Floaties, Like or Dislike!?

Hazy is one thing. Cloudy is another. Murky is unacceptable. Floaties are fucking amateur hour.

 

No opinion is my answer to your question; I can't recall the last time that I had a chunky beer.

 

Floaties are unacceptable.

 

I always get them in Great Lakes Nasferatu. Always a turn off.

 

I will drink a snow globe beer because it doesn't impact flavor [as far I can tell] but I'd prefer no floaties.

The Alchemist is a repeat offender, but I still like Heady enough to grab it when I'm in VT, so clearly I don't feel too strongly about it.

 

Most craft beer is either unfiltered, unpasteurized or/and bottle conditioned. I'm used to it and I don't mind it at all. Now having a snot like stuff in your beer, that's a different story.

 

That's your problem, right there. You're drinking Nosferatu.

 

I don't think anyone likes when their beer is sick.

 

The only time I see them is when my beer is old, I literally just dumped an IPA last night because it had them, it was past 90 days and is when I usually find them...I never found any in fresh beer, but again maybe I am just lucky.

 

It depends. A little yeast sediment is fine but a "snow globe" beer is not ok. I got a single can of Evil Twin's Sumo in a Sidecar that was a floatie snow globe, pretty gross looking. The flavor was still pretty good but obviously not the beer they wanted me to be drinking.

 

Agreed, but, as you said, "a little yeast sediment" is different from "chunks in my beer".

 

Definitely, I wanted to clarify as "floaties" can mean different things to some people.

Does anyone know the science behind a snow globe beer? Why does it separate like that?

 

If you're talking about EPS formation by pediococcus sp. in sour beer, then it can get pretty viscous and the technical term for it, is, indeed, sick.

However, if you're talking about yeast floaties as being "snot like stuff", then I've never encountered that.

 

If the beer is fresh then simple agitation can rouse the yeast back into suspension.

If the beer is old then protein coagulation can cause floaties.

 

My bad! Read it wrong! You're right!

 

Damn straight.

 

Had snot-like stuff in some barrel-aged Prairie beers. They were definitely past their prime and weren't stored right. Also had rust under the wax (when they used to wax their bottles) and caps. I think a couple of Belgian beers had it and, if I remember correctly Founders Imperial Stout. Maybe it was an instant karma for not drinking it in a glass.