Does Spent Yeast Taint Beer

[shepp]

I just wondered if the build up of spent yeast can taint the flavour of a beer.
I read last night in my Dave Line, Big Book Of Brewing that he recommends to remove some of the dead yeast residue from the inside edge of the fermenter.
Is it ever a good idea to put the beer into another bin for a few days once the bulk of fermentation has taken place before bottling?
Cheers
Shepp

[Stonechat]

I would say yes drop into secondary FV. Others may not agree!

[Stonechat]

Got that in before Daab. He must have taken a "comfort break"

[fivetide]

I always use a secondary because it allows the beer to get off the yeast head and drop nice and clear, it's a great time to dryhop and I have some Cornis which love bright beer and can be used to carbonate without the presence of additional yeast. However, it's not necessary, lots of proper experienced brewers on here don't bother, and it's just another bucket to clean and opportunity to infect/oxygenate your beer.

That said, I'm going to keep doing it

[mysterio]

I reckon you'll find about a 50/50 split of people on here who secondary and others who go straight to keg or bottle. I tend to put green beer straight into the keg, leave it for say a week then fine the beer. I'll then sample it until I feel its ready, which may be straight away or a number of weeks, usually depending on the yeast strain or gravity of the beer.

Generally you don't want to be leaving a pile of yeast at the bottom of the keg for any great length of time, if you've ever left a finished keg for a few weeks/months and then go to clean it you'll know it can smell quite funky. My beer doesn't generally hang about though so i've got no worries about autolysis (yeast death).

[shepp]

Cheers guys, very informative, i may try the second fv later down the line.

[drbell]

I am interested in this, as due to time constraints, my latest brew stayed in the fermentor for 6 weeks before being bottled... Should I expect it to be ok, or will I notice a different taste in the final brew?

[Ditch]

Six Weeks?! What ~ have I got this right? ~ as in; Ye chuck all the stuff in a five gallon bucket. It forms a scummy head. Then ye leave it, as was the last ye ever saw it, for a month and more??? Crazy!

Forgive me. My name's 'Ditch' and I'm a bit of a bugger for a beer. But, even so, that sounds an off the wall concept, to me. I'd be crying to myself over the fate of my creation after even a few weeks in the primary fermentation vessel. Never mind six. Then again; My PFV's always had, and will yet have to be artificially warmed, else they could probably sit there till the Old King returns and do sod all!

This is a one off occurance, surely? Let us know if ye get away with it.




Sorry. Dare I ask Why?

[shepp]

Ditch it does'nt take much to get the temperature of the fermenter up to 20c, if it was in a cupboard with a 40w bulb next to it, then it would probably get there. Best to get it to a good temperature first.
I'm more concerned getting the temperature low enough in the summer.
I bought an underfloor heating thermostat with a probe on a wire from ebay for ten quid, and rigged it up to a 45 watt tubular heater.
It warms up my cupboard no problems, the heater is acually rarely running. I've also heard of people using a light bulb in a box, maybe if the box was strong enough then the fermenter could sit on the box in the open with a blanket over it, temperature could be regulated with different wattage bulbs.
Just a thought.

[fivetide]

drbell - the truth will be in the tasting! Six weeks is usually considered too long due to the effect of autolysison the brew, but it could be fine. The jury is still out.

You reeeaaally want these unfortunate time problems to occur once you're at the conditioning stage - being forced to keep your hands of the brew for six weeks or more then would be a real bonus!

[delboy]

I tend to leave mine in the primary for about a month and at a minimum a few weeks, doesn't seem to be a problem.

If it was an issue why wouldn't all aged bottled beers be absolutely undrinkable because of yeast autolysis

[drbell]

Thanks for the replies. Disappointed to hear it could be a big problem. My first brew was 4 weeks getting to final gravity because of boiler issues, I guess I took 4 weeks as reasonable and 6 weeks just happened as I went away for a few weekends and never get enough time during the week.

In winter it seems I get temperatures of 16-18 degrees for fermenting, which after some research seemed to be on the edge of what should still be ok, so I expected slightly slower fermentation, but hadn't realised how close I was skirting ot spoiling my beer.

I also only have the one place to ferment, carbonate and mature. Is this a huge problem? I assumed that a lower temp for the carbonation phase would just mean it took longer to get fizzed. Are there other things happening during this warm week that I am missing out on?

Thanks all.

[fivetide]

I tend to leave mine in the primary for about a month

Do you? So about 30 days? Huh. Waddyaknow!

I know it's beneficial to leave a primary the longer side of 10 days if possible to allow the yeast to clear up after itself. I also use another week in another fermenter to let it drop brighter.

Are you providing this epic primary simply because you feel it ensures a total ferment and a long period to drop bright and you see no reason not to?

I guess I just want to get the thing conditioning and already thought I was being on the slow side with my own process!

[delboy]

I tend to leave mine in the primary for about a month and at a minimum a few weeks, doesn't seem to be a problem.

If it was an issue why wouldn't all aged bottled beers be absolutely undrinkable because of yeast autolysis

Healthier yeast goes into the bottle, either the relatively active stuff still in suspension or a fresh inoculation of yeast after filtering to get rid of the old yeast.

There's also a proportionately smaller amount of yeast that goes into the bottle, often and ideally little more than a faint dusting over the bottom of the bottle.

The odd time when syphoning i've inadvertenly sucked up some of the yeast cake which would be the 'unhealthy' stuff and that is what has ended up in the bottle however there was no sign of autolysis from any of these bottles.
I take what you are saying about there being a smaller amount of yeast in a bottle but proper yeast autolysis stinks to high heaven of burnt rubber so even a small amount in the beer would taint the flavour.
Personally i think the risk of autolysis is overplayed (probably down to palmer and his little anecdote).
I have a tupperware container in the fridge of saved steam beer yeast thats probably over a year old, last time i looked at it (a month or so ago) it was fine, no horrible stench!!

FT i use a longer primary because feel my beer continues to improve when left on the yeast cake that bit longer, a month probably is over kill but i certainly don't see the need to rush it out of the primary.

[Ross]

I've tasted a wort that was left for several months in primary & the autolysis was very evident, the beer was undrinkable. It was made by a member of our brew club, who went away on business & forgot about it sat in his fermenting fridge.
That said, i'm a firm believer in leaving your wort in primary until it's ready to bottle/keg, I can see no point in transfering a regular beer to secondary. If adding fruit like rasberries though, the yeast will bleach out the colour, so in this case i'd rack off the yeast cake before adding.

cheers Ross