Reducing sediment in brews with low flocculating yeasts...

James L · Post by **James L** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 2:15 pm

Its been a week since i bottled my Hefe Weissebier, and the main thing i see when i put the bottle up to the light is about 3-4mm of sediment at the botttom of the bottle (500ml).

I brewed this beer for about a week, then it was in secondary for about 2.

I removed about all the yeast i possilby could, but with such a low flocculating yeast (Wyeast 3068), what else can i do to remove sediment next time?

James

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 2:30 pm

I thought the beer was supposed to be cloudy with that kind of yeast. But to reduce sediment, you can (in order of how keen you have to be):

1. Rack
2. Rack for longer
3. Rack again
4. Add finings
5. Cold condition
6. Filter

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 5:52 pm

Yep. Short of filtering, only time and lower temps will drop that yeast. Maybe some finings, but avoid generic gelatine finings- they are useless.

chris. · Post by **chris.** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 5:55 pm

Chris wrote:avoid generic gelatine finings- they are useless.

How so?

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 5:57 pm

They don't tend to reduce suspended yeast levels, mainly protein.

chris. · Post by **chris.** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 6:12 pm

Wrong way around mate. Gelatine is positively charged which attracts the negatively charged yeast.
Irish Moss, Whirfloc, & PVPP etc. are used to drop proteins.

Aussie Claret · Post by **Aussie Claret** » Tuesday Jul 03, 2007 8:47 am

As has already been said a Hefe is supposed to be cloudy and the yeast is essential for the flavour of this style, if you want it crystal clear and I'm presuming you are making AG treat with polyclar to remove the protein haze then filter to remove any sludge / yeast / trub.

If you are not making AG then you don't need to polyclar, just filter.

Other options yes treat with gelatin, and CC which will assist in helping the yeast drop out of suspension.
AC

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tuesday Jul 10, 2007 3:56 pm

Yeah, my mistake. Nothing wrong with geletin.

chris. · Post by **chris.** » Wednesday Jul 11, 2007 2:02 pm

Chris wrote:Yeah, my mistake. Nothing wrong with geletin.

Whats geletin?

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Monday Jul 16, 2007 11:00 am

Get over it.

morgs · Post by **morgs** » Monday Jul 16, 2007 9:34 pm

Just do it !

chris. · Post by **chris.** » Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 1:49 pm

morgs wrote:Just do it !

Already did it.

Heals · Post by **Heals** » Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 1:58 pm

I've noticed there is a fair whack of sediment at the bottle of most of the bottles from my first batch. This doesn't really bother me as it's pretty easy to pour them without disturbing the sediment - however, are there any negatives to having sediment remain in the bottom of a sealed bottle for long periods of time?

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 5:30 pm

Quite the contrary. Sediment is what keeps your beer alive. Rather than that crap you get from CUB and LN.

Heals · Post by **Heals** » Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 5:37 pm

Cheers chris, still learning the ins and outs!

I don't mind the sediment at all, most of the time I roll my brew around, get it nice and cloudy and consume, however that's only because I'm used to doing it with Coopers beers.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 5:41 pm

Heals.

The only beer I mix the yeast through is Coopers. When it comes to HB, I avoid. I don't know what the difference is, just that Coopers yeast adds to the beer, whereas HB yeast doesn't seem to.

At least it helps avoid hangovers.

petesbrew · Post by **petesbrew** » Monday Aug 27, 2007 8:15 am

I've got a stout happening at the moment, which has a fair bit of sediment floating through it (mainly choc grain and fuggles pellets).
I'm considering racking it to the secondary for a week, with some gelatin finings. I've used this in the past with some pale ales and am happy with the results.

Just wondering though, would the finings take away some of the "stoutiness" from my stout? I mean, the flavour is tops at the moment, and apart from picking bits of hops from between teeth it's fantastic.

KEG · Post by **KEG** » Monday Aug 27, 2007 8:35 am

racking it alone should be enough to reduce all that sediment a whole lot anyway

petesbrew · Post by **petesbrew** » Monday Aug 27, 2007 10:43 am

Cheers Keg. I'm just a bit hesitant to leave it more than a week there. I've had a couple of dud brews from racking before, so really only do it when I have to now.

KEG · Post by **KEG** » Monday Aug 27, 2007 6:31 pm

as long as you're really clean about it all - sanitising the inside and outside of the racking hose, the tap, the racking fermenter, etc - and as long as you don't splash it about but let it flow gently into the secondary to avoid oxidation, you have a really, really minimal chance of a cock-up

also, you might want to boil a quarter of a cup of malt/dextrose in maybe 2/3 of a cup of water and put that in first. gives the yeast something to eat to create some CO2 for the headspace. Make sure you don't use a sealed secondary if you do this though.