trub/sediment in bottles

I finished brewing and bottling my third batch recently. It was a NB Nukey Brown Ale. I tastes good and looks good, except every bottle has this trubby/sediment stuff in the bottom of the bottle. My first and second batch turned out fine w/o this stuff, only this batch. On this batch, I racked the beer from the secondary to a bottling bucket to minimize any kind of sediment in the bottles. There's probably 1-3 mm of this stuff in the bottom of each bottle. Any thoughts on why it happened with this batch and not the first two and how I can prevent this in the future?

How long did you leave your batch in the primary, and then the secondary? I usually go 10-14 days in the primary and then 14 days in the secondary and my brew comes out pretty clear. Also how are you transferring? I have my carboys up on two milk crates so they don't get moved when it comes time to transfer. Also I have two rubber door stoppers on one side of the carboy so it has a tilt to it causing most of the sediment to gather on the down side. I then use an auto-siphon to transfer. The key is to not get greedy and try and get all the wort. When you try to get everything you usually suck up some sediment. The sediment in your bottles won't hurt them. When you pour them, tilt the bottle slowly and leave about a half inch of beer in the bottle behind which will leave the sediment behind. You can drink it if you want, it is rich in vitamin B.

By the way I live in Springfield. Hope these tips help, and welcome to the forum.

I had the batch in the primary 5 days and the secondary for 14 days. I keep the primary up on a table with the secondary on the floor, and I will prop up the primary up with piece of wood. Perhaps I'm getting too greedy when I move from the primary to the secondary because I try to tilt the primary a bit extra to get more of the wort into the secondary. I'll try avoiding this next time.

When I bottle the beer looks pretty clear, so I'm surprised to see the sediment come out when it's been in the bottle for a few weeks.

Living in Rochester, I've primarily been going to Friar Tucks for supplies. Any other good beer making supplies in the area besides Friar Tucks? They seem to have some of the basics but I'd like a little more variety. Thanks for the response.

mafew2000 said:

I had the batch in the primary 5 days and the secondary for 14 days. I keep the primary up on a table with the secondary on the floor, and I will prop up the primary up with piece of wood. Perhaps I'm getting too greedy when I move from the primary to the secondary because I try to tilt the primary a bit extra to get more of the wort into the secondary. I'll try avoiding this next time.

When I bottle the beer looks pretty clear, so I'm surprised to see the sediment come out when it's been in the bottle for a few weeks.

Living in Rochester, I've primarily been going to Friar Tucks for supplies. Any other good beer making supplies in the area besides Friar Tucks? They seem to have some of the basics but I'd like a little more variety. Thanks for the response.

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The sediment is a good thing. It means the yeast worked and carbed your beer properly. You just keep it in the fridge for a few days and then it'll compact and you pour the beer into a glass, leaving the sediment on the bottom.

I would leave your beer in primary longer, to make sure you're fully fermenting. Try a 2-3 week primary and if you want to go to secondary after that, its cool. It might not have been fully fermented.

I agree that you should keep it in the primary longer. Alot of the yeast will settle out if you keep it in there longer, making the secondary clearer.

Another thing you can do is called cold crashing. When you get ready to bottle, you can put the wort in the fridge for a day or two and it will settle out nicely. Most people don't have the fridge room, so they just leave the beer in the primary for 3-4 weeks, or use a secondary.

Also I feel your pain about Friar Tuck. About 15 years or so ago when I made my first extract there was a little mom and pop store that had a sign in the window on making your own beer. That is how I got started. They closed, so I quit for a long time and then a friend got me going again about a half year ago. Now all we have left is a Friar Tuck for supplies, or ordering online.