Which beers are bottle conditioned??

[TrojanAnteater]

There are so many beers out there, how do you know which is bottle conditioned, so that you have be careful with pouring?? For instance, reading Palmer's homebrewing book it made references to Sierra Nevada PA being bottle conditioned.... as many times as I've had that I can't believe that, but I don't know, I have only been into the world of good beer for a year and a half.

[markaberrant]

The sediment at the bottom of a SNPA is a pretty good indicator that it is bottle conditioned.

[TrojanAnteater]

LOL! That's the thing, i've never noticed any sediment down there before or ever being poured into my glass. crazy

[steveh]

Goose Island was once bottle conditioned, said so right on the label. Not sure if that's so any more.

Any Bavarian Hefeweizen, Young's Special London Ale, Fuller's 1845...among many others. Richard? You return from Oman yet?

S.

[Sladek]

There are many English bottle-conditioned beers, which may be hard to come by, depending on your location. My paint store in Minneapolis has a pretty good selection of UK beers, and many of them are bottle-conditioned. They aren't cheap, either. Some say right on the label, some don't.

[mookow]

Originally posted by TrojanAnteater
LOL! That's the thing, i've never noticed any sediment down there before or ever being poured into my glass. crazy

SN bottle conditions some (maybe all?) of their beers, but they have the smallest amount of sediment out of any bottle conditioned beer that I have tried. I think they filter out most of the yeast and/or crash cool most of it out of suspension before they bottle.

But take a flashlight and look at the bottom of a full bottle of SNPA, and you'll see some sediment.

[eppie]

Most of my favorite belgians are bottle conditiond. All the trappists are, and many of the abby beers and specialty beers too. It's just another good reason to age these beers and let the sediment sink to the bottom.
________
California medical marijuana dispensaries (http://california.dispensaries.org/)

[wild]

Originally posted by mookow
SN bottle conditions some (maybe all?) of their beers, but they have the smallest amount of sediment out of any bottle conditioned beer that I have tried. I think they filter out most of the yeast and/or crash cool most of it out of suspension before they bottle.

Yes they do filter. Here is an excerpt from BYO (http://www.byo.com/mrwizard/1257.html) :
The other reason to remove the fermenting yeast from the beer prior to packaging is consistency. If I want to bottle condition my beer and control the amount of yeast in the bottle, adding fresh yeast to filtered beer is a very good method of accomplishing these goals. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company uses this method for these two different reasons. Sierra Nevada wants a very faint film of yeast in their bottles that is almost imperceptible to most consumers. They also want to bottle-condition their tasty ales and do not want to trust this final step of brewing to any old yeast hanging about in the fermenter. Instead, they use freshly cropped yeast with the highest viability for this purpose. This is important since the amount of yeast added is just enough to get the job done; hence the freshest yeast is selected. The yeast concentration in a bottle of Sierra Nevada is about 1 million cells per milliliter of beer. This equates to about 1/10 of the yeast added for primary fermentation. Assuming the same cell density in the yeast slurry is 100 million cells per milliliter (typical for a starter) you need to add 3.5 milliliters or 1/10 of an ounce of slurry per bottle — a very small volume indeed.


Wild

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by Sladek
There are many English bottle-conditioned beers, which may be hard to come by, depending on your location. My paint store in Minneapolis has a pretty good selection of UK beers, and many of them are bottle-conditioned. They aren't cheap, either. Some say right on the label, some don't.

I think most British beer will say Bottle Conditioned on the label. Try Coniston Bluebird. (Not the one with the American hops).

[ClockworkOrange]

Try Coniston Bluebird. (Not the one with the American hops).

Is that the Bluebird XB(green label I think)? I've already had that and was not impressed. I've got a bottle of the Bluebird Bitter(blue label) in my fridge. It is getting hard to find lately.

[markaberrant]

Originally posted by TrojanAnteater
LOL! That's the thing, i've never noticed any sediment down there before or ever being poured into my glass. crazy

I've had a grand total of 1 bottle of SNPA in my life (about 2 weeks ago). You have to look pretty carefully to see it because there isn't that much, but it's definitely there.

I've found with my homebrew and bottle conditioned beers, that if I leave them in the fridge for a week or so, I can pretty much pour the entire beer without getting any sediment. This varies of course, depending on the yeast strain and it's ability to floculate and compact, as well as how much yeast settled out prior to bottling.

