LHBS complaint section...

Leedorham beat me to it but my understanding of a bright tank is detailed below.

When I brew with the Wyeast 2565 (Kolsch) I always take steps to encourage this yeast strain to settle out. For my most recent batch (Feb. 2013) I lagered the bottled beers at 38°F for 5 weeks. In prior batches I would just ‘cool’ condition the bottled beer at around 50°F for 1-2 months. That yeast strain is highly flocculent and it requires some ‘extra’ steps (e.g., ‘extra’ time) to get that yeast to settle out.

Cheers!

“Dropping bright

When the concentration of fermentable sugars in the beer falls below a certain level, variable with the strain of yeast, the yeast cells will naturally flocculate and settle toward the bottom of the vessel in which the beer is stored; this act is known as dropping bright. The degree to which yeast flocculates is dependent on many factors, including the specific gravity of the beer, the gas pressure over the beer, the ambient temperature, and some biological properties particular to the yeast strain; some beers will never drop bright by themselves.

Some breweries make available rack bright beer, which is cask-conditioned beer that has been dropped bright at the brewery and then racked, transferred, to a new container for shipment. Rack bright beer generally costs slightly more than ordinary beer, all else being equal, but requires less preparation time and care at the point of serving; in particular, dropping bright requires that the beer be left undisturbed to settle, as jarring or shaking its container will re-suspend the yeast.

Any beer which has been dropped bright or fined will have a layer of yeast sediment at the bottom of its storage vessel.”

 

Fair enough, but bright tanks are not conical so they are not good for allowing beer to clear. The reason why they are called bright tanks is that they typically contain bright beer, which is filtered. That doesn't mean that the beer has to be filtered. They're also used as serving and filling pressurized beer into kegs and bottles. I suppose you could use a bright tank strictly for lagering beer, but you'd probably just call it a lager tank. Lager tanks are often horizontal while I've never seen a horizontal bright tank.

 

Once above is finished it would put transferred to a bright tank. Bright tanks are not conical and not good for removing sediment.

 

So, the purpose of the bright tank is to contain the bright beer? The purpose of the bright tank is to not permit the beer to drop bright? Did I get that right?

Cheers!

 

Yes

 

Thank you for the education. I conflated the topics of having a beer drop bright with a bright tank.

My discussion concerning Wyeast 2565 still stands in that some measures (it can be as simply as patience) need to be taken when brewing with that strain.

Cheers!

 

Can't blame you for wanting to vent. I felt the same way the other day when I received some Wyeast in the mail that was dated June 10. Plus it had already "popped" during shipment. I wasn't happy.

But the simple fact is that vendors can't be expected to always have yeast that's within a couple weeks of its production date. Especially small LHBSs. It's kind of up to us to make adjustments based on what we can get. With the Mr Malty calculator and a stir plate, it's not too difficult to make up for a few extra weeks of age.

The other alternative is to start washing and saving yeast, so you become your own supplier. I've never done this--I don't get to brew often enough to justify the effort--but that's one way to skip the middleman.

 

Except for Conan, which will remain suspended until threatened with loaded firearms.

 

I have only had Heady Topper on one occasion (two years ago they sold some in the Philly area during Vermont’s mud season) and those two cans poured pretty clear. I certainly would not advocate that folks do this but it seems that if you keep your Heady Topper cans in the refrigerator for a while (I am unsure of the duration of a while) that the beer will pour more clearly, the yeast will eventually settle.

Cheers!

 

I figure I deserve that.

 

OP: Any possibility the bottles weren't capped properly?

 

I missed this the first time around, and I can see that this might have an effect. The nearest vendor of liquid yeast to me is a 75 minute drive, and he doesn't sell it fast enough. Even though I have occassion to drive by his shop, I won't get yeast there because it isn't very fresh.

 

My biggest complaint about my LHBS is that I don't really have much to complain about over my LHBS.

I guess I could wish they had a few things that they don't, like golden promise grain or bulk hops, but life does continue, even without such items.