Beer Forum

A coworker of mine used to be a homebrewer until gout tragically intervened. Now, he can only drink hard liquor. He likes to say he is "Beerless in Beer City" (we live in Asheville). So, to right this injustice of the universe, I am trying to brew a beer that is void of residual yeast in the final product.

Thus far here is what techniques I have came up with:

1. Add Clarity Ferm when pitching yeast
2. Leave beer in primary fermenter for few days after fermentation is complete to allow as much attentuation as possible
3 Transfer to a secondary and cold crash to allow further settling.
4. Filter prior to kegging.

Any suggestions are much appreciated, I am looking forward getting him back to drinking beer.

From what I understand, sterile filtering (.5 micron or smaller) would be the only way to get rid of all of the yeast. The other steps you mentioned would be good, before filtering, to cut down on the amount of material the filter needs to remove and reduce the chance of blocking it.

The downside is that a sterile filter is also going to strip some of the flavor.

You could pasteurize it maybe but I think the physical filtration idea is probably the best option

+1 to sterile filtering. On the flavor side, does he like hops? cause you could dry hop after the filtration. it won't be super bright anymore but it will have great hop flavor and aroma.

I don't think that removing the yeast is going to help your friend. Gout is caused by purines being metabolized by the body into uric acid, which builds up and forms needle-like crystals in the joints (thus the pain). Purines are end-products originating from proteins from the cell walls of the cereals from which beer is brewed.

If it was a question of removing yeast, macro beers would be great for gout sufferers with the amount of filtering they're subjected to.