What is this?!

[Brewlaw]

Just bottled my first batch of beer and I was wondering what exactly is the stuff at the bottom of the fermentation vessel. I thought it was yeast/sediment. It tasted pretty strange sweet yet bitter taste and seemed to foam when tasted.

What is it exactly?

Additionally, when bottling, the last few bottles had extra sediment in them as I had to tilt the fermentation vessel, is this good/bad or it doesn't matter? Any way to overcome any problems with this sediment when bottling?

 

[duboman]

The 'stuff' at the bottom of the primary/secondary is called trub and it is all the yeast and break matter that settles out of the beer once fermentation is complete.

When you rack to the bottling bucket you want to be sure to leave this behind, it's not a big deal if you don't but it will be left behind in the bottle once it settles out again. After being refrigerated for a few days or so the cake will pack at the bottom of the bottle and when you pour try not to rouse it up again to keep it out of your glass.

Worst case is you drink it and get beer farts............

 

[unionrdr]

No pic,just red "X". Just tilt the primary slowly & gently to get that last bottle's worth out. Youll get less trub that way. It's just trub & dead & dormant yeast cells at the bottom. What little gets in the bottles or settles out after carbonation isn'tore than a dusting if you're careful. And it'll conpact on the bottom of the bottle during a week's fridge time.

 

[Brewlaw]

I am storing the bottles in a room at around 20-23 degrees. I cannot store them at any lower temperature. I can store maybe half underneath my freezer as there is a small space which is around 15 degrees, but then they will not be standing upright. Should I just leave them in the room at 20-23 degrees?

 

[duboman]

I am storing the bottles in a room at around 20-23 degrees. I cannot store them at any lower temperature. I can store maybe half underneath my freezer as there is a small space which is around 15 degrees, but then they will not be standing upright. Should I just leave them in the room at 20-23 degrees?

Yes, that's about 70F, any colder and they will take a lot longer to carbonate, you want them upright.

 

[unionrdr]

20-23C equals 68-73.4F,just for reference sake. so that's a good temp range to carb & condition in.