e lo
Well-Known Member
First off, I'm embarrased for posting a "is this infected" question. But ...
I pressure canned some wort this weekend, because I was tired of using DME for starters and grain for everything else. On Monday, I pitched a 500 ml starter from a tube of WLP300 Hefeweizen yeast. It was in the "Date Challenged Yeast" bin at my LHBS, and because I'm a cheap bastard, I bought it instead of one which was within its best by date. It was just over a month past its best by date, which means it was bottled 5 months ago. Fine. I'm using a starter on a stirplate, so I figured I'd be OK.
It appears to have fermented out (gravity is down to 1.010 from 1.040), and it's no longer active. However, it has a smell that's not quite what I expected. It's not a bad smell, it's just ... different. I get the banana smell that I would expect from the weizen yeast, but there's something else ... Maybe "plastic" would be the best word to describe it. Phenolic, perhaps? It tastes pretty sour, and the phenolic/plastic taste is prominent, but it is hard to distinguish this from the banana like flavor.
So my question for you guys is, does it sound like this is infected? I've never used this strain before, and I've never made a starter with a hefe yeast before, so I really don't know what flavors and aromas to expect from the starter. Also, I've never used pressure canned starter wort before, so I don't know how the retained DMS will affect the taste and smell of the starter.
Any thought would be appreciated.
I pressure canned some wort this weekend, because I was tired of using DME for starters and grain for everything else. On Monday, I pitched a 500 ml starter from a tube of WLP300 Hefeweizen yeast. It was in the "Date Challenged Yeast" bin at my LHBS, and because I'm a cheap bastard, I bought it instead of one which was within its best by date. It was just over a month past its best by date, which means it was bottled 5 months ago. Fine. I'm using a starter on a stirplate, so I figured I'd be OK.
It appears to have fermented out (gravity is down to 1.010 from 1.040), and it's no longer active. However, it has a smell that's not quite what I expected. It's not a bad smell, it's just ... different. I get the banana smell that I would expect from the weizen yeast, but there's something else ... Maybe "plastic" would be the best word to describe it. Phenolic, perhaps? It tastes pretty sour, and the phenolic/plastic taste is prominent, but it is hard to distinguish this from the banana like flavor.
So my question for you guys is, does it sound like this is infected? I've never used this strain before, and I've never made a starter with a hefe yeast before, so I really don't know what flavors and aromas to expect from the starter. Also, I've never used pressure canned starter wort before, so I don't know how the retained DMS will affect the taste and smell of the starter.
Any thought would be appreciated.