Brewing with Pico C results in way too much yeast flavor

Question

When I brew according to the instructions by the picobrew in my pico C the resulting beer has way too much yeast flavor. I already had 3 batches and all of them have this problem.

Edit: After getting more details I noticed their manual changed.

Here is old version of the manual (the one I actually followed for my brews): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8oEUsdj4NpSWFdvYjIyODY0bUE/view?usp=sharing

Here is new one: https://picobrew.com/About/Manual_PicoC.cshtml

Fermentation step actually now is different. (page 60 step 2)

I guess I should try with new instructions and see if it's any better (they do say to pitch only half of packet now, instead of full. Also they no longer recommend to aerate the wort).

My original question was: How to minimize the yeast flavor?

I tried tasting beer 1 month after bottling, 2 months, 3 months. It's always way too much yeast flavor.

Answer 1

I know a fair amount about the Pico C. My father has one and I've brewed with it a couple of times. What I find is that when you bottle from the little keg you ferment in, too much yeast and other junk gets into the bottles or dispensing keg resulting in a beer with a lot of sediment.

Two suggestions.

1. After fermentation, rack it to a 1 gallon glass bottle before you put in drinking bottles. This will help settle the yeast a bit more.
2. Use some gelatin. Gelatin will settle out most of the yeast, resulting in a cleaner tasting product.

I think Pico rushes the bottling process in their instructions, not allowing the yeast to settle out so taking time for the beer to clear for a day or two after most of the fermentation is done will result in clearer beer.

Answer 2

I've been talking to Picobrew about this for years. Don't use the whole yeast pack. That's enough for 5 gallons. 1/2-1 tsp. of the yeast is plenty.