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"Biertourist":51p3lxem wrote: Did you give it a good chill before opening?[/quote:51p3lxem]It had been in my beer fridge at 10C for a couple of days.

"Biertourist":51p3lxem wrote: Is it just that the yeast isn't sticking to the bottom of the bottle very well or is it that there's just too much total quantity of yeast in your opinion?[/quote:51p3lxem]The latter, I think.

I was very disappointed with my bottle conditioned beer at the last meet up and its inability to travel. Personally I wont be moving conditioned beer again- any beer I am moving will be from the keg with the beer gun.

This is an interesting topic, I am just reading that chapter in the Yeast book by Chris White -

"Usually breweries filter the beer first, then add 1 million cells per milliliter back to the beer" .. "after the yeast has settled out in the bottle, it should look like no maore than a dusting of yeast across the bottom"

I know SNPA filter first, as does fullers with their conditioned beer also most german beers are filtered and then a larger yeast is used for conditing - all this means they can control the yeast level. Come to think of it I Dont know a beer that is naturally conditioned without filtering like this (but I am sure there are loads)

There is a nice authenticity to not filtering and naturally conditioning beer, but it seems like the inability to control the yeast level makes is too risky commerical brewing.

James

Only got around to tasting my first 8 degress beer at the weekend - Howling gale. I was quite suprised. Very nice - bitter but fruity. Was quite suprised by the amount of yeast in such a small bottle though - but if thats what makes the taste...

"Partridge9":1kz1421j wrote: I was very disappointed with my bottle conditioned beer at the last meet up and its inability to travel. Personally I wont be moving conditioned beer again- any beer I am moving will be from the keg with the beer gun.

This is an interesting topic, I am just reading that chapter in the Yeast book by Chris White -

"Usually breweries filter the beer first, then add 1 million cells per milliliter back to the beer" .. "after the yeast has settled out in the bottle, it should look like no maore than a dusting of yeast across the bottom"

I know SNPA filter first, as does fullers with their conditioned beer also most german beers are filtered and then a larger yeast is used for conditing - all this means they can control the yeast level. Come to think of it I Dont know a beer that is naturally conditioned without filtering like this (but I am sure there are loads)

There is a nice authenticity to not filtering and naturally conditioning beer, but it seems like the inability to control the yeast level makes is too risky commerical brewing.

James[/quote:1kz1421j]

I'm of the opposite opinion, James.

After seeing a chart on O2 reduction, staling, and diacetyl reduction with filtered vs. bottle conditioned beers AND knowing what happens to roasty stouts and porters during aging I certainly PREFER bottle-conditioned beers. (Porters and Stouts FOR SURE.)

I HAVE had about a 1 cm of yeast sediment in an 8 degrees beer which is certainly many, many times more yeast than is required; but I had a very well behaved bottle of the porter that had very little yeast at the bottom.

They're new and the first brewery in Ireland doing bottle conditioning as far as I know and it will take them a little while to dial it in to 1 million cells per ml. It's worth while for them to do it ESPECIALLY as they're focused on the bottled product. In 12 months when there's some off licenses selling 6+ month old porter I assure you it will be much better for having been bottle conditioned.

I'm glad they're NOT filtering for sure. (Of course if in 12 months from now we're still seeing bottles with 1 cm of yeast in the bottom of the bottle this will be a very different conversation.)


Adam

I have read that filtering at 1 micron will remove 90% of yeast - so perhaps that could be tweaked to avoid the .65 and .5 micron which will impact flavour.

They could of course be neglecting to crash cool for a sufficient period to let the yeast drop out - and last but most obvious - perhaps they need a more floculent strain of yeast.

Personally I am a fan of some yeasty beers - I love the yeast flavour from a wit and a weiss - but a bitter with heavy yeast and a pale ale with heavy yeast simply doesn't work.

There are practicalities about bottle conditioned beers and moving them around, unfortunately off licenses and bars might not store bottles upright and they could get knocked about in the boot a bit. Luckily we don't need to worry about that - but as a commercial venture you do - reputation is everything - its hard to build up - and so easy to lose.

"Biertourist":1qm5z6vy wrote: They're new and the first brewery in Ireland doing bottle conditioning as far as I know[/quote:1qm5z6vy]
Dungarvan and Porterhouse bottled beers are also bottle conditioned. There is probably more but those two spring to mind first.