What in the world is in my bottles?!?

[desertw0lf]

I brewed this dunkelweisen a couple months ago, and it has been bottled for close to eight weeks now. Bottles were soaked in oxy-clean, well rinsed, and then soaked in iodophor - rinsed in the dishwasher on steam setting, and rinsed out with iodophor and let dry just before bottling.

I drank a couple bottles of this at the three-week mark and they looked and tasted just fine. Now, there is some free-floating sediment, and a cloud of loose free-floating gunk that looks like yeast... It pours very cloudy and tastes kinda off... it was great when I tried it @ 3 weeks. It isn't over-carbed, and does not foam over when opened.

Is this an infection in the bottle, or did I do something to really fubar this brew?

And before anyone says anything about clear bottles, half of it went into brown bottles and has the same issue.

None of my other beers brewed that week have this problem.

 

[unionrdr]

That's a lot of yeast trub in those bottles. Even wheat beers will settle out given time. You have to pour part into a glass,then swirl the rest & pour it in to get that cloudy wheat ale look.

 

[LVBen]

It looks like you bottled it before letting everything settle out and/or got too much trub into your bottling bucket. Maybe you could try cold crashing next time.

 

[unionrdr]

I said basically the same thing,but went back & changed it. He brewed a dunkleweiesen. I assumed it should be cloudy like any wheat beer. Unless he wanted it more like a krystalweisen.

 

[Homercidal]

Yeast and/or break material. Normal for a wheat beer to be cloudy. All beer will settle to some extend unless it's been filtered.

To prevent as much as possible, cold crash and let it sit longer longer before bottling. But it doesn't look bad to me. Just pour into a glass carefully.

 

[NWMushroom]

Looks like you have a ready made yeast starter in that bottle. Time for another brew day!

 

[LVBen]

Based on the pictures, he has a huge amount of sediment in that bottle, which makes me think that he needed to crash cool it.

 

[unionrdr]

I've never had a dunklweisen. Should they be cloudy,like any wheat ale? Or clear,like a krystalweisen? But that is def a lot of yeast trub in there. I originally mentioned that it looked like he didn't let it settle long enough. But then it dawned on me what he said it was. Cloudy or clear to style?

 

[desertw0lf]

Well, I drank several bottles of it after it was bottled and left for three weeks. There was not NEARLY this much sediment or trub into it. I then loaded it all into the fridge in the garage, and it sat in there another 4-5 weeks, and suddenly turned into this.

Wouldn't it have been the same at 3 weeks if it was just too much trub from the bottling process?

 

[LVBen]

Well, I drank several bottles of it after it was bottled and left for three weeks. There was not NEARLY this much sediment or trub into it. I then loaded it all into the fridge in the garage, and it sat in there another 4-5 weeks, and suddenly turned into this.

Wouldn't it have been the same at 3 weeks if it was just too much trub from the bottling process?

No, because you were probably bottle conditioning it at room temperature or cellar temperature, and not at fridge temperatures. Cold crash it next time and try to rack as little trub as possible, and you will likely get better results.

 

[comer88888]

He did cold crash in his bottles. you said you left them out and drank a couple they were fine, then you put them in the fridge for 4-5 weeks. After in the fridge all the sediment went to the bottom cause they got cold. My 2 cents at least.

 

[IrregularPulse]

When you put it into the fridge, it cold crashed. Letting all that sediment fall out of the beer. Just leave it behind and cold crash next time or be more careful when racking.

 

[LVBen]

He did cold crash in his bottles. you said you left them out and drank a couple they were fine, then you put them in the fridge for 4-5 weeks. After in the fridge all the sediment went to the bottom cause they got cold. My 2 cents at least.

He needs to cold crash BEFORE he bottles!

 

[comer88888]

He needs to cold crash BEFORE he bottles!

I know but he didn't so it happened in his bottles.

 

[Ravenshead]

I think I concur that the excess trub in the bottles is from long cold crashing.

However, you mentioned that it tasted "off". Trub on the bottom shouldn't effect the taste. Can you describe the off taste?

 

[LVBen]

A small amount of 'dusting' on the bottom is normal for bottle conditioned beer, but according to Brew Strong, large amounts of trub carried over from primary fermentation will have negative side effects on the beer.

 

[unionrdr]

That's because they used to think the settling yeast was dead. Ben disproved since then.