Cidery taste in Hefe

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Levers101

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My Hefe seems to have developed a cidery taste to it. This wasn't really present when I first started into the batch, and it seems like it is more pronounced in the beers that I have had stored in the fridge since mid- last week. I used 7.2 oz of corn sugar to prime it so I don't think its coming from the carbonating sugar.

Also there is very little banana and clove flavor left after being in bottles for 3 weeks. And I thought it was mega banana when I bottled, and it seems that I didn't bottle nearly as much yeast as would be typical of the style.

Is this just natural or bad sanitation on my part? It gave no hints of infection when I tasted at racking to secondary and to my bottling bucket.

Perhaps I also need to increase the serving temperature. I think I might move some to my newly completed lagering fridge to see if it changes anything, as I'm guessing my food fridge is pretty cold and is hindering volatilization of flavor compounds.

EDIT: A hefe from the closet quick chilled to just over cellar temperature in the freezer (59*F) tastes much less cidery and has more flavor. Interesting...
 
Sounds like some of your bottles weren't totally clean. That would explain whay some are good, some not. Plus, you said it was fine before bottling.
 
Each bottle tastes the same, but the "off flavor" if it is even that, is only really evident at the super cold temperatures of my food fridge -- 39*F. At warmer temps it is not noticable. Perhaps I missed it when racking to secondary with the clove & banana flavors that were present then.
 
the cold temp is probably hiding the phenolics, all that is left is som sweet taste and som sour tast. in a properly chilled hefe, sour should be a hint in the back of the mouth at the finish. IMO
 
How long did you bottle condition it? That much sugar would take a good 3 weeks in my experience. If they weren't fully conditioned and then you chilled them you would get an off-flavor. However, I do agree that 39F is a big cold to drink almost anything.
 
It is possible that the sugar wasn't all fermented out. I bottled June 4, and put the beer in question in the fridge about a week ago expecting to take them to a friends house. Something came up and I never did, so its possible that the weren't completely carbonated. I also agree that 39 F is too cold, but that is what my fridge is set at to keep my food from spoilage. I moved them to what will be my lagering fridge once I get a temp controller. They stay around 50*F in there. I'll try some that haven't been fridge and see if that makes a difference. Its still drinkable, thank goodness.
 
Just an update. It was the priming sugar not being all the way fermented out that caused the taste. I'm fairly convinced of that now as every bottle that I have had that hadn't been in the fridge for that week early on is pretty darn good. Shared a couple with some friends and they could also notice the difference between the ones that had been in the fridge versus the ones that hadn't, but otherwise they said they tasted good too. So perhaps I was being a little bit too self-critical as well.
 
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