Yeast in the bottles

My first brew, a true brew belgian, has been in primary for a week and the gravity reading has leveled at 1.013 over the past 2-3 days. When I took a sample a few days ago I stole about 16 ounces out of the primary, stuck it in a 20oz coke bottle and added tbs of sugar to attempt to prime it just to get a visual on what is going on with the beer. When I did this I squeezed the sides of the bottle in so as co2 produced it would expand out the bottle. Now the bottle is pretty tight. Tighter than I think it would be new with coke. Yeast has formed in the bottom of the bottle and the rest of the brew looks pretty good. Not clear, but hazy. The sample I took my hydro reading with got drank and it tasted flat as expected, but not bad.

I am thinking about bottling the brew, but would rather not have the yeast in the bottom if possible. I know, I know... learn how to pour into a glass...etc.

If I rack to secondary for a week or two will that keep the yeast out of the bottom of the bottle, or is that just going to be part of it regardless of techique due to priming and carbonation?

And from what I have read the secondary will help clear up the beer?

Thanks.

Since you are bottling there is nothing you can do to remove the yeast. The yeast will continue to grow with the addition of priming sugar to achieve carbonation. Learn to pour or learn to keg, those are your choices.

Secondarying will help clear the beer but more yeast will grow when primed for carbonation.

Cool. Looks like a keg is in my future anyway.

Will the addition of the priming sugar add to the FG? 1.013 is lower that I was hoping for with this batch.

Lando said:

Cool. Looks like a keg is in my future anyway.

Will the addition of the priming sugar add to the FG? 1.013 is lower that I was hoping for with this batch.

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No. The priming sugar will add a tiny amount of fermentables, but they will ferment out. That's what produces the carbonation. The FG you have when you go to bottle it will be the FG.

Why is the FG at 1.013 lower than you were hoping for? For a Belgian, it's actually a bit higher than I'd think.

If you leave it in the fermenter for at least two more weeks, it'll clear right up and give you a nice clear beer with less sediment in the bottle. Oh, you'll still have some yeast in the bottom, but not that much. Anything still in suspension in the beer (protein haze, yeast, etc) will fall out. If it's in the fermenter, it'll go to the bottom of the fermenter. If it's in the bottle, it'll go to the bottom of the bottle.

Lando said:

And from what I have read the secondary will help clear up the beer?

Thanks.

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Yeah this is true, but racking to secondary can bring wild yeast or infections in. Be sure to clean everything as well as possible and limit the air exposure and splashing. It is not common, but it can happen. Good Luck!