Chuginator
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2011
- Messages
- 477
- Reaction score
- 61
I've been plagued with off-flavors in my beer, and this has been going on for quite some time. Different yeasts, different fermentation temps, different equipment, different water, different residences. The problem keeps following me! So I'm starting again from the ground up with 1-gallon extract batches, trying to get a handle on it.
Recently I did a very simple, very light no-frills extract batch. Still came up with those problems!
Unfortunately I can't tell if the off-flavors are phenols or esters, or both. It has a distinct Belgian wang to it that I cannot get along with. I tend to think a combination of band-aidy, clovey, but the best description I can come up with is "Belgian." I have had Hefeweizens with similar aromas and flavors, which leads me to believe it's more estery than phenolic. However I'm not getting any banana in the smell.
I read up on esters and see that two big factors contributing to their production are underpitching and too high of a fermentation temperature. I suppose the next step might be to try again with a larger slurry and lower the temp?
Recipe and notes are below; I realize dry yeast isn't the best option, but I was trying to start cheap just to see if I could troubleshoot this problem. I've used liquid yeasts in past all-grain batches that came up the same way, so I figured I'd start cheap.
1 lb. extra light DME
1 gallon distilled water
1 oz. US. Tettnang
Boil time: 15 min
OG 1.047
FG 1.011 (4.7%)
Yeast: Munton's dry ale yeast packet, put in 1/3c boiled/cooled water
Pitching temp: 75F
Fermented two weeks, did not do a rack to secondary, not wanting to risk any potential contamination
Fermentation temp: 70-74F
Sanitizer: One Step, soaked clean bottles and fermenter in it, did not rinse
Cheers!
Recently I did a very simple, very light no-frills extract batch. Still came up with those problems!
Unfortunately I can't tell if the off-flavors are phenols or esters, or both. It has a distinct Belgian wang to it that I cannot get along with. I tend to think a combination of band-aidy, clovey, but the best description I can come up with is "Belgian." I have had Hefeweizens with similar aromas and flavors, which leads me to believe it's more estery than phenolic. However I'm not getting any banana in the smell.
I read up on esters and see that two big factors contributing to their production are underpitching and too high of a fermentation temperature. I suppose the next step might be to try again with a larger slurry and lower the temp?
Recipe and notes are below; I realize dry yeast isn't the best option, but I was trying to start cheap just to see if I could troubleshoot this problem. I've used liquid yeasts in past all-grain batches that came up the same way, so I figured I'd start cheap.
1 lb. extra light DME
1 gallon distilled water
1 oz. US. Tettnang
Boil time: 15 min
OG 1.047
FG 1.011 (4.7%)
Yeast: Munton's dry ale yeast packet, put in 1/3c boiled/cooled water
Pitching temp: 75F
Fermented two weeks, did not do a rack to secondary, not wanting to risk any potential contamination
Fermentation temp: 70-74F
Sanitizer: One Step, soaked clean bottles and fermenter in it, did not rinse
Cheers!