charlesmartin
Well-Known Member
in the past several months, i have fermented 6 batches with safale us05. all of these have had an extreme phenolic aroma/flavor. i fermented all of them in swamp coolers with temps ranging from 55 to 70. some of which had huge temp swings within that range (at first i thought that was the problem, but no). some were consistent at either 65 or 70 during primary fermentation.
at first i thought: i have wild yeast/bacterial contamination...so i bought new stuff. no difference. did brett take over my equipment? maybe i didn't santize enough...so i sanitized more. then i thought, i will try a wyeast recipe, so i did an amber with wyeast 1450. bottled one fermented with us05 and one with the 1450 in the same night. seven days later, the us05 is PHENOL city...and the 1450 is fantastic.
i did a 1 liter starter with the 1450. the us05 i simply rehydrated and pitched. (honestly, i have had better luck just pitching the dry yeast into the wort than rehydrating).
all of that to say...the common thread in the bad beer is the us05. it is terrible. however, it is a good thing that my wife can use all of it as slug bait in her veggie garden. so here i am with 5, possibly 6 nasty batches of beer/slug bait. any man in his right mind would quit brewing. but no, i will just become a liquid yeast/starter snob. next in line is a black ipa/american black ale with 1272.
any of you all had similar problems?
at first i thought: i have wild yeast/bacterial contamination...so i bought new stuff. no difference. did brett take over my equipment? maybe i didn't santize enough...so i sanitized more. then i thought, i will try a wyeast recipe, so i did an amber with wyeast 1450. bottled one fermented with us05 and one with the 1450 in the same night. seven days later, the us05 is PHENOL city...and the 1450 is fantastic.
i did a 1 liter starter with the 1450. the us05 i simply rehydrated and pitched. (honestly, i have had better luck just pitching the dry yeast into the wort than rehydrating).
all of that to say...the common thread in the bad beer is the us05. it is terrible. however, it is a good thing that my wife can use all of it as slug bait in her veggie garden. so here i am with 5, possibly 6 nasty batches of beer/slug bait. any man in his right mind would quit brewing. but no, i will just become a liquid yeast/starter snob. next in line is a black ipa/american black ale with 1272.
any of you all had similar problems?