I recently made a batch of wheat beer and decided since i was going to be making more this summer, i'd wash it and save it. I made another batch of the same beer only this time i used the washed yeast. Im thinking possibly not enough healthy cells or possibly something else. But the fermentation took an extra 12 hours to get started and it wasn't a violent fermentation like the last 2 batches when i used fresh yeast. Is there any way to correct this?? Possibly a starter with nutrient? Needless to say the batch ended up different than the last 2, a lot of people liked it, although i could notice the difference in the beer, it was really dry and lacked flavor, almost had a stale taste to it, kind of like a miller lite. Any info would be great.
Issues with washed yeast flavor
- Thread starter xjncoguyx
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xjncoguyx
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I did make a starter, i usually always do anyway. I just didn't use any nutrient in the starter, im thinking maybe that would help make more viable yeast yay/nay?
I've had mixed success with washed yeast. I'd say ~50% of the beers have come out great, and 50% have had off flavors that I can safely attribute to the washed yeast. I'm confident that it was the washed yeast b/c I always do 10 gallon batches and split into two 5 gallon fermentations that get different yeast. In each of the problem cases, the 5 gallons that got fresh yeast turned out great, whereas the 5 gallons that got the washed yeast had some off flavors.
In one split-batch case, a pilsner I made using fresh yeast won a 3rd place ribbon in a pretty big competition, while the other beer, a Belgian pale ale, got knocked down for significant chloro-phenols, which the judges assumed came from my water. Since the exact same water went into each beer, I conclude that that off flavor came from the washed yeast. None of the problem cases had slow starts, so I'm not entirely sure what to attribute the variability to, still learning.
In one split-batch case, a pilsner I made using fresh yeast won a 3rd place ribbon in a pretty big competition, while the other beer, a Belgian pale ale, got knocked down for significant chloro-phenols, which the judges assumed came from my water. Since the exact same water went into each beer, I conclude that that off flavor came from the washed yeast. None of the problem cases had slow starts, so I'm not entirely sure what to attribute the variability to, still learning.
