Why don't commercial brewers bottle condition?

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When brewers use a secondary yeast for bottling, I think it is likely to be chosen to be more flocculant than the primary yeast.

I suppose some of the high-attenuating, rather less-flocculant yeasts will sometimes have been pushed hard through the biggest OGs in primary, and there may be a consistency and/or timescale issue if conditioning were left to the primary yeast... but I am just speculating there.
 
piddledribble said:
Sorry....bottle drinking is my pet hate.......

Pouring a nice beer into a suitable glass is part of the pleasure and sets us apart from the Neaderthals.


I agree completely. I have a collection of different beer glasses from beersofeurope.co.uk and the only reason I've stopped buying is because SWIMBO has banned me! I'll drink out of a can when the situation demands it, but not out of a bottle unless I'm dying!

In years past I have shied away from bottle-conditioned beers, simply because it was more of a fuss trying to pour them without the yeast. Every Friday I'd buy a few interesting beers from a beer shop near work, and get home by motorcycle, but then I'd never be able to drink the beers that night, as they'd need time to settle.

Now I'm brewing my own I worry less about the yeast to be honest. A little in the pint makes hardly any difference to taste.
 
piddledribble said:
Sorry....bottle drinking is my pet hate.......

Pouring a nice beer into a suitable glas is part of the pleasure and sets us apart from the Neaderthals.



Exactly

give that man a beer in a suitable glass obviously :drink:
 
stuey said:
This lack of control once the product leaves the brewery may also be a reason why many breweries don't do bottle conditioned beers and stick to filtered and carb'd.

I guess it's about the overall culture. Hopefully the more microbrewery products become available the more people will be "educated" further down the chain about handling/storage/display/etc...

At the minute though I just wish there were half as many bottle conditioned beers in Northern Ireland as you can find in England.

Finding a cask ale is almost impossible here!

I guess when breweries get to the point where they can control environment perfectly for fermentation mass production is priority and those founding principles get left behind. For example I wonder what the late 1800s Heineken was like compared to the cat's urine they pump out today. One can only wonder if Gerard ever bottle conditioned beer back in the day! (probably not :tongue: )

Would make an interesting subject for a history project though. Now if only I appreciated REAL beer when I was at school!
 
Paddy said:
At the minute though I just wish there were half as many bottle conditioned beers in Northern Ireland as you can find in England.

Finding a cask ale is almost impossible here!

Na' wat the fuk's wrong wit Harp mate, er bucky? You slaggin off the local brew like? Wha ya want all 'at fukin fancy fukin ale and the like? Ya need to get yer fuking head seen to or sumptin.

Get it down ya! Wail it inta ya. Yal be bloacked before yer ma knows where ya are! Then ya can come wis uz and throw bricks at a peelers!

Sometimes it's not the beer it's the people that drink it!
 
Paddy said:
stuey said:
At the minute though I just wish there were half as many bottle conditioned beers in Northern Ireland as you can find in England.

At least you have the big G, better than the 'australian' beer :D
 
I used to buy Summer Lightning from Morrisons, 4 for £5.50, I was gutted when they stopped selling it, that was conditioned. I think one of co-ops own brand beers is conditioned, and here in Shrews they sell a local bottle that is conditioned Hobsons I think. There's normally 1 or 2 you can find. But yeah, people like to pour bright beer and I reckon its in large part to convenience the not-so-supermarkets sell bright beer. People don't want to wait for the bottle to settle before they drink it, in all honesty I'd buy bright over conditioned, except SL as it seemed very stable and if the bottle was kept upright it would pour clear. Now I brew if I do buy conditioned ale I can let it sit for as long as it needs :)
 
PaulCa said:
Paddy said:
At the minute though I just wish there were half as many bottle conditioned beers in Northern Ireland as you can find in England.

Finding a cask ale is almost impossible here!

Na' wat the fuk's wrong wit Harp mate, er bucky? You slaggin off the local brew like? Wha ya want all 'at fukin fancy fukin ale and the like? Ya need to get yer fuking head seen to or sumptin.

Get it down ya! Wail it inta ya. Yal be bloacked before yer ma knows where ya are! Then ya can come wis uz and throw bricks at a peelers!

Sometimes it's not the beer it's the people that drink it!

Haha! :rofl: Sorry that cracked me up. I'm from West Belfast. Definitely sounds like someone from that neck of the woods. They were probably being serious too! :doh:

I guess all I can say is Touché :)

Antony said:
Paddy said:
stuey said:
At the minute though I just wish there were half as many bottle conditioned beers in Northern Ireland as you can find in England.

At least you have the big G, better than the 'australian' beer :D

We do have the big G but I guess the grass is always greener :) From what I hear Australian micro-brewing and home-brewing is years ahead of us! Also wouldn't mind trying Coopers Pale Ale.

I recently found that of the bigger chains M&S have the best selection of bottle conditioned ales. Not sure if the same holds true across the pond though.
 

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