Rousing Yeast - An Experiment Done Many Times

[AdeDunn]

I'm sure lots of you have done this, many many many times. But I tried this myself too recently, so thought I would share.

As many of you know, not that long ago I brewed a Belgian Witbier. Stepped mash, with a nice acid rest. Used Mangrove Jack's M21 Belgian Wit Yeast (and what a naughty yeast that is! Likes to pretend it's finished, then go some more in the bottle it does... lol). Really delicious.

Now I'm sure we've all read how you should rouse the yeast when drinking a wit, and on bottles of Hoegaarden it has the instructions to do this (the whole swirling the last bit of the bottle when serving). I see lots of pics from people on the internet though of their Wit beer, and it looks really clear, with them complaining of a lack of flavour... Yeah, so who reckons they aren't rousing that yeast then? lol

Anyway, just as an experiment, I poured a bottle really carefully, taking care to disturb the sediment in the bottle as little as possible:-



Unsurprisingly, it had a thin mouth feel, and much less flavour... Tasted a bit like Hoegaarden to be honest....

My next bottle, I poured "properly", giving the last little bit a swirl. Mmmmmm, so much difference! Tons of spicy flavour, and a lovely silky mouth feel, absolutely delicious.


It would be very easy to think I was drinking a completely different beer.

So, now my wife likes me to rouse just a bit of the yeast, and I like it all roused for the full flavour... So I've found I can actually customise the beer going into the glass like this.

As I say, I know most of you already knew this. However, maybe a person here and there might not, and this will maybe help them to avoid drinking a limp flavourless Belgian Wit... Although sorry, if it comes in a bottle with a lable saying Hoegaarden, I can't help with that.... :p

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Having half-an-hour to kill in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, many years ago, I dropped into a little bar, which turned out to be run by a German couple. As I was quaffing my caña a customer asked for a bottle of Erdinger. He carefully poured most of the beer into the glass then rolled the bottle backwards and forwards on the bar to rouse the yeast. He then dumped it into the glass in one move, causing a nice head to form.
The bar owner said that everyone did it that way in his part of Germany.
My next drink was a bottle of Erdinger, my first wheat beer, and my first glimpse of Paradise.

 

[AdeDunn]

Hi Col.

Yeah, from what I have read the goal is to suspend the yeast in a nice thick foamy head, so that as you drink the beer you drink it through the yeasty foam. My glasses aren't really the right shape for this, but it certainly tastes a heck of a lot better than pouring it like you would an ale or something, where you wan't any sediment to stay in the bottle. lol

I don't make or buy German wheat beers by the way. I like them really really banana flavoured, my wife HATES banana flavour (yet likes bananas, especially cooked ones...). All of the commercial ones I've found around here have been the incredibly clovey ones though, and taste nasty.

I absolutely LOVE Belgian Witbier though! I can drink them year round, happily.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @AdeDunn
Have you tried Schneider Weisse? If I remember correctly it has a pronounced banana taste.

 

[AdeDunn]

Can't say I've ever seen it in the Supermarket bud. No decent bottle shops around here sadly. The closest you get to special around here is stuff from Staffordshire, West Midlands and other regional breweries. Which isn't all bad, actually found an unusual cherry flavoured bitter in the local off license a few weeks back, made by Titanic. Very unusual, like a bitter with roasted barley in it, that had had cherry drops dissolved in it. My wife loved it. My brain still hasn't decided. lol