banana taste and maturation

[rexbanner]

Hey everybody,

What exactly is green beer? I used to think it was just a term for beer that had not reached its age where it tasted best. Lately though, I've been thinking that it's a little more serious than that.

For the last three batches I've brewed, I decided to bottle rather than keg. Out of secondary, the beers tasted phenomenal. After 3 weeks carbing in bottles, I had banana beer on my hands.

At first I was pretty angry. However, after about 6 weeks, the banana taste abruptly left, and I finally had a carbonated version of what the beer tasted like in secondary.

I'm just a little confused. I've got 15 batches under my belt at this point, and for the 10 I've bottled, they usually tasted decent but in need of a little more time 3 weeks past bottling (i.e. what I thought green meant).

Now I know that time fixes this problem, but I'm an impatient guy and I don't always feel like waiting 6-8 weeks after bottling in order for my beer to not taste like delirium. Is there a way, other than kegging, to keep my beer from tasting like monkey brew? Temperature and contamination are probably not an issue, unless I need to cold crash or something?

 

[ACo]

To me, green beer is beer that has just not reached maturity for one reason or another. Many people describe their beers as green. It can be that the hops have not mellowed, it can mean undercarbed, it can mean overly fruity from not maturing. I think and personally believe there is no one set definition. I hear this word used so much that I think its meaning is very loose.



The banana flavors you are tasting are typically due to the yeast being stressed at the temperatures they were pitched at. If you pitched your yeast at a higher temp, that is a typical result. Most of those flavors are first imparted during the few days/hours of primary fermentation.

To get an even balance of esters and phenols, you want to pitch at the indicated temp which is designated by the yeast manufacturer. Also, if using liquid yeast, make a starter and bring up that cell count. the less the yeast have to work, the happier/less stressed they are.

I myself had this problem the first time I made a wheat beer. I wanted to call it banana runts beer....but, it settled down and actually was one of my favorite brews.

To sum it up, temp is the main driver of those fruit flavors. Make sure your wort is completely cooled when you pitch and you will find those banana flavors will not be as strong.

 

[rexbanner]

To me, green beer is beer that has just not reached maturity for one reason or another. Many people describe their beers as green. It can be that the hops have not mellowed, it can mean undercarbed, it can mean overly fruity from not maturing. I think and personally believe there is no one set definition. I hear this word used so much that I think its meaning is very loose.



The banana flavors you are tasting are typically due to the yeast being stressed at the temperatures they were pitched at. If you pitched your yeast at a higher temp, that is a typical result. Most of those flavors are first imparted during the few days/hours of primary fermentation.

To get an even balance of esters and phenols, you want to pitch at the indicated temp which is designated by the yeast manufacturer. Also, if using liquid yeast, make a starter and bring up that cell count. the less the yeast have to work, the happier/less stressed they are.

I myself had this problem the first time I made a wheat beer. I wanted to call it banana runts beer....but, it settled down and actually was one of my favorite brews.

To sum it up, temp is the main driver of those fruit flavors. Make sure your wort is completely cooled when you pitch and you will find those banana flavors will not be as strong.

I understand this. To be blunt, I don't think that's what it is. Remember, the beer had zero banana taste at bottling time. All of that came from bottling. Just look at my sig. I know how important temp control is.

 

[ACo]

I hear ya, man.

If you are sure that you were precise with your temps, then this is an oddity.

I've never heard of bottling causing those flavors, only during primary.