Banana yeast and wheat beer

Hello my friends,

I am about to try DubbelDach's Orange Honey Hefeweizen.

I am culturing two yeasts I've found in commercial hefeweizen beers. Not decided which one to use.

Then I read this quote:

Baron von BeeGee said:

I have found that I like 68-70F for the 3068...much above that and it get banana-y.

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He is talking about a different yeast (wyeast 3068), but he talks about the "banana-y" as it is something common.

Could somebody please explain to me what this is?

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Marius

This is the same yeast as WLP300, ferment temps of about 72F will get some banana esthers going. Some don't like this, I happen to like this flavor and intentionally ferment around 72-74F, it is a very subtle flavor to me. The link below is a great reference as to where Wyeast and White Labs get their yeast strains from.

Wyeast vs White Labs Comparison

Thank you. Until now I have been fermenting my other beers in aprox 80 degrees, if I do this for this weissbeer-yeast, will it potentially ruin the beer with banana flavour? I dont mind some banana flavour, but I would not like it to be overly dominant.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Marius

Yikes! 80F is very warm. Are you noticing any fusel or other off flavors at that temp? I'd think you might get a lot of banana notes that warm, the warmest I've tried WLP300 at is a high of 78F during the 10 days of fermenting. One day or two that warm may not be too bad. I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences.

I dont know, I've not had a chance to sample my beers yet, I am very new to this game.

Kind regards,
Marius

I just used the Dry Safbrew WB-06 in a hefeweizen at 72° and the banana esters are PERFECT for my taste. The nose is more prevalent than the taste but it's good.

kingoslo: IS there a micro near you than serves fresh Hefeweizen? If so, theirs probably has the banana aroma and flavor.

p4ck37p1mp said:

Yikes! 80F is very warm. Are you noticing any fusel or other off flavors at that temp? I'd think you might get a lot of banana notes that warm, the warmest I've tried WLP300 at is a high of 78F during the 10 days of fermenting. One day or two that warm may not be too bad. I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences.

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I just drank some belgian strong ale from my primary. Please let me what off flavours are like, and I let you know if there are any.

kingoslo said:

He is talking about a different yeast (wyeast 3068), but he talks about the "banana-y" as it is something common.

Could somebody please explain to me what this is?

Click to expand...

It is not a 100% rule, but it is common for weizen yeasts tend to throw clove flavors at lower temps (say 60F) and throw banana flavors at higher temps (say 70F). 80F would likely be heavy banana (colloquially known as a "banana bomb") and may have unpleasant off-flavors like "rocket fuel" or hot flavors.

80F is probably too warm for good results in homebrewing, unless you are working with styles/yeasts that like heat like saison, farmhouse, etc. (help me out here, guys, I don't know much about these). You can do the wet tshirt trick to wick away heat and get it to 75F. You could put a fan blowing on the shirt and probably drop it to 70F which is what a doctor might call high-normal.

Thank you all of you!

This information was great!

Marius

kingoslo - clear out your PMs... I can't reply to your last one, so I will do so here:

The vodka acts as a solvent and extracts the flavor from the peels. No nasty impact whatsoever. Ideal, really. And then yes - the orange vodka is sterile and safe to add to the beer. Add enough vodka to cover the peels... 1 cup maybe?

*****

I think 70-75 is perfect for hefes... I like a little banana flavor in mine. 80F is too warm. If you're stuck with 80F temps, try a saison. They flourish from 80-85F.

Thank you

Marius

so i have tried to research this topic and couldnt find a direct thread on the subject but me and my friend have a american wheat ale fermenting right now he loves banana's like alot and i wanted to know if we could rack the secondary onto some bananas if so how much and how do you rack to a thirdary without having a lot of sediment from the banana in the third fermenter before bottling.
thx

I have a 5 gallon batch of black ale fermenting and i read that other people had put 1.1/3 too 2.0 cups of jack daniels in the brew along with a vanilla bean. Would this be good? if anyone has tried this or anything similar let me know how it tasted and how does the beer respond to the jack and vanilla?

I like the wb-06 at the lower range of 60-64. It gives a distinct clove taste. I prefer that over the banana.