Temporary Storage Question

Remove them from fridge and gently store them standing on their bases in the coolest dark place you can find for the next two weeks. Then return each to the fridge a day or so before drinking.

But recognize that when ever you shift the bottle to lay them on their side like that any yeast that might have settled out may be disturmed and wind up floating around to settle on the side of the bottle making it harder to pour the beer without the yeast clouding the beer of impacting the flavors of the beer. So you may want to do them each one at a time and find the space in your regular fridge to chill them standing vertically for a couple of days before drinking. Otherwise your best solution is to make the space to stand them on their bases and just leave them be for the weeks you are taking your pills.

 

Great advice. I'll just reiterate that these beers in particular should be served decanted, so don't return them to their sides again before serving.

 

Sure, no problem. It's just a fancy way of saying to carefully pour the beer while leaving the last half inch or so behind. The sediment will negatively impact the flavor of the beer. Don't toss it away, though, because it includes mostly yeast which is good for you. Just drink that separately after you're done with the beer.

Here's hoping you recovery goes well, and enjoy!

 

The argument for standing the beer on its side is that it prevents the cork from drying out. Over a two week period that will not make a difference. These are bottle conditioned beers and they have gunk (dead yeast) in the bottom. When stored on the side the gunk settles on the side and when you pour the beer into the glass some of the gunk ends up in your glass. As drtth and TongoRad have pointed out, keep the bottles standing up in a cool dark place. For 2 weeks your basement or your fridge will work fine. With both Chimay and Matilda the yeast will settle on the bottom and tend to stay put if you pour carefully and don't agitate it. If you are the least bit concerned, follow TongoRad's suggestion and decant it first.

The stuff on the bottom is brewer's yeast and it can get quite spendy at health food stores. Its full of B vitamins. I often swirl the last half inch or so in the bottom of the bottle to suspend the yeast and drink it down as my vitamins of the day. It tastes a hell of a lot better than the brewer's yeast at the health food store.

In the end, it is only beer and it is hard to screw it up too bad. Drink up and enjoy. And good luck on the recovery!

 

Bottle conditioned beers often have visible yeast in the liquid and it eventually settles out along with any other sediment. Store the bottle on the base the gunk settles to the bottom, store it on the side the gunk settles to the side.

So some beers should be decanted just as some wines should be. Typically those are bottle conditioned beers.

If you store the beer on its side you pretty much need something like one of those decanting baskets to pour so as to avoid breaking up the sediment and having it visible in the beer. (But then it may be hard to raise some foam.)

Some folks like the yeast poured with their beer and there are some styles where it is recommended (e.g., Hefeweizen) but I stopped pouring without decanting for two reasons. One is that several brewers ask you not to (e.g., on the label) and I also learned that some brewers use a different yeast for bottle conditioning than they do for fermenting. Putting that yeast into the beer seems counter productive to what the brewer wanted the flavors to be like.

To decant the beer, I let it sit on its base in the regular fridge for several days, maybe even a few weeks, before drinking so as to get the sediment to the bottom of the bottle. I then pour it very carefully (i.e., without any glugs to disturb the yeast/sediment). If I'm not expecting to get much of a head from the pour I'll use a double pour, first into a small pitcher, etc. to leave the yeast behind. Then a more vigorous pour into my glass to raise some foam, etc. (the foam helps release the aromatics and enhance the flavors so no swirlying needed as with wine).

In Belgium many who want the yeast will use a double pour, first decant the beer into the drinking glass then swirl the bottle to distub the sediment, which is usually mostly yeast, and pour the result in to a small glass on the side. After finishing the beer they then treat the yeast glass like a shot and just gulp it down to get some fringe benefits from the vitamins and the impact on the digestive track (and not feel like they are wasting beer :-)).

 

I'll just add an interesting side note about the Matilda; it's bottled with a strain of brettanomyces that will continue to produce flavors and aromas as it ages. By 1 year it will already have some nicely earthy and floral elements going for it. I recently found some 2013s on the shelf, and they were outstanding. Definitely drink this one soon, just to get a handle on it, but you may want to get some more for aging.

 

Right on!

Below is a video of Armand de Belder (owner/brewer) at Drie Fonteinen brewery in Belgium demonstrating a proper pour.

Notice that he pours smoothly (without the 'glugs') as noted by @drtth and also notice that once he starts pouring, he never stops. Stopping the pour would mean tipping the bottle slightly backwards (bad) and the liquid rushing in the other direction would disturb the yeast.

He also leaves the sediment behind as pointed out by @TongoRad .

Enjoy!

 

That's another good thing to point out. If I'm pouring a large format bottle I'll make sure that I have two glasses ready so that they're poured in as smooth a motion as possible.

 

I've generally associated decanting with Belgian styles. Should I be doing this for all my bottle conditioned beers? I just picked up a 12pk of SNPA (which, as I'm sure you know, is bottle conditioned). Should I decant this beer?

 

Over the years SN has their bottle conditioning down to an exact science and there's almost never any yeast/sediment showing, so I'd say not to worry about that one. My quick rule of thumb is that if I don't know for sure and if I hold the bottle up to the light and see a visible layer of sediment I'm gonna decant (unless it's a Hefe) otherwise not.

 

The other aspect to consider is whether as a matter of personal preference do you enjoy having the sediment (a combination of dormant yeast plus some proteins/polyphenols) in the beer you drink. Some people enjoy having this extra 'stuff' in the beer they drink and some do not. I have been homebrewing for over 20 years and I have consistently not poured the 'stuff' into my beers. I always carefully decant all bottle conditioned beers (both homebrewed and commercial) since that is consistent with my personal preferences.

Below is a video of the recently released Weihenstephan 1516 beer. You will see that one guy is swirling this beer (which is unfiltered) to get the sediment 'kicked up' into the beer. I personally would never do something like this! I bought a case of Weihenstephan 1516 a few weeks ago and I have carefully decanted every one of those beers.

To each their own.

Cheers!