Flocculation?

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mr_bell

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IN regards to yeast, can someone please define / describe (doesn't have to be super technical) WTF flocculation is?
 
That's when the little yeast cells clump together and start falling to the bottom of your fermenter.
 
Flocculation is a desirable and important characteristic that is unique to brewers yeast. When brewers yeast nears the end of fermentation, single cells aggregate into clumps of thousands of cells, and drop to the bottom of the fermentor, leaving clear beer behind. If yeast flocculate too early, the beer will be underattenuated and sweet. If yeast do not flocculate, the beer will be cloudy and have a yeasty taste.

From White Labs
 
Clumping - specifically with regard to beer, clumping into big enough chunks that it is willing to fall to the bottom of the carboy, and thus clear the beer.

Individual yeast cells are very small, and tend to remain suspended in the beer. When they get together in clumps, they are more likely to fall to the bottom.
 
And you don't always want good flocculation. In some styles, particularly hefe's, the yeast is designed (is that even the right word?) to take longer to flocculate... which is why hefe's are so cloudy and retain so many 'yeasty' flavors. But after time, pretty much all yeast will flocculate and clump to the bottom of your fermentor.
 
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