Acetaldehyde in Dunkelweizen?

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squash1978

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About a week and a half ago I brewed a Dunkelweizen using Jamil's recipe from Brewing Classic Styles using WLP300. OG was 1.053 and I fermented it at 62 degrees per Jamil's instructions. I took a gravity reading last night (10 days post-pitch) and it had reached it's FG at 1.012. While tasting the sample I pulled for the gravity reading I noticed that it had a slight cidery/apple taste in the finish. It was not overpowering but at the same time it was definitely noticeable.

Is this a flavor that is normally produced by hefeweizen yeast or is it more likely being caused by acetaldehyde?

If this flavor is being caused by acetaldehyde will raising the temperature higher to say, 68, encourage the yeast to clean it up?
 
Ill just ask a few questions for clarification.

Are you sure thats the FG how many reading did you take ie. gravity check at day 7 1015 check at day 9 1012 check at day 10 1012. Sometimes not always but sometimes it can continue to drop at day 11 or day 12 or .....

I would suggest wait 3 days to see if it stays at 1012. If your reading at were consistent for 3 days its usually done.

Most likely the apple cider is cause of it being a green beer. Let it sit on the yeast for a day or 3 if your reading are consistent this will allow the yeast to clean up some of that acetaldehyde if thats what it is. I would worry about it until you bottle or keg condition it. If you pick up the same apple cider after conditioning maybe I would ask if or how you oxygenated it. If you did by shake I would suggest using pure o2. If you used o2 i would do a few more seconds the next time.

Hefeweizen yeast usually comes off as banana, clove, yeasty character not sure if apple is part of the character profile or if its common with the yeast you used, sorry couldnt help with this.

Fermenting an ale yeast at that low of a temp I dont think it wouldnt hurt to raise it up to 68 or you can let it sit for another 7-10 days on the primary before you taste it again at 63. This i think would be more of a personal preference.

Hope this helps
 
I had the exact same issue with this recipe and this yeast. I tend to ferment my hefes on the cool side, as JZ recommends, and have had great success. But with this DUNKELWEIZEN the beer had the same cidery tang you describe. It did mellow after a few weeks of conditioning, but the robust malt of a dunkelweizen never emerged. In the future I will ferment this particular recipe slightly warmer, say 72F. I may also leave it in primary for 3 weeks, whereas I normally do 10 days to 2 weeks for a hefe.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I had the exact same issue with this recipe and this yeast. I tend to ferment my hefes on the cool side, as JZ recommends, and have had great success. But with this DUNKELWEIZEN the beer had the same cidery tang you describe. It did mellow after a few weeks of conditioning, but the robust malt of a dunkelweizen never emerged. In the future I will ferment this particular recipe slightly warmer, say 72F. I may also leave it in primary for 3 weeks, whereas I normally do 10 days to 2 weeks for a hefe.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

That's really interesting. I think your description is a little more accurate of the taste, it's a slight cidery tang at the end. I bumped up the temperature to 68 and will let it sit there for a few days before taking another sample and then perhaps leaving it in the fermenter for another week.
 
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