I am doing my second batch now. My first batch, a red ale, had this gunk on the bottom of the bottles. A small ring of what looked like dirt or something. My local brewer said it was dead yeast cells that fell to the bottom. He said this is normal. Does this always happen. Are there anyways to avoid it?


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If you bottle condition your beer then you will likely get at least some yeast sediment at the bottom of your bottles.

By using fining agents you can somewhat minimize the amount of yeast etc. that makes it into your bottles. However, there really is no way to completely avoid the yeast sediment other than to keg your beer, force carbonated it and then bottle from that keg using a counter pressure filler. Even then unless you filter your beer you may still end up with some yeast sediment.

At any rate, because of the yeast sediment it is always a good idea to rinse your bottle a few times after decanting from the bottle just to make cleaning the bottles prior to bottling a bit easier; dry, caked on yeast can be some times be a bugger to remove.

- Scott

I agree with stihler. I have been doing it for a few years now and the only thing I can do is to filter it when I siphon it into the bottling bucket. I run it through cheese cloth as it goes in and that helps. You will always have some yeast in the bottom. Make sure that you drink it in a glass as well. If you pour slow and leave about 1/2 inch in the bottom of the bottle, you will be drinking a pretty clear beer. Just make sure not to shake it up as you pour and it will come out great.

I don't mind a little yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle as long as it doesn't carry off flavors. I've had excellent beers with yeast sediment floating in suspension, and some that are only drinkable as long as the stuff stays on the bottom. This may be a good argument in favor of racking to secondary. Or maybe longer conditioning.

I have always used whirfloc in the boil & always do a primary only. When i was bottling my all grains i only had a small amount of yeast at the bottem & no floaties. Seems like my extracts had a bit more but i was using an immersion chiller though. I do use a conterflow chiller that makes great cold brewk(which stays in the fermenter until its bottled).
Some yeast floctuate more than others too. Nottingham settles out pretty good for me.

Over the years I've learned the same simple tips that everyone else has posted. Sorry if I am redundant but here goes.

1) Careful Siphoning
2) Using a Secondary Carboy
3) Extended time in the Secondary
4) When I use real Fruit Puree I will often go with a Tetiary

Carl in Laconia NH. Looks like we are going to get ten to eighteen more inches of snow today on top of Fridays 8 or 9

And I loved
Clear beer is for wussies & judges. Swirl that last bit of beer and take your vitamins

Recently I did a Pale Ale with essentially no sediment in the bottle, I left it for about 20 days in the secondary with isinglas finings. However I also came across a bottle a few weeks ago from a different brew that had about an inch of sediment at the bottom, but because of the finings it stuck down well and I didn't notice untill after I had drank it.