Unfiltered Sediment: Swirl, Add & Drink?

[Scanloni]

So I'll be bottling my first batch of Pale Ale soon, and I'm expecting there to be some sediment at the bottom of each bottle upon drinking. (I'm going to bottle condition for 3 weeks). I've read that some consider the sediment undesirable and therefore recommend pouring the beer into a glass, leaving the sediment behind in the bottle.

On the other hand, I've enjoyed many store bought unfiltered beers in the past, and many of them recommend pouring most of the beer into a glass, then swirling around what's left in an effort to pick up the sediment, then pouring the remaining beer with sediment into the glass. Some even have instructions (with pictures) on the bottle explaining exactly how to accomplish this.

I've always been a swirl & pour guy, but, I'm just wondering if this practice is only appropriate for certain style beers while not so much for others? Does it add flavor & goodness, or unwanted tastes and junk?

 

[birvine]

I really dislike the sediment in my beer.

B

 

[Yooper]

Sediment is usually part of the taste of the beer style in only a couple of beer styles- like a hefeweizen, when the yeast character is part of the flavor of the beer.

Most of the time any sediment in a beer is undesirable and the beer is carefully poured off of the sediment into a glass before drinking.

In a pale ale, the sediment would definitely be undesirable.

 

[mhenry41h]

To each his own I suppose, but there are only a few beer styles out there in which the sediment is desired (wheat/weizen). Look at it this way, if a beer is supposed to be very clear in order to fit the style guidelines, you shouldn't dump your sediment in. That yeast can cause a clean profile to get "muddy."

[email protected]

 

[snowveil]

Just as you said, adding yeast sediment is generally only desirable in certain styles of beer, such as hefeweizens.

But hey, try it both ways, and see which you prefer

 

[Scanloni]

So I'll be bottling my first batch of Pale Ale soon, and I'm expecting there to be some sediment at the bottom of each bottle upon drinking. (I'm going to bottle condition for 3 weeks). I've read that some consider the sediment undesirable and therefore recommend pouring the beer into a glass, leaving the sediment behind in the bottle.

On the other hand, I've enjoyed many store bought unfiltered beers in the past, and many of them recommend pouring most of the beer into a glass, then swirling around what's left in an effort to pick up the sediment, then pouring the remaining beer with sediment into the glass. Some even have instructions (with pictures) on the bottle explaining exactly how to accomplish this.

I've always been a swirl & pour guy, but, I'm just wondering if this practice is only appropriate for certain style beers while not so much for others? Does it add flavor & goodness, or unwanted tastes and junk?

 

[Zamial]

Drinking the yeast cake at the bottom of the bottle may result in some intestinal issues.

 

[Double_D]

The realistic answer is to do what you like. But the other way to answer that is it's more appropriate for certain beer styles, not Pale Ale.

 

[HopSong]

I swirl and drink.. I will only.. at least for the foreseeable future.. be doing ales only. I usually pour 80% of the beer in a glass, swirl the rest and drink it before washing the bottle and drinking the brew. I don't see any real undesirable issues with it... unless my wife is in the room.. She might disagree with the infrequent emissions.. But, hey.. I'm a guy.

 

[phenry]

I usually try to keep my homebrew in the fridge long enough so the yeast cake gets compact enough that I don't need to worry about much yeast at all getting into my glass. It also depends on the beer style, I care a lot less when pouring a stout as opposed to a blonde.