Autolysis Making Yeasty Flavor?

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ianofadams

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So i just transferred a Raspberry wheat im making from primary to secondary, on to the raspberry puree, and before racking i took a reading. It tastes very yeasty. I am worried that this could have been caused by autolysis in the wort, and also worried it could have been caused by the yeast i pitched.

I was using wyeast 1007, pitched it, waited, and found no fermentation for around 4-5 days, even after taking a reading it was still at OG of 1.060... so i pitched a second yeast, wyeast 3944 to try and save the beer, it did begin fermenting, and lasted around a week or so. Is there a chance the first dead yeast made the beer taste that way? and if so is there anyway to change that? i would really not enjoy having had screwed up the whole batch. Forgive me if im panicking too early, was just excited for the taste till now. :confused:
 
Autolysis in your situation is extremely unlikely.

That yeasty flavor will probably go away when you either, secondary a while, cold crash (if you do), and/or put the bottles in the fridge at least a few days after they've conditioned. The yeast will fall out to the bottom.
 
Possible, but I think contamination is more likely the cause. A wort that sits for 4-5 days without fermenting is likely to have some contaminant grow instead.
 
BridgewaterBrewer said:
Possible, but I think contamination is more likely the cause. A wort that sits for 4-5 days without fermenting is likely to have some contaminant grow instead.
Click to expand...

Why?
If initial sanitation is good and the vessel is properly sealed up there is very little to no risk of contamination.

If it was contaminated it would then certainly show signs of fermentation as whatever got in would be consuming the wort:drunk:
 
There are lots of different off-flavors that are associated with various types of contamination, but I've never heard of "yeasty" being one of them.

Typically, a beer tastes yeasty because there's an excess amount of yeast suspended in it.
 
ianofadams said:
I was using wyeast 1007, pitched it, waited, and found no fermentation for around 4-5 days, even after taking a reading it was still at OG of 1.060... so i pitched a second yeast, wyeast 3944 to try and save the beer, it did begin fermenting, and lasted around a week or so
Click to expand...

What is your basis for "found no fermentation"? What is the current gravity reading?

Autolysis is extremely unlikely. 1.060 isn't enormous but it wouldn't surprise me that yeast were still in suspension working on it.

Does your OG count the sugars in the raspberries? That is a huge slug of sugar, highly fermentable, and it will take your yeasts a while to chew through that. It will be a few weeks.
 
I think the beer is simply just too young still. You gotta give the yeast time to finish up and clean up the byproducts of fermentation. I think it just needs more time.
 
gcdowd said:
I think the beer is simply just too young still. You gotta give the yeast time to finish up and clean up the byproducts of fermentation. I think it just needs more time.
Click to expand...

+1. This ^^^^ too.
 
ianofadams said:
so i pitched a second yeast, wyeast 3944 to try and save the beer, it did begin fermenting, and lasted around a week or so.
Click to expand...

So adding more yeast isn't what you'd account for a yeasty taste with it? Instead you go for one of the rarest/worst case scenario there is...

If it were autolysis, it would taste like gorilla poop left in a diaper on the side of a desert road at noon, after a week in the sun...you would KNOW if it had autolysis...

How long has it been since you pitched the second yeast? The yeasty taste is more than likely just all the excess yeast you have in suspension.

Give it time. It'll be fine.
 
Revvy said:
If it were autolysis, it would taste like gorilla poop left in a diaper on the side of a desert road at noon, after a week in the sun...you would KNOW if it had autolysis...
QUOTE]

This is priceless!!
I might just have to quote this as a tag line.
Seriously, it might be the beer, but I think I may have peed myself a little.
:tank:
Click to expand...
 
Yep, if it has a yeasty taste, I'd say you're just tasting yeast. There's tons of it in suspension in a young beer. Nothing to worry about. Cheers!
 
Next time you pull a sample place it in the fridge for a while and see what settles to the bottom--yeast. That is what you are tasting: yeasty taste=you are tasting yeast.
 
Revvy said:
If it were autolysis, it would taste like gorilla poop left in a diaper on the side of a desert road at noon, after a week in the sun...you would KNOW if it had autolysis...

Give it time. It'll be fine.
Click to expand...

haha. ok. yeah, the original o.g. was 1.060, and was still 1.060 after adding the first yeast, after adding the second yeast letting it go for a week or so, at 1.025 i racked onto the raspberry puree in secondary and its fermenting more. Im assuming the lack of patience is the problem here, i'll give it a while and post back about the result. Thanks for all the help!
 

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