Yeast in Bottom of Bottles

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PCharles

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Recently I bottled my second no boil kit. This one was Mintons Connoisseurs IPA Bitter kit. I've noticed that there is heavy yeast sediment in the bottom of my bottles. While making the kit, I did notice that I added more sugar up front then was suggested. I did this to achieve the initial SG that was recommended. I added 3 oz of sugar as primer just before bottling. My wort did reach the target SG at the end of fermentation. I fermented the kit in the primary for a week, which was longer then the instructions discussed. There were no suggestions of the use of a secondary.

Is it typical to have yeast sediment when bottling?

Should I have extended fermentation or transferred to a secondary?

By the way, the beer tasts fine as it is. I've made sure to rinse the bottles out promptly after consuption.
 
Should have extended fermentation. 3 weeks minimum is a good rule of thumb. That will give the yeast time to clean up and flocculate.

You'll always have some yeast sediment if bottle conditioning, its unavoidable.
 
If your bottling conditioning yeast sediment is a given. Nothing to worry about other than they give me some awesome farts!! I'd suggest giving your beer more time than a week in primary though. I keep all of mine in primary for a minimum of 3 weeks and only transfer to secondary if necessary (fruit additions, yeast washing while dryhopping, etc.)
 
It's just a matter of giving it time in primary to reach Fg & settle out. To the point where it's clear,or slightly misty. Then rack & bottle. You'll get a minimum of yeast dregs this way. More of a light dusting on the bottom of the bottles.
 
What the others have said, more time. Also if you have a spare fridge cold crashing for a few days prior to bottling does wonders for clarity too.
 
I use a 6 gallon primary fermenter. When you talk about keeping your brew in the fermenter for 3 weeks, are you using a plastic bucket? I also have several 6 gallon carboys. I was concerned about contamination if I left the ferment in the plastic fermeter. Would it be better to move it to my glass carboy?

Thanks,
PCharles
 
I use a 6 gallon primary fermenter. When you talk about keeping your brew in the fermenter for 3 weeks, are you using a plastic bucket? I also have several 6 gallon carboys. I was concerned about contamination if I left the ferment in the plastic fermeter. Would it be better to move it to my glass carboy?

Thanks,
PCharles

Alot of guys on here, including myself, keep it in the primary fermenter for 3-4 weeks. Once fermentation is complete (5-10 days) the extra time the beer has on the yeast allows the yeast to further "condition" the beer. If you rack from your primary to a carboy that carboy is now called a secondary. I don't do this unless I plan to wash my yeast and want to dryhop.
 
Nope, I use a plastic bucket as primary, its fine.

If aging for an extended period of time (months) you'll want to use glass, it is not oxygen permeable so it will prevent oxidation.
 
Thanks for the information. So if I did extend primary fermentation to 3 weeks, the yeast would still respond to priming sugar, but would leave a lighter yeast sediment? That would be great and I'll do that next time.
 

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