How to bottle a beer with NO sediment

[Pinchy]

Hello,

Is it possible to make and bottle home brew with no sediment at all?
If so what is the best / most practical way of doing this?

Cheers,
Pinchy

 

[mike77]

I haven't done it but I think that you can force carbonate in a cornelius keg then use a Blichmann beer gun to transfer the carbonated beer into a bottle. There are videos online

 

[fbsf]

I've found that even if you do that, *some* sediment will still drop out, although not enough to make the beer cloudy when poured.

It's the nearest thing though - maybe if I had used finings before kegging it might have gone brighter, but I think you would need to start looking at filtering which is a whole extra heap of equipment!

 

[PD]

In my experience you will ALWAYS get some sediment in home brewed beer, its unavoidable. although it can be reduced to next to nothing.
Cornie kegs get you the cleanest beers.
In a bottle though we put beer and then add sugar to form CO2, so you will get some sediment from the yeast working on the priming sugar.
However leave it as long as you can in a secondary fv to allow most of the yeast to drop out of suspension before you bottle. Use a good yeast and then you will only have a tiny amount left in the bottle that you will not notice. If anyone complains give them a can of weasel p*** ( Fo****s etc) and tell them they are too immature for your beers.

 

[RobWalker]

have you tried fining the beer, then bottling with a dissolved sugar solution using glucose for priming? You can certainly get it down to next to nothing quite easily. Think Sierra Nevada bottles.

Brewdog beers actually contain live yeast too, but they use a tiny filter to filter most of it out. It's clear out of the bottle, but it's something to think about!

 

[Pinchy]

Cool i have never considered finings. Can you reccomend some to use? I always rack into a keg with sugar solution then bottle straight from the keg. Sometimes i rack twice into a 2nd FV to leave sediment behind, Then rack into the keg to bottle. Cant get away from the sediment haha! Its not the end of the world, just annoying especially when using 1L bottles pouring into pint glasses.

 

[calumscott]

Brewdog beers actually contain live yeast too, but they use a tiny filter to filter most of it out

Not in the new plant apparently. Their new kit ferments under pressure, conditions under pressure and bright beer is bottled directly from the conditioning tanks, again under pressure - the same original pressure created by the fermentation!

So that's live beer, conditioned outside the bottle in bulk, but still completely clear and sediment free.

Clever tech.

 

[WelshPaul]

The way I (finally) found to minimise sediment to miniscule levels was:

1 - use Irish Moss in the boil. This helps yeast to drop out of suspension during fermentation.
2 - chill the boiled wort as quickly as you can.
3 - use a separate fermenter for secondary fermentation, thus leaving the majority of the dead yeast behind in the trub.
4 - add finings to beer a couple of days prior to bottling or kegging. I use a single sheet of leaf gelatine per 25 litres.
5 - if possible, crash cool the beer at around 1-2°C for 24 hours prior to bottling.
6 - use a separate bucket for bottling and batch priming. Use a Little Bottler and ensure that the little red intake inside is facing up.
7 - wait. Then wait longer. Any remaining yeast in suspension will eventually settle to the bottom and this will eventually compact naturally.

 

[Pinchy]

.... But what about us noobs that are brewing kits and cant aford / justify going over to AG or BIAB because they spent wayyyy too much money in the wilkos sale? :lol: (hopfuly doing BIAB in a couple of months time).

Just forget the first 2 steps and do the rest?

 

[mike77]

Another thing you may try is chucking the yeast that comes with the kit and using yeast that is known to flocculate and compact well so that the remaining yeast in the bottle is less of an issue.

 

[droche]

These look good but are not cheap to buy in the UK because of the freight cost. http://sedexbrewing.com/index.html
and a video here, http://youtu.be/B2PPBmJZFd0
If the beer is left long enough the sediment sets at the bottom anyway, plus it proves it's a REAL beer and not that filtered and pasteurized witches p**s :sick:

 

[LeithR]

We homebrewers are not pasturising our beer we are producing a pure unadulterated product, If you can't remember it yourself your Dads or Grandads will remember when all bottled beer in the UK would have had a little sediment in it because it was a live culture and we had to pour it carefully into the glass, I remember that activity certainly hightened the aniticipation. Just like the bottle conditioned beers we discuss regularly here and think highly of e.g. Fullers Bengal Lancer or Thwaites Tavern Porter.

My suggestion is "Be proud of your sediment"

 

[Tyronnster]

As he said sediment is good

 

[brewtim]

I've just moved onto AG but I've adopted the following process after doing it with a couple of kit brews:

Chill fermenter to near freezing for a week after a diacetyl rest.
Rack from fermenter to a Cornie keg.
Chill Cornie to -1C for 2 weeks minimum whilst force carbonating to 10psi.
Draw off some beer at intervals to rid dip tube of crud and check clearing and taste (usually only get lots of crud in the first and second drawings of up to 100mils, then it goes clear).
Use Blichmann beer gun to bottle.

Bottles have none or extremely little sediment observable.

For my first AG I have also fined with gelatine in the Cornie to help with clearing.

I enjoy having sediment in bottles, but I also enjoy having clear bottles, feels more of an achievement for me and I wring every last drop from the bottle

 

[sam.k]

My process is the same as the one above.

 

[IPA]

The way I (finally) found to minimise sediment to miniscule levels was:

1 - use Irish Moss in the boil. This helps yeast to drop out of suspension during fermentation.
2 - chill the boiled wort as quickly as you can.
3 - use a separate fermenter for secondary fermentation, thus leaving the majority of the dead yeast behind in the trub.
4 - add finings to beer a couple of days prior to bottling or kegging. I use a single sheet of leaf gelatine per 25 litres.
5 - if possible, crash cool the beer at around 1-2°C for 24 hours prior to bottling.
6 - use a separate bucket for bottling and batch priming. Use a Little Bottler and ensure that the little red intake inside is facing up.
7 - wait. Then wait longer. Any remaining yeast in suspension will eventually settle to the bottom and this will eventually compact naturally.

I could not agree more. This is exactly the way it should be done. Plus use a silicone tube attached to the tap for all of the transfers. Why people still use syphons is beyond me.

 

[Pinchy]

Cheers everyone. I will learn to put up with my sediment lol. But think I may try the gelatine as suggested above too.

 

[Rolfster]

Hi, I have read that you can filter out the sediement and then carobonate the beer under pressure with CO2. But that sounds expensive.

If I was drinking out of big bottles I would get a big jug to pour it into, leaving the sediment in the bottle and then fill the glasses from the jug.

Just a thought

 

[fbsf]

^^ This works well for me!

 

[PD]

Just put a Felinfoel Double Dragon into its secondary and its as clear as the proverbial bell, another week before bottling and I bet by the time its drunk there will be NO sediment.
No finings or anything added... Yeast was WLP002 English Ale Yeast ( sorry Wales.... )