Does drinking the yeast remnants make you sick?

I thought I had read that drinking the entire bottle of home brew (remaining yeast at the bottom included) makes you sick.

I'm a bit worried because all of my batches have a layer at the bottom (my latest two have quite a bit it seems). I'm bringing 12 of each batch to a party this weekend and I'm worried about making people sick.

Worth the risk or should I just go out and buy some professionally made stuff?

No, it won't make you sick.

In fact, the vitamins present in the yeast have been touted to help with hangover prevention.

The worst that comes from the yeast in the bottle is it affects the clarity of the brew, and can impart a slight yeasty flavor to the beer, but it won't make you ill.

you wont get sick persay, but you may get the hershey squirts if you're system is not used to the yeast-

No. Just fart.

Ha! So, which is it? :cross:

My best friend's wife and his in-laws (not to mention his family and friends) are going to be at the party/reception. I plan to warn people to pour the beer into a cup and not get the bottom sludge.

I'm just worried I'll send a dozen people running for the toilet all at once if they drink straight from the bottle...

Do yourself a favor and pour the beer for them. Most people dump the yeast in because they don't pour knowing the yeast are sedimented and that they will go into the glass if you're not very careful.

As Ace has eluded to, the yeast is benificial and won't make you, or anyone else "sick". At least not in the sense thata fever will occur or that Anti-biotics will be needed to cure the after affects.

That said, a charge of yeast to an otherwise unfamiliar digestive system will impose some objectional results. Most common is flatulence caused by the charge of undigested microflora in the intestines. And worse case may be more frequent moments of toilet time.

Either way, it's usually the next day before this assault takes place.

And even if they know, they don't pour it correctly. People don't like to "waste" beer. And they pour, stop, pour, stop. No better way to suspend the yeast than doing that.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will take up a post at my cooler and pour for people.

jwic said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I will take up a post at my cooler and pour for people.

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Or you could just not worry about it. Any bowel-distressing affects that ingesting the yeast might have won't take effect until the next day. It's not an instantaneous side-effect. That being said, if anybody is affected, you can simply blame it on food-poisoning from whatever was served at the party.

Actually it will make you HEALTHIER....

The yeast i the beer is not a bad thing, in fact it is full of vitamin B complex. You can buy it in many healthfood stores, and the Belgian's practically worship it for it's healthful benefits.



But most folks, especially Americans who for generations have been weened on crystal clear, pasturized and filtered "dead" beers like BMC are frightened of the cloudyness and yeasty taste of bottle conditioned beers with a lot of yeast in it.We have been encultured to be used to bland, tasteless, massed produced pablum, so many folks are downright scared of "Real" things that may be sour, or raw, or earthy.

And yes folks do have issues, initially, dealing with the oligosaccyhrydes in yeast, so folks in the beginning do get gassy, or some, have GI issues, but eventually we tolerate it. Just look at the threads about yeast farts and you'll see. We've all gone through it, and our gut's gotten used to it.

You'll possibly give your friends the most horrendous, foul-smelling, loudest and longest farts of their lives. It's hilarious.

I stopped bottling because I like to share my brew, and teaching people how to pour or pouring for them was annoying. Way easier to show up with a couple growlers, IMO.

All bottle conditioned beer, homebrew or otherwise has some layer of sediment in there, you have to in order for it to carb.

Just pour to the shoulder, into a glass, leaving the yeast behind.

How costly/easy is it to keg? For some reason my novice beer brewer mind feels kegging the amount of beer I'm brewing is cost prohibitive.... I was just planning on doing a secondary from now now....

Eh, I never had an issue. I would leave an inch left in the bottle, then once done with my beer swish and drink the remaining yeasty beer. Worst case I may have farted a little bit more than normal - or I may have just noticed my farting more thinking it may have been attributed to the yeast. Regardless, it was never bad at all. I never had nasty ****s from it.

Actually, I used to have bad allergies and got sick a lot (mild sickness, don't feel well, cold/sinus type crap). As soon as I started drinking homebrew over 2 years ago, it's been the healthiest I have ever been. Same with my ex. She was always sick for days. She is never sick anymore, neither am I. I'm not saying I am immune to everything, but I think it had strengthened my immune system. Worst that has happened to me is I ate something bad, felt like crap, took one, felt completely fine shortly after.


Cliffs: It's good for you. Drink it all up.

