[Bottling] Yeast Flakes and Sediment to Bottle

[CoCoZeTa]

Hi all,

I am on my 2nd batch and have had problems of yeast flakes on the surface of the primary (I don't rack it up to secondary).

On my first batch that demanded a longer fermentation period (bottled yesterday) I had the following yeast flakes on the surface as you can see below, after 15 days fermenting (checked FG for 3 days to confirm) then let it age for more 10 days on a 42F refrigerator (I was on a work trip), when I open up it looks like this:

It happens almost the same as my witbier bottled 2 weeks ago, which I got an huge sediment in my bottles as you can seei n the pictures below:

So... what am I doing wrong?

Or is it suppose to happen?

 

[mrgrimm101]

Hi all,

it age for more 10 days on a 42F refrigerator (I was on a work trip)

It happens almost the same as my witbier bottled 2 weeks ago, which I got an huge sediment in my bottles

So... what am I doing wrong?

Or is it suppose to happen?

Can you drop the temperature further in the refrigerator? Cold crashing closer to about 35F would probably help drop things out of suspension better. 42F is better than nothing, but everytime I cold crash in the mid 30's range, I always get good settling of material. Maybe next time try a light swirl or rocking motion (don't make any bubbles) to get the material to drop out.

Either way, the material SHOULD drop out on its own over time..but that might be longer than you want to wait.

Witbiers are typically cloudy and I would imagine they can have a decent amount of settled yeast in the bottom of the bottle. However, that does look like a lot of yeast. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

 

[Hello]

I agree with @mrgrimm101 and a swirl will definitely get some things moving. However, how careful are you when racking? It really does seem like maybe you're racking too close to the yeast cake. Even with cold crashing at a slightly warmer temp, you're getting a ton of yeast.

 

[CoCoZeTa]

I agree with @mrgrimm101 and a swirl will definitely get some things moving. However, how careful are you when racking? It really does seem like maybe you're racking too close to the yeast cake. Even with cold crashing at a slightly warmer temp, you're getting a ton of yeast.

Actually I'm bottling directly from primary, the valve is about 1.6" high from bottom. It was over the yeast cake and for the Belgian Ale (Primary fermenter pic above) I use a top sucking adapter which don't cause movement on the sides of the beer flow, as you can see in the image below:

I didn't have this on my Witbier fermenter.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I use a top sucking adapter which don't cause movement on the sides of the beer flow.

No solution to your problem but that little device is kind of neat. Granted, just leaving a 2" high block of wood under the edge of the bucket directly under the spout while it is fermenting accomplishes the same thing for me.

 

[Hello]

Hmmm I would rack from your primary to a bottling bucket the next time and see if that actually helps matters.

 

[CoCoZeTa]

Hmmm I would rack from your primary to a bottling bucket the next time and see if that actually helps matters.

Will try that on my IPA.

No solution to your problem but that little device is kind of neat. Granted, just leaving a 2" high block of wood under the edge of the bucket directly under the spout while it is fermenting accomplishes the same thing for me.

Yeah, I am planning a IPA for this weekend and already using a wood on my hefeweizen fermenter which will bottle next saturday.

Thanks for your advices!