I am getting some bubble gum aroma and slight flavor from some of my beers and am looking for a little advice on what might be causing it. I'm almost positive I don't have a problem with sanitation. The only thing I can think of is my fermentation temps. I don't have much control of them due to my setup but normally I stay steady at around 70-72 degrees. Is this slightly warmer than optimal temp causing this? I have gotten this aroma in everything from pale ales to wits. It's not so unpleasant that it's undrinkable but in some beers (especially ones that use wheat beer yeasts) it's definitely noticeable. It has happened on my last 3 batches and I just can't narrow it down.
Bubble gum aroma.
- Thread starter Hopmunky
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android
Well-Known Member
are we talking 70-72 ambient temp? if so, you may be fermenting at 75-80 deg, which will definitely lend some estery flavors/smells. bubble gum/banana are the usual suspects. and any yeast will produce them, particularly the hefe strains.
get a trash can, fill it with water and put a box fan on top of it (can't remember the thread off the top of my head but someone on here developed this method)... there are also a bunch of other ways to cool if you search around the archives.
get a trash can, fill it with water and put a box fan on top of it (can't remember the thread off the top of my head but someone on here developed this method)... there are also a bunch of other ways to cool if you search around the archives.
alpo
Well-Known Member
Yeah, fermentation is probably too hot.
How much do you love and respect the beer? If you really loved it and wanted to show it proper respect you would take the extra measures to make sure the yeasts are nice and kozy. Or you could stick to weizens and saisons.
I don't have anything in the primary right now because I'm putting together my fermicontainer since my house has been getting too warm. Couple of pieces of thin plywood, some liquid nails, some foam insulation and a few hinges and I'm squared away.
I don't have anything in the primary right now because I'm putting together my fermicontainer since my house has been getting too warm. Couple of pieces of thin plywood, some liquid nails, some foam insulation and a few hinges and I'm squared away.
If you want to get rid of the bubble gum smells, you'll have to get serious about temperature control.
Temp control doesn't have to be complicated...
If you do a search for temp contol or swamp coolers you will see some off the ingenious ways we've come up with...mine's not too ingenuis, it's just a rubbermade bin that can hold 2 5 gallon buckets, or any other combination...plus t-shirts to work as water wicks.
It can work in several combinations of fermenters.
I figured out with the 3 gallon square sided betterbottles I could get between 6 and 8 of those bad boys in there.
I've gotten down to about 57 in the heat of summer with that setup.
But don't count that beer out, even if it doesn't taste good after 3 weeks in the bottle, read what happened to my last year's "Spring heatwave" beer.
I know All about bubblegum.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/
Not to mention the followup to it in the thread...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/862209-post48.html
If you do a search for temp contol or swamp coolers you will see some off the ingenious ways we've come up with...mine's not too ingenuis, it's just a rubbermade bin that can hold 2 5 gallon buckets, or any other combination...plus t-shirts to work as water wicks.
It can work in several combinations of fermenters.
I figured out with the 3 gallon square sided betterbottles I could get between 6 and 8 of those bad boys in there.
I've gotten down to about 57 in the heat of summer with that setup.
But don't count that beer out, even if it doesn't taste good after 3 weeks in the bottle, read what happened to my last year's "Spring heatwave" beer.
I know All about bubblegum.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/
Not to mention the followup to it in the thread...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/862209-post48.html
Wow, you've got to be some kind of lazy for a tub, water and ice to be too much trouble.
Seriously, it takes 10 minutes and will do wonders for your beer. Take it from the king of 'good enough,' who eventually decided that decent temps surely weren't 'good enough.'
scinerd3000
Well-Known Member
Honestly its the best thing ever. I just set it up and leave it and even without ice it will still be cooler than ambient temperature when a fans on it.
Oh, I missed the part about being to lazy for a simple swamp cooler....
I mean, what do you want from us? To brew for you?
The only thing easier than that to keep the bubblegum at bay, would be to buy your beer instead of brewing it.
I mean, what do you want from us? To brew for you?
The only thing easier than that to keep the bubblegum at bay, would be to buy your beer instead of brewing it.
ifishsum
Well-Known Member
You don't necessarily have to replace them as they melt, just often enough to keep that temp down to 66-68. If it's hot, I replace the ice bottles in the morning, the afternoon when I get home from work, and sometimes again right before I go to bed. Often I don't even have to use ice - the extra volume of liquid around the fermenter (instead of air) goes a long way by itself to keep things under control.
Add the wet T-shirt over the bucket or carboy and it should be good for another couple of degrees. If you're keeping them at 70 now, a simple bath and t-shirt may get you low enough without using ice.
Add the wet T-shirt over the bucket or carboy and it should be good for another couple of degrees. If you're keeping them at 70 now, a simple bath and t-shirt may get you low enough without using ice.
You have two options:
1) control your temp.
2) use a yeast that's more forgiving.
There no good reason to spend more on a specialty yeast, if your temperature is out of control. Your beer will be much better using a boring yeast, then a specialty yeast with temperatures out of control. You may even want to try to do both options. Use a generic yeast on the next few batches, but try to control your temp any way. This way you can test your temp controls, without having to worry about making bubble gum beers.
One more thing with temperature. Pitch on the cooler side of the temperature range. I've found it's much harder to bring the temperature down once the yeast get going as they tend to generate heat during fermentation.
1) control your temp.
2) use a yeast that's more forgiving.
There no good reason to spend more on a specialty yeast, if your temperature is out of control. Your beer will be much better using a boring yeast, then a specialty yeast with temperatures out of control. You may even want to try to do both options. Use a generic yeast on the next few batches, but try to control your temp any way. This way you can test your temp controls, without having to worry about making bubble gum beers.
One more thing with temperature. Pitch on the cooler side of the temperature range. I've found it's much harder to bring the temperature down once the yeast get going as they tend to generate heat during fermentation.
I have a beer that has as my wife put it a bubble gum after taste. the beer is a brewers best steam beer. the kit came with Nottingham but I used brewferm lager yeast on the suggestion of LHBS. I fermented at 63-65 ambient temp. I have another beer that I did use Nottingham and at a higher temp that does not have this taste. my question is, am I getting this taste because of the lager yeast? Also should a steam beer have this flavor?
Yes it's probably the yeast. Your fermentation temperature should be lower for a lager. If you were using an ale yeast it would probably be ok. Nottingham is an ale yeast, so it taste good at that temperature. You have to match the temperature to the yeast your using (follow instruction on yeast packet). If you can't can't keep the temperature in that range because your house is too hot, use a different yeast. Your better using an ale yeast on a "lager", if your fermenting at ale temperature, then fermenting a lager yeast at an ale temperature. (It's not a true lager if you ferment at ale temperatures anyway)
I'll be on your side a bit here. 70* is not to hot for most ales yeasts. What yeast(s) have you been using? Try a more forgiving yeast. US-05, wlp001 or wyeast 1056 come to mind (they're all the same strain).
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