I've supplied homebrew to many, many parties and people. Bottles and kegs. I rarely used fining agents (I forget, or it's a dark beer and I don't care). My family has literally got trashed off my beer (bi-annual reunion), when everyone woke up the next day everyone felt great. I have never had a single complain about my beer giving someone the farts or ****s. I've had many friends and strangers get trashed off my beer too. Drained 35 gallons one night.. You and your friends will be fine, and actually feel better.

Also, no pathogens can survive in beer, so you can't get an actual sickness from beer. There was a study where they injected beer with E-coli. It died in a matter of hours or days, depending on the concentration, the latter being fairly high.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm particularly fretful because two of my three beers have a sizable layer of yeast on the bottom...

I think I'll pour for everyone I can this time around (I'll teach them how to pour so they can help themselves to more) and just make sure I get as little crap in as possible when I bottle in the future.

Cheers to all who replied! Thanks for your help!

The best way to pour a home brew is to do one full pour and to try avoiding the "glug" sound. Hold the bottle/glass up to light as you do this and when you start seeing sediment approach the mouth of the bottle, stop pouring, and serve! It's important to not stop pouring after you start and as I said don't incline the bottle so much that it starts going "glug-glug-glug." Both of these actions will pull the crap off the bottom of the bottle. Just a nice and easy single pour is the way to do it.@

jwic said:

Thanks for all the tips. I'm particularly fretful because two of my three beers have a sizable layer of yeast on the bottom...

I think I'll pour for everyone I can this time around (I'll teach them how to pour so they can help themselves to more) and just make sure I get as little crap in as possible when I bottle in the future.

Cheers to all who replied! Thanks for your help!

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It's fine. Did you see the old Blue Moon Grand Cru bottles? Those things had a good inch of sediment.

jwic said:

Thanks for all the tips. I'm particularly fretful because two of my three beers have a sizable layer of yeast on the bottom...

I think I'll pour for everyone I can this time around (I'll teach them how to pour so they can help themselves to more) and just make sure I get as little crap in as possible when I bottle in the future.

Cheers to all who replied! Thanks for your help!

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I get very little bottle sediment these days, just enough to do the job. I explain here why.

Couldn't you just pour the beer through a strainer if you didn't want sediment?

asidrane said:

Couldn't you just pour the beer through a strainer if you didn't want sediment?

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you would oxidize the hell out of it

Couldn't you just pour the beer through a strainer if you didn't want sediment?

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I expect that would result in some flat beer, depending on how fine the strainer is.

Personally, I like the taste of the yeast. If I am not going for clarity I swish the last ounce or so around in the bottle and pour it in the glass. If I am, I swish it around and drink it.

I get gas occasionally, but certainly never sick off of it.

You guys ever seen the videos on the Unibroue site where one of the guys from the brewery talks about their beers? For every beer he turns it upside down before he opens and pours it, I guess so that it shakes up all the yeast. WHY?

pwndabear said:

you would oxidize the hell out of it

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Sorry, I meant when pouring from bottle to glass. If you had a screen at the top of the glass that should clean up the liquid without changing the pouring process too much.

RIT_Warrior said:

You guys ever seen the videos on the Unibroue site where one of the guys from the brewery talks about their beers? For every beer he turns it upside down before he opens and pours it, I guess so that it shakes up all the yeast. WHY?

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Adds flavor! I do this with alot of commercial bottle conditioned beers, especially belgians (which I don't drink often), wits, and hefes.

Bells Oberon is a prime example. I had it on tap the other day from a good beer bar and I didn't like it as much as from a swirled bottle.

I even swirl up SN Pale Ale sometimes, gives it a different taste.

I usually do not do it with my homebrew however, since there is usually a heck of a lot more trub in my bottles compared to the commercial beer.

The yeast is really nothing to worry about. I had a hefe on tap a year or so ago that my fiance and I drank quite a bit of one evening with a neighbor that was not used to homebrew. The beer was really good and the neighbor liked to drink so she ended up having quite a lot of it. The next day she thanked me because the beer cleaned her out so much that she lost a pound or two. Seriously dude, don't even worry about it. When you start saying "I need to pour it for you because..." or "pour it this way because that stuff at the bottom will...," people will get skeptical, possibly over react, and most likely won't enjoy it as much. Just don't even say anything. The potato salad that sits out for three hours is a much bigger worry than the yeast at the bottom of the beer. If you brought a case of Sierra Pale Ale it would be the same issue. Would you be worried about that and insist on pouring it for everyone?