How much yeast should be in a bottle?

My hefeweizens have a *lot* of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. I know that swirling up some yeast is proper for this style but if you put that much yeast in your beer it would seriously alter the flavor. So I was just wondering if it was normal to have that much extra sitting on the bottom. I poured the last bit out because it would have made my cloudy hefeweizen into a yeast smoothie.

OK, how much experience do you have pouring HWs?

I'm asking because if you've spent any time in Germany you'll know there are several techniques to pour them.

Since you have too much yeast I am going to recommend the technique where you tilt your HW glass to the almost fully horizontal position and place the bottle into the glass as far as it will go. Allow the bottom to fill up a little making sure the rim of the bottle stays in the foam. Slowly pull the bottle from the foam. This allows the beer to flow slowly and only some of the yeast on the bottom of the bottle is disturbed. Slowly bring the glass upright as it fills so you don't pour any of the beer out. When the bottle is near empty your glass will be cloudy and full. It will also have that classic fantastic head on it.

At this point there is no need to swirl any remaining yeast into your beer. Rinse out your bottle.

I did the pour across the side of the glass at an angle trying to do it slowly and not disturb the yeast. I will try it the way you suggest though, thanks for the tip!

Is there any thing I should do next time for my HW to reduce yeast or is it just normal to have to discard a little at the bottom?