear as I can. And I'll quit complaning and buy beer from brewers who have clear beer.

I had a couple of Fort George's Vortex IPAs that my brother in law gave me after we went camping this summer. They were in tall boy cans. They sat in my fridge for a week, then I finally go to pour one into a glass and I'm excited to try it and man it was chunk city! It's like the burst of carbonation when I opened the can immediately caused a whirlpool in the can, churning up all of this crap from the bottom. I was pretty disgusted, and I let it sit on the counter for half an hour and it still looked like someone stirred Metamucil into my beer. I drank part of it (not a great IPA imo) then dumped it. I opened the second can several days later, same exact chunkiness. The funny thing is my brother in law had just been drinking them straight out of the can while we were camping, chunks and all

I know that the chunks won't hurt me, but that's not what I'm looking for when I'm enjoying a beer!

davekippen said:

I poured out a Founders Breakfast Stout last weekend, and at the bottom some kind of slime ball fell into the glass. I scooped it out with my finger and drank the sh*t out of it.

I aint' skuuuurd.

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F@#k, that's funny.
I've seen a few of those things in the bottom of SA bottles. So I know he's not exaggerating. Those are some skuuuury little monsters!
I'd rather drink Floaties than those oysters.
I've had to drink more commercial beer lately (bc my pipeline ran dry) and every time I pour a bottle I feel cheated because of what's left in the bottom. I love my keged beer... And no floaties.
I did look on the label of some Hoegaarden that I have and it shows to pour 2/3 of the bottle then swirl the rest and pour. This makes lots of floaties, or character, if you like.

hillbillyjones said:

I had to follow up because I just poured out a $1.50 beer because of chunks.

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Gaaah, say it aint so! I know plenty of beer guys who cant stand the thought of drinking a cloudy (chunky) beer. To each their own!

I love clear beer, cloudy beer, yeasty beer, chunky beer, slimy beer, sour beer... you get the point. And no, I wasn't exaggerating in my earlier post. Looked like snot but tasted like heaven

Oh, and I think you need to change your screen name Hillbilly! Maybe like Yuppybilly or something LOL. Just messin' with ya man. Cheers!

I noticed the same thing in some SweetWater I picked up while I was out of town recently. I think it was 420 both times. Also saw the same thing in some canned beer from a local brewery that just recently opened up. What's the big deal, though? It's not gonna hurt you or anything, and it is surely a brewing ingredient? Are you big, bad homebrewers really afraid of what your beer is made of?

I hate when checkout people roll twist and place your bomber on its side. I like to treat craft beer like homebrew,to disturb it as little as possible. Most craft beer,I find, I end up pouring it homebrew style to keep it clear,just in case. You can tell how to pour it by eyballing it. I like trying to get a clean pour myself. I basically do it with all commercial craft beer.