ehhh banana smelling airlock...

[AdamPag]

yea its a bit faint but I can notice it. At the 9th day of ferm, temp holding steady at approx 67-68, pitched at 70. The yeast actually called for pitching closer to 80 but my 1st impression was... No.

So the question is, Are Fusels a natural product of Fermentation? I know 9 days is still young, im planning on leaving it for atleast another 16 days before checking FG. Also, The remaining yeast should be doing clean up for the next 2 weeks, is that likely to reduce the amount of fusels etc with time in the ferm? bottle conditioning as well? Id be pretty put off if my 1st batch of awesome brew comes out tasting like turpentine.

 

[str8wire]

Young beer can always smell a little funky, and banana is pretty common in my opinion. I think you are fine. Yes, letting the beer sit on the yeast will clean it up. Carry On!

 

[david_42]

Fusel alcohols are a common byproduct of high temperature fermentation. However, they have almost no smell and do not clean-up.

The banana smell is from an ester that is also common in higher temperature fermentation, but it will clean-up.

 

[gr8shandini]

You're going to be just fine. Beers kick off all sorts of strange odors while they're fermenting. Furthermore, a banana smell/flavor is the product of an ester, not a fusel. Esters are typically desired in ales (within reason) and perfectly normal to smell during fermentation.

Fusels are formed by high fermentation temps which you wisely avoided. If you haven't read "How to Brew" yet, it's well worth it and is free on line. I still refer to the off-flavor chart on occasion: How to Brew - By John Palmer - Common Off-Flavors

Finally, 9 days is actually plenty of time for an average gravity ale to finish up primary fermentation. Go ahead and take a hydrometer reading and taste the sample. If it's close to where you expect it to be and tastes good, take another reading in a couple of days. If it reads the same, you're ready for packaging. If it's still dropping, or something tastes funny, then you probably want to let it sit for a while.

By the way, what style are you brewing and what strain of yeast are you using?

 

[helibrewer]

What type of beer and yeast? Ale yeast, and in particular Belgian Ale Yeast, produce fruity esters, banana being a very noticeable one. Depending on the style of beer it is either desirable or a flaw (by judging standards anyway).

 

[AdamPag]

Ive glanced through HowToBrew about twice, while brewing...and drinking lol.

What are we considering high ferm temps?

The brew is an English style Amber, all malt, from True Brew, and im my infinite noobitry, I didnt record the yeast type. My Init SG = 1.044 Final is supposed to be 1.010-1.012

In fact the instructions say to cool it to 90!!! wtf?!

 

[helibrewer]

That is probably for pitching the yeast....dry yeast I presume based on that. I would suggest that you get in the habit of taking copious, detailed notes about every step you take from recipe through bottling, and add tasting notes after bottling (the taste will change over time). You will not remember critical details.

For instance, the yeast strain can make huge differences in taste using the exact same recipe, and the same recipe and same yeast strain can taste different if fermented at different temperatures. If you don't keep track of what you did, you can't make intelligent adjustments down the road.

 

[AdamPag]

Yea im pretty pissed at my self, im usually really detailed about taking notes except I really dont know what im doing still, Live and Learn man. I wasnt expecting to get it perfect my 1st try, as long as its drinkable ill be satisfied, the next brews im gonna go into knowing a whole bunch more just from the experience of not knowing what im doing lol

Oh in addition, the LME is actually hopped, what would that change?

 

[FatherJack]

I once had a choco-banana smell coming from my bucket. I much preferred that smell to the rotten egg aroma I had from a wheat beer shortly after.

Both turned out OK though, so RDWHAHB

 

[helibrewer]

Yea im pretty pissed at my self, im usually really detailed about taking notes except I really dont know what im doing still, Live and Learn man. I wasnt expecting to get it perfect my 1st try, as long as its drinkable ill be satisfied, the next brews im gonna go into knowing a whole bunch more just from the experience of not knowing what im doing lol

Hey, sometimes you have to get the first batch done to scratch the itch

Oh in addition, the LME is actually hopped, what would that change?

Well, you really shouldn't boil hopped extract. Generally you would boil any unhopped extract, the liquor from any specialty grain steeping, and any hop additions that are made. Then once the boil is over and the heat is off, just stir in the hopped extract and make sure it is mixed REALLY well.

Hope that helps....

 

[AdamPag]

whelp, I followed the recipe MOSTLY at that section, which read: Boil, add HLME, DME, Pelleted Hops (cascade I believe), Rolling boil for 30 mins (I opted to go for 45 mins to reduce the likely hood of DMS), I then went totally against the recipe as previously stated and pitched the yeast (started) at 70*, Lag time was approx 5-6 hours (not bubbling yet but bubbles forming in the lock), Full fermentation at 10-12 hours lasted for approx 72-80 hours.

Should I expect off flavors from boiling a HLME? Im anticipating it to be rather bitter at 1st, i'll take a FG tonite when I get home

 

[AdamPag]

Alright I just opened the bucket for the first time since it went in there... Its glorious!! I stuck my nose in to smell and it nearly knocked me on my ass lol. Taste, spot on, no off flavors I can detect, its got a dry bitter finish but its good. SG is at 1.017 so it probably needs another week. It was very lightly carbed, is that normal?

Now I'm jacked I was so worried until I tasted it haha

 

[gr8shandini]

What was your OG and what yeast did you use? With some of the British strains, you might be at final gravity, but you're probably right in that it has a few points to go.

A little carbonation is normal. It's been in a 100% CO2 atmosphere for a few days after all. At fermentation temps, that can be about 0.9-1.2 volumes - more if you cold crash it. Keep that in mind when you eventually transfer for packaging. A lot of new people see a few small bubbles in the siphon and freak out because they think they're aerating the beer when it's normal to see a small amount of CO2 come out of solution.