Can Someone tell me what happened?

OK so my second batch ever got done and after a 3 week of Bottle Conditioning I sat down to have a brew. It was a Cream Ale and it seemed to be OK but when I cracked the first one and poured it I got this...


The first Pic is most of the beer that came out, but the second pic is what was at the bottom of the bottle. Looks like trub, but I can not understand what happened and how I got that much at the bottom of the bottle. The beer tastes good and so far everyone likes it, but almost all the bottles have this problem (although this is the most extreme case)

Any ideas as to what might have happened?

Thanks

you didn't post the picture...

I think you forgot to attach the picture...

That is funny, I see them in the post? I will try again

how long was it in primary?

Um, besides being sideways it looks like the yeast sediment we ALWAYS get in bottle conditioned beer, be they homebrew of commercial.

Are you not aware that bottle conditioned beers have sediment in it, to one level or another?

It was in Primary for 3 weeks.

I am fully aware of the "Sediment" but his seemed like an extreme case. I mean that is a lot of gunk at the bottom of the bottle. The first batch I brewed had sediment but it was no where near as extreme as this. Are you suggesting that this is a normal amount of sediment?

Doesn't look at all extraordinary to me.

Hard too say if it is mormal with it all mixed up like that. You are supposed to pour slowly and and soon as you see a little trub coming out, stop pouring leaving maybe 1/4" in the bottle.

mrk305 said:

Hard too say if it is mormal with it all mixed up like that. You are supposed to pour slowly and and soon as you see a little trub coming out, stop pouring leaving maybe 1/4" in the bottle.

Click to expand...

That is what I did. The first picture is the beer I drank, the second picture was what was left in the bottle.

I guess I was just not prepared for that much being at the bottom. Like I said the first batch come out so good with minimal amounts that when I cracked this one, it just seemed extreme. Sounds like this might be normal.

How long did you leave your beer fermenting before you bottled? It looks like you had a lot of yeast still in suspension when you bottled and it settled to the bottom of the bottle. Since it had only 11 days in the bottle it hadn't had time to compact well and when you poured, most of it went in your glass instead of staying in the bottle. With time, you yeast will all settle and compact on the bottle bottom and with careful pouring you can leave just a little beer and most of the yeast behind.

In the meanwhile, although it looks bad, that yeast won't hurt you to drink. Instead of buying brewers yeast tablets to get your vitamin B, you just drink it.

With that much sediment, I am leaning more towards cold break material in addition to yeast. I've never had more than a thin coating of yeast on the bottom of the bottles.

beerme72 said:

That is what I did. The first picture is the beer I drank, the second picture was what was left in the bottle.

I guess I was just not prepared for that much being at the bottom. Like I said the first batch come out so good with minimal amounts that when I cracked this one, it just seemed extreme. Sounds like this might be normal.

Click to expand...

Some yeast strains, like S04 and nottingham, for a "tight" little compact yeast cake in the bottom after bottle carbing. They're even hard to clean and rinse out, they are so tightly packed in there! Some strains are much less flocculant, and will form a "looser" cake.

Pouring in one pour will fix the problem often, but sometimes a less flocculant yeast will require more beer left behind.

First, keep the bottle in one place in the fridge for 2-3 days. That will help compact the "stuff". Also, remember to bottle only clear beer in the first place. If a beer isn't clear, when it does clear in the bottle, you'll just have more crud in the bottle. When you pour, pour in one motion for the whole bottle. When you get to where you start to see yeast, stop. You will usually only leave behind maybe 1/4-1/2 ounce of beer once you get really good at it.

If you're using a less flocculant yeast strain, make sure the beer is even longer in the fridge without moving it so that it has time for the yeast to fall out and form a denser yeast cake.

More time in the fridge will tighten up the sediment, but it's really not much to worry about. The IPA I'm drinking today has a substantial cake at the bottom like yours probably did before you poured, but the beer on top is clear and tasty.

Thanks to all my fellow brewers out there. You have made me worry less, in fact so much so that I think I will go and drink one of those bad boys!!!

I recently bought a Sterkens Dubbel. Ever had one of those? Now THAT is a lot of sediment. Massive chunks of yeast floating throughout the beer. But still tasty. Yours doesn't look too bad to me.

The only filtering I've ever done has been through my kidneys. And I get extremely clear beer, usually forgetting even to add moss to my boil.

I get little if any sediment in my bottles, simply by opting for a long primary. This is my yeastcake for my Sri Lankin Stout that sat in primary for 5 weeks. Notice how tight the yeast cake is? None of that got racked over to my bottling bucket. And the beer is extremely clear.



That little bit of beer to the right is all of the 5 gallons that DIDN'T get vaccumed off the surface of the tight trub. Note how clear it is, there's little if any floaties in there.

When I put 5 gallons in my fermenter, I tend to get 5 gallons into bottles. The cake itself is like cement, it's about an inch thick and very, very dense, you can't just tilt your bucket and have it fall out. I had to use water pressure to get it to come out.



This is the last little bit of the same beer in the bottling bucket, this is the only sediment that made it though and that was done on purpose, when I rack I always make sure to rub the autosiphon across the bottom of the primary to make sure there's plenty of yeast in suspension to carb the beer, but my bottles are all crystal clear and have little sediment in them.

Half the time I forget to use moss, and you can't tell the difference in clarity.

Another thing is to leave your beer in the fridge for at least a week. The longer you chill the beer in the fridge, the tighter the yeast cake. I had a beer in the back of my fridge for 3 months, that I could completely upend and no yeast came out. Longer in the cold the tighter the yeast cake becomes. Even just chilling for a week (besides getting rid of chill haze) will go to great lengths to allow you to leave the yeast behind, but with only a minimum amount of beer.

I get the barest hint of sediment in my bottles....just enough for the yeast to have done the job of carbonating the beer.