[chazwicke]

THe XB is nowhere near as good at the regular Bluebird. I was extremely disappointed with the XB. Of course the bottle conditioned BB is slightly different from the cask version too. The CC version is 3.8% I think the BCA is 4.2.

[ClockworkOrange]

Straight from my fridge: Bottle conditined Bluebird Bitter is 4.2%. Given the fact that it's bottle conditioned, will this hold up over time in the cellar even though it is 4.2%?

[xsef1x]

I have always poured the sediment into my glass. Is that not what your supposed to do or does it depend on the beer?

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by ClockworkOrange
Straight from my fridge: Bottle conditined Bluebird Bitter is 4.2%. Given the fact that it's bottle conditioned, will this hold up over time in the cellar even though it is 4.2%?

I've had some go off before. But they may have been miss-handled before I got them. Keep them in the fridge would be my advice. Thanks for the .2% I inadvertantly left it off.
I love this beer but it is definately better fresh on cask. And the XB was a disappointment.

I was not that impressed with the Coniston Old Man either. I wonder how it would be on cask.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by xsef1x
I have always poured the sediment into my glass. Is that not what your supposed to do or does it depend on the beer?

Personal choice. The vitamin B is good for you but the yeast can sometimes cause you to head straight for the bathroom later.

[fretlessman71]

The yeast can also impart an unintended bitter flavor, but for weizens it's preferrec to pour the yeast in. Again, as previously stated, it's a personal choice.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by xsef1x
I have always poured the sediment into my glass. Is that not what your supposed to do or does it depend on the beer?

I agree with chaz. Your choice, no matter what anyone, even the brewer, tells you. Next time, try pouring your beer carefully without any sediment. Drink. About halfway through, top off with the rest of the beer & yeast in the bottle. Drink. Which do your prefer?

I always roll and pour the entire bottle of some styles (Hefes, Wits, etc) into the glass on the first pour.

Cheers!

[Sladek]

Originally posted by chazwicke
I think most British beer will say Bottle Conditioned on the label. Try Coniston Bluebird. (Not the one with the American hops). I've got a bottle of Coniston Bitter at home in the fridge. How do I know if it has American hops?

[chazwicke]

It'll say so. It says on the bottle "Made with American Hops" It is the Bluebird XB. Not even close to the regular BCA Bluebird Bitter. The cask is best though.

[chazwicke]

I'll usually let some of the yeast into my glass.

[Sladek]

Originally posted by chazwicke
It'll say so. It says on the bottle "Made with American Hops" It is the Bluebird XB. Not even close to the regular BCA Bluebird Bitter. The cask is best though. I'm drinking the regular Bluebird Bitter. It's OK. Disappointingly, it's skunked. I taste some nice maltiness there, and nice to drink, but not worth the $4 I paid.

[chazwicke]

I have had some bottles that were not fresh before too. Even though it is bottle conditioned. I think that it might be a little more fragile than some of the higher ABV beers. Fresh from the cask, it is a wonderous beer. Fresh in the bottle it is also a fine brew. But, I agree, It doesn't hold up all that well to age. I gave away about 5 bottles from a batch I had that was old.

[Sladek]

I can believe it; there was some nice complexity there. The paint store I go to has a great beer selection (relative to the Twin Cities), but stuff sits on the shelf a long time, especially the import section, and especially the single bottle English beers. Probably price, and a lot of their customers don't even bother with that section. I rarely see anybody looking there. Sitting day after day under flourescent lighting. Shamefully, Victory's beers are on the highest shelf, no protection. I never buy those unless I know they've been recently stocked.

[Richard English]

Yes, I am back from Oman. And the sandy stuff isn't the only desert there:-( Thank goodness for Guinness in the widget can - at least it tastes of beer.

There are over 600 bottle-conditioned beers brewed in the UK and most have the words "Bottle Conditioned" on their labels. But, as has been said, a film of yeast in the bottom of the bottle is the real tell-tale.

I tend myself to pour the yeast into the glass, but it's a matter of preference. If you don't like the slight cloudiness then decant and leave the last fraction of an inch behind.

[gone_fishing]

At my oldest son's house this past Sunday I had a Sam Adam's summer brew, which is a wheat with lemon and something else which I forget. There was a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottle...does any one know if this is bottle conditioned too?