Uhh...What's Floating in my Beer?

Yesterday, I went to pour myself a Crooked Tree IPA and there were a shit ton of floaties swimming around in the glass. I was initially disgusted, but this has happened to me before with Bell's Oberon —which I drank and survived. It's just some sediment, or that's what my dad keeps telling me whenever I call him to say my beer is bad. It's not bad, it just has a "little extra."

Crooked Tree IPA. Good despite the floaties

Those little floaties in your beer are usually just yeast and malt protein.They settle during the fermentation process and typically mix in, but some stick around for bottling. Some beer-heads insist that the bits of sediment hold a ton of flavor and should not be feared, but enjoyed. Bottom line: it's not going to hurt you. Personally, I don't like to chew my beer, but I've learned to embrace a few chunks.

Most brewers try their hardest to produce a clean and tidy bottled beer. The only problem: crystal clear beer involves filtering, which can filter out some flavor as well. Craft beer is all about flavor, so we have to compromise and deal with the sediment. I'll take a robust and slightly goopy beer over a tasteless "clean" beer any day. I just have to make sure the beer doesn't have an insanely high amount of sediment. Too much sediment could mean that it might be contaminated or bottled/stored incorrectly—which isn't very likely. 

If it still skeeves you out, don't fret. There are ways to pour a beer to keep the yeast particles to a minimum, mainly by pouring slowly and not agitating the brew too much before the pour. Plus, there are many breweries that consistently strive to bottle a sediment free product.

If you can get used to the bite of a gnarly IPA or the punch in the face from a Russian Imperial Stout, you can handle some snowflakes in your brew. It'll put some hair on your chest and who doesn't want that?