Bottle conditioned vs. draught --- yeast

Beer Talk
1

Hi,
I’ve been researching beer lately but can’t seem to work out a few things - and wondered if you may know…essentially, in my mid-twenties, I developed a really bad kind of allergic or intolerant reaction to beer - sneezing, nose like tap, lasts for hours etc. no sleep. allergic asthma too. It basically made drinking a beer impossible. At the time, I lived in the Netherlands and I was drinking a lot of belgian beers like leffe, hoegaarden, mostly strong beers and weissbeers from germany too. Lately, I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of my allergies (i react to wine also but maybe it’s for a different reason) - and assumed my problem was all beer - then I discovered I might be sensitive to yeast - basically, really filtered beers like lowenbrau and corona, and also thai beers, beer lao etc. (and probably what i used to drink for a few years in e.africa like tusker etc.) are fine, but leffe blond,erdinger etc. is like a poison (which is what i go for when i have a choice) . Researching yeast, I read that this is possibly due to bottle conditioning where there is live yeast, and that could actually make sense. So the other day i drank le filou from the tap in a bar - i thought this will make me sneeze because belgian etc. seems similar with leffe - but I had no problem!!! which is great. so does this mean that the tap versions of bottle conditioned beers basically contain less yeast or less live yeast? Apologies for what is likely a basic question, I’d like to understand more and work out how to keep drinking nice belgian beer…

Thanks!

2

If you can, compare cask versions. A keg is just a big can. The yeast is murdered with carbon dioxide in a keg. Keg/can beer is often thoroughly filtered which can remove lots of bodies. Cask should still have live yeast.

““Most common reactions to beer are specific to types of grains, modified grain proteins, hops, yeast, molds or barleys,” says Dr. Rood. “Sensitivities are also possible to the additives that are present in some beers, including sulphites, sodium benzoate or tartrazine.””

Wine also has sulphites (usually), but see the following about how sulphites may not be the problem -


https://www.naturalnews.com/041402_wine_allergies_symptoms_causes.html
3

Thanks! I didn’t know there was even a cask and keg difference in terms of what bars serve so that is helpful. Will try to experiment with cask versions and also canned leffe etc. If a canned leffe doesn’t provoke the same reaction then presumably it could be yeast that is the culprit if that is the main difference?

It’s difficult to work alcohol reactions out…trial and error with no mixing…luckily prosecco,cava,sake,gin etc. are fine!