Banana flavor in English brown ale

[mtnagel]

I am not a beginner, but this seems like a beginner question. I've been brewing for 2.5 years, but recently helped a friend brew his first batch (extract). He picked an English brown ale kit from our LHBS. Here's the recipe:

5 lbs. English light syrup
1 lb. Corn sugar
1.0 lbs 60 L Crystal
1 oz. Chocolate Malt
1 oz Northern Brewer Hop Pellets

The yeast on the instructions say Coopers ale yeast, but I'm pretty sure it was S04. Unfortunately I'm not sure on this.

Now I know a lot more than when I first started out and was doing extract kits, so I helped him rehydrate the yeast, aerate the wort and control the fermentation temperature. Things I definitely didn't do properly when I started out.

For everything I've read the banana off flavor comes from too high of fermentation temperatures. But we brewed this in early Feb when it was 17F outside. I kept both my batch and his in a water bath in my basement and used an aquarium heater to keep the fermentation temperatures around 66F. I've confirmed that my water bath can keep the temp of the wort around the same as the water bath even during the height of fermentation. My beer also in the same water bath came out perfect; no off flavors (AG Wookey Jack clone). Even in the beginning when I wasn't controlling temps very well, I never had a banana off flavor in my beers. My friend has said that he really likes it (you don't know what you don't know I guess), but I feel bad that I screwed up his first batch. Any idea what could have happened?

 

[HumulusHead]

I just did a quick google search and it seems that some people comment that coopers ale yeast lends to strange flavors sometimes even when fermented at optimum temperature. I am not sure if its something goofy with every once in a few packs or if it relates to a persons brewing style?

Sounds like the beers isn't in danger, just an off flavor due to the yeast. I also read that aging diminishes that a bit.

Regardless, if your friend doesn't notice, NBD then!!

Its his first brew. I remember mine. Probably vile stuff but i drank the shhhh out of it!

 

[IslandLizard]

Was the yeast that came with his kit labeled at all? Or was it repackaged from some bulk pack. LHBS do that frequently to save some $. I think it's either bad yeast or the wrong kind.

Now that English Syrup/LME maybe a source of off-flavor too. Who knows what's in there or how old it is. Is that a hopped kind?

I just wonder why some of these kits always contain a pound or so of Corn sugar, rather than some DME to make up the fermentables balance. As we all know Corn sugar does not belong in an English Brown.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Yeast was probably older, so it could have been a bit under pitched.


That's all I could think of right now...

 

[mtnagel]

I just did a quick google search and it seems that some people comment that coopers ale yeast lends to strange flavors sometimes even when fermented at optimum temperature. I am not sure if its something goofy with every once in a few packs or if it relates to a persons brewing style?

Sounds like the beers isn't in danger, just an off flavor due to the yeast. I also read that aging diminishes that a bit.

Regardless, if your friend doesn't notice, NBD then!!

Its his first brew. I remember mine. Probably vile stuff but i drank the shhhh out of it!

Thanks for the info on the Coopers yeast. It is possible that it was that, but my mind is remembering the S04 package. But this was almost 2 months ago and I doubt he took any notes on that (I didn't).

And yeah, I thought my first beers were good, but compared to what I'm brewing now, they were terrible!

Was the yeast that came with his kit labeled at all? Or was it repackaged from some bulk pack. LHBS do that frequently to save some $. I think it's either bad yeast or the wrong kind.

Now that English Syrup/LME maybe a source of off-flavor too. Who knows what's in there or how old it is. Is that a hopped kind?

I just wonder why some of these kits always contain a pound or so of Corn sugar, rather than some DME to make up the fermentables balance. As we all know Corn sugar does not belong in an English Brown.

It was not repackaged, but I do realize they keep the yeast with the kits, so they are stored at room temp. I bet they have a decent turnover, but who knows.

The syrup is not hopped. But they are in mystery drums they pour from. All the different kits I bought, I only ever saw them pull from the one really big drum.

Yeast was probably older, so it could have been a bit under pitched.


That's all I could think of right now...

It's possible, but we rehydrated properly so I gave them the best chance I could!