To pour the yeast, or not to pour - that is my question?

[Redbird Fan]

I've been wondering something.....

On many micro-brew unfiltered wheat's they recommend "swirling and pouring" the remaining portion of brew/yeast into your glass, yet, when it comes to homebrew, it is recommended you do NOT pour the yeast.

What is the difference here - or - is it OK to pour the yeast from your homebrew?

My understanding (on homebrew) is the yeast is OK to pour, but will impart an off flavor (and you run the risk of it upsetting your stomach).

[toneyc]

Yes, it's fine! Back when I bottled, I would take a bunch over to a friend's house where we would drink it straight from the bottle. It *may* impart a slight bitter taste to the beer and it *may* have a slight laxative effect, or it may not. Try it and see if you like it.

:) Toney.

[Tom C]

It all comes down to personal taste. I think some yeasts used may have a desirable effect if swired into the glass where as other beers need no other assistance.

Tom C

[danno]

I also think it has to do with the style of beer. The only style I know that actually recommends swirling is a hefe-weizen..

try entering "hefe weizen" here (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr) .... (hint: use German to English...)

[Redbird Fan]

ah, good call on the translation -

"hefe weizen"

"yeast wheat"

[cyanide]

I made a wheat beer recently. I would certainly not want the sediment in my drink. I love bitter beers, but it is just not at all good.

I did add a slice of lemon to it however, boy did that make it nice.

[Erik Speir]

If it tast good drink it ! If not I've used the yeasty portion in beerbatter.

[Richard English]

The yeast will not affect the flavour of the beer, nor will it upset your stomach. Indeed, it is possible to buy yeast tablets from chemists as a food supplement (although they cost much more than the yeast in your bottle!)

It will, though, affect the look of the beer and that's a matter of preference. In Australia there is, so far as I know, only one brewer of bottle conditioned beers, which is Coopers. Their "Sparking Ale" throws a very heavy sediment and whenever I ordered one the barman would swirl the bottle before opening in order to make it cloudy. I was told that this is the way the Coopers drinkers prefer it (maybe to show the onlookers that they, at least, have good taste!)

Incidentally, Australians are even worse served for good beer than were Americans in the 1970's. Their chemical fizz brands are just as awful as A-B's; Coopers is sheer nectar by comparison!

Me? I pour it all into the glass - I don't care to waste a drop!

[paul84043]

I swirl the sediment in on my Hefe's, the rest, I make a very token effort to keep most of it out, but a little always gets in and that's fine. My beer has always tasted fantastic.
The sediment is where alot of the healthy stuff is concentrated, the protien, active yeast, vitmains and minerals, I have yet to end up running for the John after drinking the sediment.

In the Hefe's it adds to the flavor profile, and I think it's better that way.

[Redbird Fan]

The yeast will not affect the flavour of the beer

I have not heard this before -

I do believe it can be OK to pour the yeast (and encouraged in the Hefe (wheat) style) - however I do believe the yeast will impart off flavors (which may or may not be desirable) -

I have been making an effort to NOT pour the yeast, but if some made its way into my glass no big deal.

If it is OK to pour the yeast, and if the yeast does not affect the flavor of the beer, then why pour the beer into a glass at all? :confused:

[Tweek]

the reason to pur a beer into a glass actually has very little if anything to do with yeast. You pour it into the right kind of glass to accentuate its properties. And yes it does matter what kind of glass. that is why all the diferent types of beers have different kinds of reccomended glassware. You can run an easy test ont his yourself by tasting one out of the bottle and one out of a glass, the diference should be extremely apparant. The beer should really open up in the glass, the hop aroma should be much more noticable, many of the subtleties that you may not have noticed in the bottle will be more obvious now.

As far as yeast not contributing any flavor, that has not been my experience. however I have never had yeast contribute off flavor. My guess is that if you got some that tastes awful, the beer will probabally suck too, they pretty much go hand in hand as far as how the flavors got that way.

[Redbird Fan]

Honestly, at this point, I wouldn't know if my yeast have imparted an off flavor (or tasted bad) because I have never poured the entire thing into the glass - primarily because I was under the impression this was not a good idea -

So now I am flirting with the idea of pouring all the contents into my glass - I wanted to get an idea of what the average homebrewer does.

So far, this has been very helpful - keep the opinions coming -