Holy Bubblegum/Banana Taste Batman!

Ok, so we just kegged a batch of Belgian Wit we made about two weeks ago. This was our first time using the correct belgian yeast, a Wyeast smackpack (don't know the number offhand). Our first wit was excellent, clean, and packed a whollop, but we used safale -05 for that one. We decided we wanted the authentic flavor from the belgian yeast, but holy crap! Very strong bubblegum nose, with overpowering banana flavor. Almost no orange or coriander taste at all. Slightly astringent. Two questions:

1.) Is this because the beer is still a little too young? We had our first wit in secondary/keg for four weeks before we drank it.

2.) Is it because we fermented at too high a temp? The basement is usually pretty cool, but we have been getting some hot weather on the east coast lately.

It's drinkable (we killed two gallons last night without much difficultly) but we're taking it to Bonnaroo in a week and were hoping for something more along the lines of what we made before. If you need a recipe, well here ya go:

Batch # 27 – Bonaroo Wit
Yield: 5 Gal

Ingredients: 3 lbs light DME, 3 lbs wheat DME, 1 oz hallertaur, 1 oz cascade, 1 oz sweet orange peel, 1 oz coriander seed (crushed), Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier Yeast(?).

5/19/07 – Boiled 3 gal wort for 60 min. Added .5 oz hallertaur @ 60 min, .5 oz hallertaur @ 45 min, .5 oz cascade @ 30 min, 1 oz orange peel and 1 oz coriander seed @ 15 min, .5 oz cascade @ 5 min. Added wort directly to primary with 2 gal of semi-frozen spring water. Topped with spring water. Waited approx. 30 min and pitched smack pack. Aerated and affixed airlock.

thanks guys
mike

I have about a 12 pack left of about the same recipe. I used the 3944 smack pack and everything turned out great. Fermented at around 62-64F for three weeks. Been in the bottle now for a good 4 weeks. My guess is that yours fermented a little too warm.

On the other hand I brewed a Fat Tire clone using the Belgian 1214 smack pack previously at about the same temps (58-62) and ended up with a strong banana flavor/aroma. I still am clueless as to why. They have been in the bottle for at least six weeks and are still overpowering. So I’m guessing that while it might mellow a bit it will still be bananas and bubble gum. I have since been using only dry yeast with excellent results…

I'm not sure if the charts online, but Brew Like A Monk has a nice chart listing the types of yeast and what flavors you'll get at different temperatures.

Thanks guys, I'll experiment with yeast another time perhaps. If the safale worked for us last time, I guess we'll just stick with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

mike

Mike- Bummer to hear about this batch. I liked how your recipe sounded in the other thread...was going to buy the ingredients this weekend. Was leaning towards the belgian wyeast, but now I may try the safale. I don't want the bubblegum overload taste. Besides, I don't always have the best luck with the liquid yeast, some of my best batches have been dried (and some of my least favorite have been liquid).

It was my first time using the liquid, and I have to admit I'm now a little leery of going back to it. We used a liquid Pacman yeast from Rogue on a wee heavy we just made, so hopefully we'll have more luck with that. But as far as the dry vs. liquid goes in this recipe, if you're fermenting in slightly warmer climates, the safale doesn't produce nearly as many off flavors. I know it might not be a strictly belgian style, but who cares? The safale made a nice, clean, refreshing and slightly more powerful beer than we were shooting for, so it's okay in my book

mike

MLynchLtd said:

It was my first time using the liquid, and I have to admit I'm now a little leery of going back to it. We used a liquid Pacman yeast from Rogue on a wee heavy we just made, so hopefully we'll have more luck with that. But as far as the dry vs. liquid goes in this recipe, if you're fermenting in slightly warmer climates, the safale doesn't produce nearly as many off flavors. I know it might not be a strictly belgian style, but who cares? The safale made a nice, clean, refreshing and slightly more powerful beer than we were shooting for, so it's okay in my book

mike

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You can give the S-33 a shot. It gives an interesting fruityness (not overpowering) that is more along what you're looking for from the sound of it.

Sounds good, I'll give that a try! I'm thinking of altering the wit recipe a bit, kind of a bastardization between the wit and a braggot (mead-beer). I'm going to replace 3lbs of light DME with 3 lbs of honey, use bitter orange peel (not too much this time) and coriander. I'm shooting for a nice, crisp, clean beer with a nice abv and hints of complexity from the coriander and orange. I don't mind that it will be a bit drier. I'll give the S-33 a shot with this recipe and see what happens.

mike

MLynchLtd said:

Sounds good, I'll give that a try! I'm thinking of altering the wit recipe a bit, kind of a bastardization between the wit and a braggot (mead-beer). I'm going to replace 3lbs of light DME with 3 lbs of honey, use bitter orange peel (not too much this time) and coriander. I'm shooting for a nice, crisp, clean beer with a nice abv and hints of complexity from the coriander and orange. I don't mind that it will be a bit drier. I'll give the S-33 a shot with this recipe and see what happens.

mike

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It should be able to pretty easily handle the abv. It is a pretty interesting strain. I always direct pitch it and every time I think I have missed the airlock activity. In fact once I repitched in a panic, only to find out that it was already done...

Wow, that's pretty quick! What's the flavor profile from this strain? Can it handle higher ferment temps? It seems temp is what got me into this mess in the first place.

mike

Would be interesting to try some lemon and lime in that one with ve bitter orange and coriander. That is what the Spring Heat Spiced Wheat uses and it is actually quite tasty.

I've had that before, and it was okay. But following the logic that the bluemoon clone we made tasted BETTER than actual blue moon, if we make a spiced wheat clone, it should turn out BETTER than the commercial version. I certainly hope so, because the commercial stuff is alright, but nothing to write home about IMHO.

mike