Bready Yeast Smell

CornyKegs 728
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BertusBrew

BertusBrew

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I have been having a bit of an issue with some of my beers. A lot of my beers end up having a fairly strong bready yeast smell to them. The smell never really fades even after the beer has cleared. I often end up with beer that pours crystal clear from my keg but still smells like yeast. It doesn't taste like yeast but the smell is strong enough to make the final product a little less enjoyable. The last batch that this happened to was an IPA and it was dry hopped with 3oz of centennial. Does anybody know what is happening?
 
How long do you leave it on the yeast in primary/secondary on average?
How closely do you control fermentation temps? What temp do you keep them at?
 
Braufessor said:
How long do you leave it on the yeast in primary/secondary on average?
How closely do you control fermentation temps? What temp do you keep them at?
Click to expand...

I rarely secondary anymore, most of the time I leave my beer in the primary for about 2 to 5 weeks before kegging (depending on the style and my schedule)

I don't have any fermentation temp control but the ambient temp in my crawlspace where I ferment my beers is a pretty consistently between 66-68 degrees.
 
Generally, "yeasty" would be attributed to too much time on the yeast. 5 weeks "might" be getting a little long, but 2-4 should be fine. 68 degrees for ambient temp is getting on the high end. Beer can be at 5-10 degrees higher than ambient depending on how vigorous the fermentation is. That could maybe be driving some yeast off flavors. Also, unhealthy or underpitched yeast could be a possible culprit. If the yeast aren't healthy enough to "finish" the job, that could maybe be a problem. starter? yeast nutrient? O2?

Clean tap lines? Sometimes musty/moldy is described as "bready or yeasty"???
 
I'm having a similar Problem, at the moment, there is a clear yeasty smell in the bottle.
the heat pad is directly under the barrel, and is controlled by a thermometer with a 1-1.5 (set 19-20C) degree variance. This is happening on APA's mainly using US-05. I dont think theres an infection etc. I first thought it was just a batch of yeast. its sits for 2 weeks normally and then gets bottled, everything is sterilised.

I'm wondering if this has something to do with the heat pad being directly underneath it? heating the plastic, which heats the brew.
Its food grade plastic before anyone starts asking questions. the temp probe is attached and insulated to the side of the barrel, which eliminates the ambient differences in temperature.
the beer recently, was 1.043 OG. with 40IBU's
2lbs Light DME
3.3lbs Amber DME
6.5oz Biscuit Malt steeped 20 min
0.7oz nugget @ 60
0.5 Cascade @ 15
0.5 Cascade @5
0.5 Cascade @ flameout
1oz cascade dryhop.
and i used 1 package of US-05, rehydrated in 100ml of water.

Any ideas??
 
crusader1612 said:
I'm having a similar Problem, at the moment, there is a clear yeasty smell in the bottle.
the heat pad is directly under the barrel, and is controlled by a thermometer with a 1-1.5 (set 19-20C) degree variance. This is happening on APA's mainly using US-05. I dont think theres an infection etc. I first thought it was just a batch of yeast. its sits for 2 weeks normally and then gets bottled, everything is sterilised.

I'm wondering if this has something to do with the heat pad being directly underneath it? heating the plastic, which heats the brew.
Its food grade plastic before anyone starts asking questions. the temp probe is attached and insulated to the side of the barrel, which eliminates the ambient differences in temperature.
the beer recently, was 1.043 OG. with 40IBU's
2lbs Light DME
3.3lbs Amber DME
6.5oz Biscuit Malt steeped 20 min
0.7oz nugget @ 60
0.5 Cascade @ 15
0.5 Cascade @5
0.5 Cascade @ flameout
1oz cascade dryhop.
and i used 1 package of US-05, rehydrated in 100ml of water.

Any ideas??
Click to expand...

You're right at ideal temperatures, and the recipe is alright. So I have no idea. Unless it is that heating pad so close to the yeast. I mean, if the temperature indicator is on the side of the barrel, but the heating pad is on the bottom, maybe it's a lot warmer at the bottom than the top. Can you somehow change that so that the temperature probe reads where the heat is provided?
 
Yooper said:
You're right at ideal temperatures, and the recipe is alright. So I have no idea. Unless it is that heating pad so close to the yeast. I mean, if the temperature indicator is on the side of the barrel, but the heating pad is on the bottom, maybe it's a lot warmer at the bottom than the top. Can you somehow change that so that the temperature probe reads where the heat is provided?
Click to expand...

I spoke to a couple of members of my HB Club, they said, if the heat pad is directly heating the barrel, it could overheat the trub at the bottom and create this yeasty smell. Is that true Yooper, cos it kind of makes sense?
 
crusader1612 said:
I spoke to a couple of members of my HB Club, they said, if the heat pad is directly heating the barrel, it could overheat the trub at the bottom and create this yeasty smell. Is that true Yooper, cos it kind of makes sense?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's my guess as well. "cooking" the yeast on the bottom, so to speak, would cause some yeast flavors.
 
Yooper said:
Yes, that's my guess as well. "cooking" the yeast on the bottom, so to speak, would cause some yeast flavors.
Click to expand...

Well I thought I would test a scenario out by putting the pad leaning against the wall of my small cabinet, and because the insulation isn't as good as it could be, there is only a very minor heat increase, in 24 hours. so I'm testing another scenario out, I have a wire fan guard, which I'm going to sit on the pad, which the brew will sit on top of, its flat, and hopefully will give me enough heat increase when required, and also offer a "No Yeast cooking" solution.

Kiwi Ingenuity at its Finest. :mug:
Putting a brew down tomorrow night, so will see what this scenario does for me.
 
Cooking the yeast seems the best explanation to me as well. 5 weeks on the yeast of itself will not make that flavor/smell. I've done 5 weeks in primary before,& got none of this. And 68F is getting near the high end so far as temp range is concerned for cleaner flavors. But still produces good beers with the average ale yeast,which many do give off fruity esters that are desired to a degree traditionally.
The cooper's ale yeast I use hast to go up to 74F or more to start getting oof or other different than desired flavors. But through my own experiences,64-68F is good. I've found that ale yeasts like US-05 are cleaner,but perform virtually the same as cooper's ale yeast with the cooper's being re-hydrated (7g packet). The 15g cooper's packets are even more aggressive when re-hydrated. I've found through observation that temps only go up 2-3 degrees during initial fermentation.
I've also seen folks wrap the heating blanket around the fermenter with a temp probe to monitor. Maybe that'd be better?...
 

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