BadKarmaa

Recipes 

Here's the deal. A New Castle Clone I brewed jan 11 has proven itself to be an odd beer time and time again. Most recently is the strong almost overpowering yeast flavor. It spent a 9 days in primary, 8 days in secondary, and has been conditioning in bottles for almost 3 weeks now. I'm very careful of sanitation and there aren't any rings on the necks of the brown bottles to indicate contamination. So why the yeast bite? It doesn't seem to me that 9 days in primary would be too long and lend yeast flavors. Additionally, because I siphon from the top down when racking to secondary or the priming bucket, there was hardly any sediment in the secondary and virtually none in the bottles. The only thing I've come up with is the Wyeast Special London 1968 is shi eee yeast. On the other hand I did sub that strain for the Wyeast 1098 British ale that the recipe called for. Any thoughts?

Janx

Recipes 

I dunno...maybe you just don't like that yeast. It seems like a pretty short secondary to me...maybe more yeast will fall out of suspension with time? Does it look pretty clear in the bottle and in the glass?

I've not used that strain I don't think, but most of the British ones do have a much more yeasty character than California Ale yeast. My wife hates em all.

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Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
No, don't you give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die
Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit

drengel

Recipes 

same thing happened with a friends newcastle clone. just way overpowering banana esters in it (well not as overpowering as the next batch we used that saved yeast with). still ok though. what temp. are you fermenting at?

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drinking: mocha java porter, belgian pumpkin ale, Gary's oatmeal stout clone, AHS nut brown, catamount porter clone, double nut brown, rye pale ale, my oatmeal stout

conditioning: nut brown

next: saison, wit, american wheat, hefe, kolsch, blonde

gone: too damn many

digdan

Recipes 

I've dumped 20 gallons of beer in my brewing life because of "shi ee" yeast. Some strains just produce horrible flavors, and it can not be conditioned out.

Your fermenting temps are important too. Keep your temps in the mid to low range of what the manufacturer recommends, and try not to get your temperature to vary more than five degrees.

You may want to also try a diacetyl rest. Just pull the temp of your beer up to 70ish before racking off the yeast bed. I've never noticed a giant difference, but I hear this lets the yeast absorb some of the butterscotch flavors.

I personally pick a few good yeast strains and use them interchangeably in my recipes. If I want fruity, I go Kolsch. Its very clean consistent, and it creates only a small hint of fruity esters (unless used with a lot of wheat).



As for saving your beer I would do two things :

1. Cold Conditioning

2. Cold Filtering


I personally hate flavors in my beer!

BadKarmaa

Recipes 

I keep the thermostat set at 70. I'm not 100% sure the temp doesn't vary more than 5 degrees but I never feel a difference even at night. I've been meaning to pick up some sticky thermometers, but they're low on the beer supply list. Also the beer is exceptionally clear as far as I can tell. It is pretty dark. digdan is right though. I hate banana flavors and I will be even more distraught if they continue to dominate my brews.

Mikey

Recipes 

I'll bet that it's not the yeast you're tasting. I've never tasted one that has a 'bite', their flavours are better described as bready, dusty, powdery, banana, etc. but nothing to do with harshness or bite.

You it's not the type or amount of hops? Maybe too much raost barley?

digdan

Recipes 

Perhaps tannins?

I learned a harsh(pun!) lesson with tannins when making mead. I used too much tannins and it made an astringent bite. The best way to describe the bite is ... Listerine.

Does the beer have a listerinish bite? Maybe you oversparged... if thats the case it will heal with time... lots of time.

Sir Sudster

Recipes 

I have used the 1968 yeast many a time in my ESB's. The trouble with this yeast is that it falls out too fast. Many a time I had to sloosh the primary to wake them up to finish the job. If I ferment at the high end temp I get a green apple aroma.. lower is still a bit estery. I can't say it ever tasted yeasty. I would suspect something else going on here.

BadKarmaa

Recipes 

it doesn't have a "bite" per say, or a listering taste. I'd say more of a roasted banana flavor. It's hard to say. All these flavors are still new to me, and I find it hard to put words to taste. Whatever this taste is, its drowning out the other great flavors of the beer. Could someone elaborate on the tannins? I'm trying to use some deductive reasoning here to find what went wrong. I don't think the yeast fell too quickly considering how strong and long the ferment was (almost 8 days then racked to secondary after 9).

Mindflux

Recipes 

Roasted banana flavor can be part of the yeast's profile, or you fermented too warm.

Set the beer aside for another few weeks and give it a taste. Your total time from brew to bottle is 17 days, that's pretty short.