How can I avoid a cloudy pint?

[timothio]

Hi all,

I'm finally drinking some of my homebrew, probably a little early, but I've run out of money, so needs must if I want a beer in the evening.

I bottled in 2 litre PET bottles, and while the bottled brew is perfectly clear, when I pour it into a glass it disturbs the sediment at the bottom of the bottle and I end up with a cloudy pint. Having bottled in 2 litre bottles I have to pour into pint glasses around 4 times to finish the bottle so gets a bit of un-intentional swilling, however carefully I might try to do it.

Tried siphoning into another bottle, but all I ended up with in the 2nd bottle was foam, not sure why as the other end of the tube was deep in the beer. SOmething to do with the carbonation, I guess.

Tried pouring into a jug, but when the bottle got to a certain level of horizontal-ness and the bottom of the bottle was vertical-ish (if you get my meaning), the sediment got mixed up and some of it ended up in the jug aswell.

Maybe I just havent left it long enough for the sediment to become more compacted? Its only been about 5 weeks since bottling...

Any ideas?

Thanks!!

[THE EMBALMER]

dont quote me on this one its just what i heard and is untried by my self but pour it through a coffee paper filter?????
could be worth a punt but could be too slow and point less but necessity is the mother of invention

[OldSpeckledBadger]

dont quote me on this one its just what i heard and is untried by my self but pour it through a coffee paper filter?????

That'll probably completely de-carbonate it.

[timothio]

Hmmm... So I can have a cloudy fizzy pint, or a clear flat pint...

Which is the lesser of the 2 evils, I find myself asking...?

I hope I find a solution to give me a fizzy clear pint using 2 litre bottles, I've got about 30 of them conditioning at the moment, I simply wont see all that booze go to waste!

I guess if I was using 1 pint bottles it might help solve the problem, but dont wanna do that, cos it'd be a right pain in the @rse to bottle, and with the long conditioning period I'd need so damn many of them to give me a constant supply of beer, 'twould cost a small fortune...

The there's also the keg "with the floaty thing" option, but doesnt really suit my lager preference, and again involves obtaining a bank loan for all the extra kegs and adaptors for the S-30 gas cylinder thing, and the cylinder itself...

Homebrew was meant to save me money... Damn this hobby to hell!!

[brysie]

tim? does it taste good? if its a yes try drinking it in the dark son.

[lollypopp]

Drink it from a tankard Tim, then you can put the light back on!

[brysie]

haha

[stevenm]

I have only done 3 kits but asked that question myself after the first brew. I ended up getting a jug and pouring the lager carefull into the jug from the pet bottle. I stop when i see the sediment coming, which means you do waste a little but at the price of the kits its okay to waste a little.
Steven

[timothio]

tim? does it taste good? if its a yes try drinking it in the dark son.

Yeah, think you're on to something there, then I can save money on the leccy too!

[brysie]

its okay to waste a little.

thats dangerous talk son.......

[timothio]

its okay to waste a little.

thats dangerous talk son.......

Was thinking the same thing... I've brewed 40 pints, so I'll damn well drink 40 pints!! Waste not, want not, and all that $hite...

[rollin danny]

If your gonna brew in pet bottles its best to use Coopers kits .The yeast becomes very compact and stable very quickly.Failing that swop the kit yeast for saf 04 [they charge me £1.40 for that ].Sounds like youve over carbonated a bit.Release the pressure from the bottle then stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours.That should reduce the fizz a bit.Then syphon into a 2 litre jug .try not to pick up the sediment from the bottom of bottle.If its too flat for you let it warm up a bit and the fizz should come back .This is what I do and it works for me.

[sparky Paul]

2L PET bottles? This works for me...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16906&p=198070&#p198070

Use a good flocculant yeast like Safale or Saflager, clings better to the bottom of the bottle, and obviously the longer you leave the bottles undisturbed the better. If you carbonated the bottles heavily, i.e. for a lager, make sure you put them in the fridge for several hours before opening.

[timothio]

Cheers for the advice, I got a Coopers brew with saflager yeast up next, so will see how that goes...

I would love to chill the bottles nicely in my fridge beforehand, but my fridge just aint big enough!! I have a crappy fridge-freezer, the only way I can fit the bottles in is if I take out all the shelves, but then there's no room for food (you know, food? Its the solid form of sustenance that passes our lips when beer doesnt ). I really need a beer fridge...

Siphoning is definitely a no-no, at least with non-chilled beer, just tried it again and got the same result - a load of froth in the 2nd bottle and all the way along the tube, but not much else.

But I did just manage to successfully pour about 3/4 of the bottle into a jug before the sediment got angry, I 'spose this isnt too bad, if I can put up with 1 extra cloudy pint (the sediment seems to take an age to settle again), I can relax with 3 nice clear pints.

Anyway, I shall persevere, sometime in the future I WILL drink 40 perfectly clear pints, and I shall love every one as much as the last.

Cheers all!

[Yeastman]

They do, do canned food now so theres no need for food in your fridge