Problems with Erdinger bottles?

gurramok

Over the last while, i've noticed a few bottles of regular Erdinger Weissbier(5.3% vol) have resulted in an absolute flat dead twang taste after pouring into the glass.

Once poured, give a minute for the froth to settle with no bubbles appearing, then absolute flat drink with no froth hence bad taste and this all happens within a couple of minutes of pouring the drink.

Rest of the bottles seem like the real thing with good thick froth and fresh taste with bubbles floating in the glass, wondering if there a faulty batch going around?

I have drunk about 30 bottles of the stuff in the last month and it seems about one third of them are not the real thing, (serial L091204 i reckon!)

I havent been a regular drinker of the stuff until this year but just noticed a huge difference in taste and appearance between bottles when poured, anyone else experience the same?

rubadub

Are you sure your glasses are washed properly. Any fats (e.g. from milk or just your mouth after eating fatty foods) or detergent on the glass can destroy the head.

^^^what he said..never drink milk out of your erdinger glass,...

IrishSerf

Try drinking a Heinekein from the same glass and if it tastes lovely burn your house and all contents. Stop blaming the Germermans and wash your glasses properly... Erdinger = yummy always

gurramok

Will check next time to doubly make sure the glass is clean. Have always used the same glass, never drunk anything else out of it!

kenon

gurramok wrote: »

Over the last while, i've noticed a few bottles of regular Erdinger Weissbier(5.3% vol) have resulted in an absolute flat dead twang taste after pouring into the glass.

Once poured, give a minute for the froth to settle with no bubbles appearing, then absolute flat drink with no froth hence bad taste and this all happens within a couple of minutes of pouring the drink.

Rest of the bottles seem like the real thing with good thick froth and fresh taste with bubbles floating in the glass, wondering if there a faulty batch going around?

I have drunk about 30 bottles of the stuff in the last month and it seems about one third of them are not the real thing, (serial L091204 i reckon!)

I havent been a regular drinker of the stuff until this year but just noticed a huge difference in taste and appearance between bottles when poured, anyone else experience the same?

In the pub at the weekend and I started to notice that some of the pints of Erdinger were coming down with a flat head which I never saw before. I only had one of these flat ones but I didn't notice a different taste (although I had a few on me at the stage when I got a bogey one).

gurramok

I drank four bottles last night and still had the same issue with 3. To get a bit of a head from a flat drink to make it drinkable, you have to swirl the glass to lose some of that twang, bloody annoying.

Glass was clean dry upon first pour. Clean as in..I washed it, rinsed it it loads to make sure no residue of detergent(fairy liquid) was evident, wiped it fresh with the towel so it was bone dry before i poured the drink in.

What am i doing wrong?! Also, explain why one of the other bottles was the fresh real thing of Erdinger keeping its head till the last gulp using the same method of wash and dry!

kenon

gurramok wrote: »

Rest of the bottles seem like the real thing with good thick froth and fresh taste with bubbles floating in the glass, wondering if there a faulty batch going around?

Maybe you are right that there is a bad batch. As I said when I was in the pub, some of them were fine and some of them were flat.

I'll be getting a few bottles this week and I'll be keeping a keen eye on their performance.

kenon

You could also try the classy pour...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jjiJkztAKk

gurramok

Hmm, thats mad, is it a good way?

Did a googling

They say here http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5759455986 and what appears to be from the makers http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:Zb6Xj0TJFyIJ:erdinger-weissbraeu.com/downloads/download.php%3Ffilename%3Dwheat_beer_enjoyment.pdf+pour+erdinger&hl=en&gl=ie to do the following:

Step 1:

First rinse the glass well in cold water. By the way: never put wheat beer glasses into the dishwasher - traces of aggressive detergent on the glass will make even the frothiest head collapse.

Step 2:

Hold the glass at a slight angle and pour the beer in slowly along the side of the glass. Don't empty the bottle though - leave about a finger's width at the bottom.

Step 3:

The yeast is still missing - together with the other ingredients, the yeast is essential to give the beer its true flavor.

Step 4:

Swirl the bottle gently in order to agitate the yeast. Then pour the remaining beer into the glass.

Step 5:

The yeast is now evenly distributed throughout the glass and helps form the perfect frothy head - now comes the moment of complete Erdinger wheat beer enjoyment!

I never knew about that it has to be A- wet glass and B- step 4. I was using a dry glass!!

I suspect the vid you posted is the expert way and the above is the standard way?

munchkin_utd

the way to pour a Weissbier above in the Video is the way a bar tender looking to throw out the pints would do it, you can do 2 at a time if you are coordinated enough. And no consideration given to the yeast at the bottom of the glass which is where a lot of the flavour is.

The standard proper way though would be as described in the text quote, with every trick in the book used to ensure the yeast gets into the glass.

And the more clumpy the yeast lands into the glass the better for some.

EDIT:
and the weissbier is Erdinger so yer man obviously is clueless in the first place. Could well be a northern German head, cos above there Weissbier is a novelty and Erdinger seen as a speciality. A bit like Budweiser in Ireland. Amazing what adverts can do!!

kenon

gurramok wrote: »

I suspect the vid you posted is the expert way and the above is the standard way?

