Loose sediment in bottles

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MrN
Steady Drinker
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Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 10:38 am

Loose sediment in bottles

Post by MrN » Fri Sep 23, 2016 8:58 pm

I recently made my first all-grain (BIAB) homebrew, a brown ale using s04 yeast. It's a roughly 17l batch which I left it in primary for a couple of weeks before bottling. It's now been in bottles for about 4/5 weeks and has come into condition fine except I've found, when pouring, that it has a very loose sediment, which floats up as I pour. I've opened 3 bottles so far - one was ok (quite loose but stayed more or less in the bottom) but the other two I had to leave a decent amount of beer behind so I didn't get beer with bits in it!

I understood s04 was a good flocculator so could there be another factor in my process which might cause this to happen? I've used nottingham and wyeast 1469 in the past and these have both formed very tight sediments.

McMullan

Re: Loose sediment in bottles

Post by McMullan » Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:18 am

Check out IPA’s bottled beer :wink:

MrN
Steady Drinker
Posts: 75
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 10:38 am

Re: Loose sediment in bottles

Post by MrN » Mon Sep 26, 2016 4:02 pm

So it's likely that it's caused by me picking up too much trub when transferring from primary? I go straight from primary to bottling bucket, then prime and bottle.

I did notice that there was a lot more trub than previously - at least 2.5L I think. It was my first time using my auto syphon and I think I didn't do a very good job - I left a good 2-3 litres of beer behind trying to avoid sucking up too many bits from the bottom.

TheSumOfAllBeers
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
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Re: Loose sediment in bottles

Post by TheSumOfAllBeers » Mon Sep 26, 2016 4:36 pm

Yeast is sticky, other trub less so. It's possible that the proportion of yeast trub in the bottle is lower than ideal for forming robust yeast cakes in the bottle.

Check that there is enough calcium in your water too. Yeast need it for healthy floccing.

If you are picking up too much trub from primary, it should be variable across your bottles.

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