Bottling beers
- Thread starter Steve wxm
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We all get sediment in bottles, the yeast creates it when it ferments the sugar you add to the bottle.
You can reduce the amount of sediment by allowing your beer to clear thoroughly before you bottle it, somewhere cold helps, and by using yeasts that produce sediment that drops and sticks to the bottom.
For example, Nottingham yeast clears well and sticks to the bottle, so I never have a problem pouring a beer made with Nottingham. I like other yeasts though, so sometimes I have to wait longer for them to clear, and I maybe have to be very careful when i pour, and sometimes accept that some sediment gets in the glass. It doesn't bother me that much. It's good for you anyway. :
You can reduce the amount of sediment by allowing your beer to clear thoroughly before you bottle it, somewhere cold helps, and by using yeasts that produce sediment that drops and sticks to the bottom.
For example, Nottingham yeast clears well and sticks to the bottle, so I never have a problem pouring a beer made with Nottingham. I like other yeasts though, so sometimes I have to wait longer for them to clear, and I maybe have to be very careful when i pour, and sometimes accept that some sediment gets in the glass. It doesn't bother me that much. It's good for you anyway. :
Smiddylad
Well-Known Member
You can but it's a pain, as Clibit has pointed out you can try and minimize the amount of sediment that accumulates at the bottom of you bottle by tweaking your process. You can by tops for your bottles whereby you store you bottles upside down as it conditions and the sediment collects in the top and you can remove the part of the bottle top that has the sediment in it. Not sure if you can these in the UK though http://sedexbrewing.com/
You can of course go down the champagne route and capture the sediment in the top, freeze the neck of the bottle. Remove the frozen sediment and then recap it, but that is a serious amount of work :)
Neil
You can of course go down the champagne route and capture the sediment in the top, freeze the neck of the bottle. Remove the frozen sediment and then recap it, but that is a serious amount of work :)
Neil
Hop-Sniffer
New Member
Even commercial bottle conditioned beer has this. Just pour carefully and leave a quarter of an inch or so of beer in the bottom of the bottle. Top tip, if you're planning to reuse the bottle, give it a very quick rinse soon after pouring before the yeast sediment solidifies and sticks to the bottom of the bottle.
ericmark
Regular.
I am a lazy brewer and also hate to waste beer. So I just transfer beer after nearly finished into second fermenting vessel then allow to settle for few days then bottle. Sediment still there but much reduced. What really helps is a larger glass. If you can pour just once from each bottle then sediment tends to stay in bottle however most of my bottles hold more than 1 pint (70cl) rather than 57cl other option use two glasses.
Yeah I do similar but tend to try and use 330 bottles rather than big bottles so that I can pour into my glass in one smooth go. Always find more sediment in the second half of 500+ml bottles if you pour half out each time.
Steve-h71
Active Member
I hated the sediment when I first started bottling Cider. I have now made a filter system that works great for me.
I have a filter that I got from toolstation for filtering heating oil (£4.50), I use this inline between two FVs, I stuff the filter full of cotton wool, I have also got a few tyre valves from a local tyre fitter, I have fitted these into the lid of a 25 litre plastic jerry can, I then fit the syphon pipe into the hole used for the air lock, I then use my foot pump to add pressure to the jerry can to push the Cider through the filter.
I know that oxygen can be bad for the beer/cider but it is only for a short time, I did try the little C02 cartridges but they are gone in a flash so I would use far too many of them, I cant afford a proper co2 cylinder at the moment.
I tend to syphon the Cider from the original FV after clearing a little with finings, I let it stand for a few days then filter twice, letting it stand a day in between. I find its really clear then but there is still enough yeast for bottle conditioning.
HTH.
Steve.
I have a filter that I got from toolstation for filtering heating oil (£4.50), I use this inline between two FVs, I stuff the filter full of cotton wool, I have also got a few tyre valves from a local tyre fitter, I have fitted these into the lid of a 25 litre plastic jerry can, I then fit the syphon pipe into the hole used for the air lock, I then use my foot pump to add pressure to the jerry can to push the Cider through the filter.
I know that oxygen can be bad for the beer/cider but it is only for a short time, I did try the little C02 cartridges but they are gone in a flash so I would use far too many of them, I cant afford a proper co2 cylinder at the moment.
I tend to syphon the Cider from the original FV after clearing a little with finings, I let it stand for a few days then filter twice, letting it stand a day in between. I find its really clear then but there is still enough yeast for bottle conditioning.
HTH.
Steve.
I used to have a sediment problem, but it was more af an impatience problem, in fact. I now leave it in the FV for at least 14 days and if the fermentaion has finished I leave it somewhere cool to help it to clear. I can now pour it like a w???n and it's still clear in the glass.
Dave1970
Landlord.
You can reduce sediment by fining, cooling or filtering but the bottom line is that if you bottle condition your beer there will be some sediment.
The only way to eliminate it is to go to kegs - not plastic ones but metal kegs like Corny's or Crusader kegs. These together with a big CO2 bottle allow you to force carbonate (make your beer fizzy using gas from a gas bottle instead of from a secondary fermentation). This will give sediment free beer that can (with the right kit) be bottled from the keg.
It's nice to be able to produce sediment free beer but I only do it if I need a few bottles to take somewhere (like if I go away for the weekend). It's handy to have no sediment to get stirred up on a car journey but in bottles for drinking at home I still bottle condition.
Overall I'd say reduce it as much as you can and get used to it!
The only way to eliminate it is to go to kegs - not plastic ones but metal kegs like Corny's or Crusader kegs. These together with a big CO2 bottle allow you to force carbonate (make your beer fizzy using gas from a gas bottle instead of from a secondary fermentation). This will give sediment free beer that can (with the right kit) be bottled from the keg.
It's nice to be able to produce sediment free beer but I only do it if I need a few bottles to take somewhere (like if I go away for the weekend). It's handy to have no sediment to get stirred up on a car journey but in bottles for drinking at home I still bottle condition.
Overall I'd say reduce it as much as you can and get used to it!