I've only seen that pour once in person, it allowed him to pour it very quickly. It didnt really add or take away from the taste. He even did the swirly thing at the end to "agitate" the yeast. Wetting the glass is probably so you dont get too much of a head on it.

I tried the fancy pour at home once and it didnt go so well, it just headed over.

Imposter

The way gurramok described is the right way to do it. Glasses are wet as in germany they (should) 'wash' every glass before filling it.

That trick in the video also works with beer and soft drinks. It's how busy barmen serve coke and the likes over here.

interlocked

Any barperson with even a modicum of training should know that you should never put the head of a bottle into a drink that they are pouring.

If any barman is clueless enough to pull the above stunt, tell him that you want a fresh bottle and glass and pour it yourself.

I finf the best way to get the yeast out is as described above, but stopping halfway to roll the bottle fast between the palms of your hands getting the yeast off the side of the bottle, pour again, stop and repeat rubbing at the end, to make sure you get the yeast at the bottom of the bottle onto the head, might get a few funny looks, but then they're probsbly Coors Light drinkers anyway:D

JIZZLORD

would the beer be light struck?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_bottle#Lightstruck_beer

BeerNut

Erdinger comes in a brown bottle, so unlikely.

deise48

only prob i have is i fall down after six of them lol

gurramok

I've drank 4 bottles(from that serial number in first post) from the rinsed glass tonight. Did the classic pour as described in various steps. Tasted great initially but as again, it goes flat after a few minutes, it just made no difference!

Then again, i did get these bottles for 2quid a bottle in Tesco on their specials June as per my postings on Bargains alert forum. All in date by about a year.

JIZZLORD

BeerNut wrote: »

Erdinger comes in a brown bottle, so unlikely.

i've had a good few lightstruck erdingers over the years

kenon

Ive been "testing" a few erdingers (Serial no: L021106) and havent experienced any flat ones. Using standard pour techniques.

gurramok

Don't have that serial number! Mine were bought in Tesco on their special offer in June. Not all mine were bad, just a small % of them were and i *think* it was L091204.

The only other serial number of bottles i have is 231104, i reckon all have been fine so far.

I've been drinking erdinger for ages now and the beer is always consistently good(I know there are erdinger detractors here,but I think it's good:pac:).

kenon

I am concluding intense scientific research into this "phenomena" tonight and I havent found any faulty erdingers tonight.

I'd say there is a limited batch of bogey erdingers out there but it is not widespread.

P.S. Batch: L021106 has performed magnificiently tonight.

Weissbier

I've over the past year noticed a degredation in the quality in the Erdinger Weissbier, Cloudy, cream label; exactly as you've described. I've been drinking this beer for years, and it is only since Christmas 2008/2009 that I've noticed the same problem that you've encountered and described, so your not the only one, friends of mine have also had the same experiences.

I assumed it was a one off batch at Christmas and decided not to contact Erdinger, despite the fact that this batch was absolute rubbish and that I purchased it in many different shops in various counties while doing my Christmas visiting, so was not attributable to local storage conditions (all were the same batch): this batch was flat immediatly after pouring and tasted off.

I've noticed that this problem has occured more often than not since, albeit not having the same bad taste as the 'Christmas Batch'. It is true that a clean glass is important, however I always rince mine. Therefore my question, as I've asked Erdinger themselves is there a problem with their process, or transport/storage conditions? Most people don't realise that it is bottle fermented beer, are they having problems with rincing their bottles correctly??

I assume you are a fan of Erdinger like myself, and have persisted in buying many bottles hoping it would pass? I suggest you contact Erdinger also, maybe they are not aware of these problems.

gurramok

How do i contact them? (they are in Germany ).

I can confirm that the batch number L091204 has defo problems with them. I've opened other batch numbers since my original post on a few nights(so has Kenon) and they were top notch.

kenon

I'm on batch L231104 tonight and they are exemplary.;)

Weissbier

Contact name: Barbara Huber
e-mail below:
info.export@erdinger.de


The link below will bring you to the correct erdinger website below:

http://www.erdinger.de/en/Company/Contact-partners.html#Europa

If not follow this series of links from the home page:
Home Company Contact Contact partners > Europe > Ireland


Thanks Kenon I'll keep a eye out for this batch, I almost lost hope!!

gurramok

Will do Weissbier. I too have had L231104 tonight(2 bottles) and they have been delicious!

BeerNut

I'd have thought you'd be better going to the importer, Noreast.

gurramok

Thanks Weissbier and Beernut. I have fired off a complaint to all 3 of them: Tesco, Noreast and Erdinger.

I suggest anyone else who has had the same problem do likewise.

gurramok

I've heard back from all of them bar Tesco(don't think they can do anything anyway) expressing sympathy with the situation.

Erdinger are asking for the bad bottles to be sent to them but i don't have any as they all went to the bottle bank! :mad: