bnmir

Recipes 

Last time i made a wheat beer with wyeast 3068, I saved some of the starter slurry in a boiled bottle, covered it with sanitized foil and put it in the fridge. its been almost 2 months. I wasnt sure if it was viable, so last tuesday boiled up some DME and made a starter. By the next morning there was thick kreusen and banana aroma, so I decided to use it. I chilled it Friday night, poured off the starter beer, and pitched the slurry into my all grain hefe on Sunday. I checked the fermenter monday morning, it was going strong.
Monday night there is massive kreusen, and bubbling, but no banana or clove aroma. (Its at 69 deg). It almost smells like a lager, I'm getting a very very slight hint of sulphur.
Is this hefe going to be a disaster, lacking the banana clove flavor I love?

gxm

Recipes 

I've often gotten a sulphur aroma from young 3068, sometimes over powering to the point of not noticing other flavors. The sulphur will go away with time.

bnmir

Recipes 

But you still had good 'classic' flavor?

gxm

Recipes 

I fermented once with 3068 @ 70F, and got more banana than I prefer, though it went fast enough at a party. I generally ferment in the 62-65F range.

maida7

Recipes 

I had the same situation recently. I used some wlp300 saved and stored in a jar for roughly 2 months. Made a starter. Pitched the yeast in a batch of hefewiezen wort made from all grain and had what looked like a fantastic ferment. Finish gravity was right on target. ONE PROBLEM. no banana and clove flavor. The beer is clean tasting. I call it an American wheat and it's not bad but it's nothing like what I was trying to brew.

I think the hefeweizen yeast changes during storage. And/Or it must be top cropped to retain it's flavor profile.

One question: Was there pressure build up in the jar the yeast was stored in? Mine was stored under very high pressure and that may have been a factor.

Let us know how the final beer comes out.

bnmir

Recipes 

Foil cap, so not stored under pressure. You might have something with the top-cropping. I'll keep you posted. My backup idea is if it comes out 'american wheat' to add 3lbs of fruit puree.

maida7

Recipes 

I have though about the fruit but it's already kegged and carbonated. I could maybe add a fruit flavor extract. I hate American Wheat. It's possibly the most boring style. But some folks love it. I had a party and several comented on how much they loved the wheat. They could not believe that I could make something that good at home. These are the same people who would probably think a classic hefeweisse taste "funny".

Since then I have though about hooking my blow off tube to a dry container so I can collect yeast that blows out the top. I ferment in better bottles and tons of yeast blows out the top on every batch. Most of the yeasts I use are top croppers so this could be a good solution.