So, I'm not exactly new to brewing, been doing it for 8 years, but have only recently tried to become serious about it. Last fall I started washing yeast, making starters, and just this spring I went all grain. I still don't have any fermentation temperature control in place, but hadn't had any problems... until recently.
So last fall I bought WL california V yeast, aka the anchor strain. I like it, and I'd been washing it to put into a few mason jars after I racked out of my primaries. I used my last jar of the second generation of washing in a very hoppy extract pale ale. One thing to note is that quite a bit of hops fell into the fermenter when my helping friend got careless. I assume that isn't an important detail, but I wanted to add it.
That pale ale was my last extract, and then I moved to all grain. I harvested yeast from that pale ale for my first all grain, an american wheat ale. I should note that I had just bought fermometers. I noticed this batch got up to about 78 before I stuck it in my keg fridge for a few hours to bring it to 68. There was an unmistakable rotten egg smell for the rest of the fermentation, and the beer tastes pretty skunky. So whatever, I assume it is just the hot fermentation and the batch will either get better or it won't.
So I make my second all grain batch, a similar recipe but with a nice vienna presence. I use the same harvested yeast from the extract pale ale. I didn't see it get too hot, it never had a rotting smell, but the beer has a very similar flavor of skunk and isn't very enjoyable to drink.
I'm getting ready to brew another time, this time I harvested the yeast from the 2nd all grain batch. Made the starter, it fermented out, and the spent wort has that same awful smell and taste from the 1st all grain batch, and so I've pitched it an given up on my strain of Anchor yeast.
So my questions are: does this sound like a hot fermentation? I've been reading about hot fermentations, and this smell and flavor doesn't seem to be common of hot fermentations. Also, I was using this yeast all winter before I had the fermometer, when my house's ambient temperature was the same. So I have to assume that all my other delicious beers with this yeast were fermenting hot.
So is it autolysis? I've read that this is a likely cause of the rotten egg smell. But why, after re-washing and making a new starter, would I still have that awful smell and taste? It seems that all the new yeast cells would be far greater than the autolysing cells and I'd be fine.
How about an infection? It seems after a few generations, the bacteria could be built up enough to compete with the yeast cells. Or what about those hops that fell into the last good batch? Could the hop chemicals mess up the yeast? I still have a jar of this yeast left in the fridge, but I am scared to use it since they make beer smell revolting!
Edit: I should add, both batches had normal FGs and sat in primary for 16 days before kegging. I usually go about two weeks with all my batches and I've never had any problems before.
So last fall I bought WL california V yeast, aka the anchor strain. I like it, and I'd been washing it to put into a few mason jars after I racked out of my primaries. I used my last jar of the second generation of washing in a very hoppy extract pale ale. One thing to note is that quite a bit of hops fell into the fermenter when my helping friend got careless. I assume that isn't an important detail, but I wanted to add it.
That pale ale was my last extract, and then I moved to all grain. I harvested yeast from that pale ale for my first all grain, an american wheat ale. I should note that I had just bought fermometers. I noticed this batch got up to about 78 before I stuck it in my keg fridge for a few hours to bring it to 68. There was an unmistakable rotten egg smell for the rest of the fermentation, and the beer tastes pretty skunky. So whatever, I assume it is just the hot fermentation and the batch will either get better or it won't.
So I make my second all grain batch, a similar recipe but with a nice vienna presence. I use the same harvested yeast from the extract pale ale. I didn't see it get too hot, it never had a rotting smell, but the beer has a very similar flavor of skunk and isn't very enjoyable to drink.
I'm getting ready to brew another time, this time I harvested the yeast from the 2nd all grain batch. Made the starter, it fermented out, and the spent wort has that same awful smell and taste from the 1st all grain batch, and so I've pitched it an given up on my strain of Anchor yeast.
So my questions are: does this sound like a hot fermentation? I've been reading about hot fermentations, and this smell and flavor doesn't seem to be common of hot fermentations. Also, I was using this yeast all winter before I had the fermometer, when my house's ambient temperature was the same. So I have to assume that all my other delicious beers with this yeast were fermenting hot.
So is it autolysis? I've read that this is a likely cause of the rotten egg smell. But why, after re-washing and making a new starter, would I still have that awful smell and taste? It seems that all the new yeast cells would be far greater than the autolysing cells and I'd be fine.
How about an infection? It seems after a few generations, the bacteria could be built up enough to compete with the yeast cells. Or what about those hops that fell into the last good batch? Could the hop chemicals mess up the yeast? I still have a jar of this yeast left in the fridge, but I am scared to use it since they make beer smell revolting!
Edit: I should add, both batches had normal FGs and sat in primary for 16 days before kegging. I usually go about two weeks with all my batches and I've never had any problems before.
