Less yeast, more beer...?

[fretlessman71]

Sitting around watching the two teams I picked to go to the Super Bowl fall by the wayside and having a homebrew porter... and I'm tasting WAY more yeast than I'd prefer. I've got two questions:

1) Is there anything I can do about these bottles? I chill them down very well and take good care not to disturb the beer any more than necessary, but I still can't pour out more than about 8 oz. of brew before I get those off tastes again. I'm pretty sure it's leftover yeast that I taste, because when I drink what's left in the bottle, it's REALLY strong then.

2) What can I do for the next batch of beer to keep more of the yeast out of the beer? Should I rerack it a few times and let more yeast drop out? Will this affect carbonation?

Please help out a fellow realbeer.com addict.... A THOUSAND POSTS... boy, do I need a life... :(

[ray m]

Do you do a 2ndary ferment, fretless? If not, I would employ this method, and I would make that 2ndary last at least 10 days to 2 weeks. More yeast will drop out of suspension, but plenty will still be left to carbonate it.

Since doing 2ndary fermentation, I usually have to wait an average of 3.5 weeks for my brew to properly carbonate. If this is not too long for you to wait, I would give it a try.

Hope this helps! Ray

[fretlessman71]

I've done 2ndary both times now. Maybe I didn't wait long enough the first time and bottled it too soon. But I THOUGHT I left it in 2ndary for 2 weeks or so. I disturbed the yeast cake when I reracked, so maybe even longer because of that....?

[noby]

my last batch, I racked to secondary, and left it there longer; over 2 weeks I think (my son was sick, so beer wasn't the priority).
Anyway, with the extra time, then racking to bottling bucket, and then to bottles, there's little noticable sediment in the bottles. It just took a little longer to carbonate. Of course that didn't stop me having a couple around new years, but they're in the bottle over a month now, and tasting nicer by the day!
so, as Ray said, I guess time is the key.

[sallad]

i think some cold(er) conditioning will help drop yeast out of suspension, too. so, after a week of primary and a week of secondary, maybe you could move the carboy to somewhere a little cooler than the ideal range for your yeast. just be sure fermentation is done so you don't get bottle bombs if it warms up!

[fretlessman71]

The next cooler place is on the back porch. If the temp goes up and down from 20 to 60 out there, is this a potential problem? (Assuming I can protect it from the light AND keep the solar heat from being a factor - a black garbage bag might solve one problem and create another!)

[ray m]

This is distressing me a little, fret. I definitely would not go with the back porch with the wide fluctuation in temp. The yeast probably will not handle it and die (or get super mutated). I can't figure out what you're doing improperly. The yeast cake in both primary & 2ndary is going to surely get disturbed a little bit during racking procedures. As long as you're not swirling everything back into solution, like my neighbor did once (and I think it's a safe bet your not doing THAT), I would go with what Sallad said and try cold conditioning. However, I would wait until carbonation is done in the bottle, then I would put them in the fridge for a week or 2 before drinking. And, in case you're not doing this already, when you pour from the bottle, do it smoothly so it doesn't glug out of the bottle, disturbing what sediment is in there.

[wortchillergoal]

I had a couple questions pop into my head, not an easy task. Are all the bottles tasting the same and are you sure what you are tasting is yeast?

[fretlessman71]

I'm relatively sure that what I'm tasting is yeast. Of course (as everyone here knows), there were sanitation issues when I bottled, and I'm sure that I'm also tasting a little bit of that. My reasoning for thinking that it's yeast is that if I pour our about 7 oz. of the bottle and drink that, it seems to taste alright. If I pour most of it into my glass, there's that wang coming back into it again. If I take the bottle with about an inch or so left of beer, swirl it around in the bottle and suck it down, I REALLY taste that wang. The batch is on the overcarbonated side, and maybe that has something to do with why I can't keep the sediment from becoming a large part of my poured beer. Each bottle is a little different, too; not sure why. Somehow I need to stir up my batch a little better without aerating....?

[yonkersbrewer]

NEXT TIME: try another yeast that is known to be "stickier" and thus come up less.

THIS TIME: Set this batch aside for a couple of weeks and see if that helps any. Often "tincture of time" is the best medicine for hurt beer

[yonkersbrewer]

NEXT TIME: try another yeast that is known to be "stickier" and thus come up less.

THIS TIME: Set this batch aside for a couple of weeks and see if that helps any. Often "tincture of time" is the best medicine for hurt beer

[fretlessman71]

The yeast I used was White Labs' version of the Sierra Nevada strain. I never get the SN yeast in my glass when I pour one of their beers, so what's different?

[mortong]

See this (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2348) thread for how they repitch the same yeast.

I did a batch using Wyeast 1056 (SNPA yeast), and got decent results from it - it does seem to be a bit sludgier than some of the other yeasts I've used - Safale S-04 and Wyeast 1098 particularly. With these I've been able to pour all of the beer without getting enough yeast to change the flavor. With the wyeast 1056 batch I had to leave 1/2"-1" so I wouldn't get sludge.

This could be because the batch I did using the 1056 was a pumpkin ale, and maybe I got some leftover pumpkin sludge in the bottles.

[axis714]

I know exactly what youre talking about fretless....I tend to make high gravity Bold dark ales that completely cover most all yeast flavor.....but for what its worth when i cold bulk age my lagers at around 40 degrees it seems to drop alot more yeast from suspension. Also Ive never tried the Beechwood or oak chip method but from what i hear it gives extra surface area for yeast to attach to and draws more out of suspension. I think the next IPA or ESB i brew Ill try some beechwood chips and see for myself.

[fretlessman71]

Heeheehee... Go Budweiser! J/K.... ;)

Actually, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea. Wouldn't it get extremely messy, though? I can see myself trying this and making things worse somehow.... IIRC, Bud leaves a big chunk of beechwood in their 2ndary instead of chips. Difference in outcome this way?

I wish I had a way to bulk age my beer at any given temperature... right now I have a choice of 65-70 degrees, or I could put it on the back porch... temps are going between 45-50 in the day and 20-25 at night. Probably not such a good idea, huh?