friggen banana esters

[cheschire]

I started my last fermentation too high around 82 for the first night by accident and now my beer tastes like I was trying to make a banana beer. Its quite revolting. Do those banana flavours slowly dicipate? or will I just have to find someone who likes banana beer?

 

[ifishsum]

They may become less intense but probably won't go away. My Bavarian Hefeweizen still has them after 3 months. Of course banana esters are intentional in that style, so I'm happy

Give it a chance though - the flavor might fade a bit, and it also just might grow on you. Sometimes we purposely try for those flavors. Tell your friends it was made that way intentionally and explain to them about the temperatures and yeast esters. They may be impressed and drink it all up for you.

What style of beer did you make?

 

[cheschire]

Im not too sure about a style but it was a chocolate ale.
1/2 # coco
1/2#caramel and 1/2# chocolate malt
then 8# of LME
and some malto-dexterin and lactose
1oz cascade @ 5%
1oz goldings @ 5.5%
and nottingham yeast

 

[KillerKellers]

Oh, banana and chocolate? That sounds tasty to me!

 

[Grinder12000]

Oh, banana and chocolate? That sounds tasty to me!

Yea - it really does but . . . . .perhaps not in a beer!

 

[MeatyPortion]

I've had that happen too. You're stuck with it pretty much.

 

[Trencher]

Actually I had the same problem with a Scottish 80/- and eventually the banana flavor pretty much disappeared. I think it took many months of aging at room temp but eventually it was a pretty good beer.
I don't remember the specific timeframes, this was one of my early beers and it prompted me to build a fermentation cooler. No banana beers since!

 

[ODP]

What are the chanced of that happening with the UFO hefeweizen clone I'm about to make?

 

[schweaty]

What are the chanced of that happening with the UFO hefeweizen clone I'm about to make?

Depends on the temperature you ferment at, its all in your hands! But beware, with high temps you may also get fusel alcohols. Unless you're going for bananna, raspberry beer with a hot alcohol burn I'd becareful.

 

[cheschire]

how about fusel alcohol? How long does it take for that to dissipate? Theres definately some of those in with the banana. Though Ive already come to the conclusion that Im going to need to store this batch for a while.

 

[carbon111]

Temperature is a big part of that banana ester flavor but I've found underpitching or using too much sugar (brown sugar, lyle's golden syrup) in a recipe can be "bananariffic" as well. Some British strains are more prone to this.

I made an IPA that was fermented with Danstar Nottingham at a reasonable temperature that only a monkey would love.

 

[DansBrew]

$hit... That banana smell coming from the airlock in my Saison isn't a good thing?? I'm brewing my first batch of beer ever. It smells like Banana Nut bread almost... lol

 

[hopvine]

I made an IPA that was fermented with Danstar Nottingham at a reasonable temperature that only a monkey would love.

I've got a standard Pale Ale going right now with Danstar, also fermented at (what I believed to be) a reasonable temperature, and it tastes like a hefe.

No more Nottingham for me!

 

[Yooper]

It's hard to tell from the odors during fermentation what the outcome will be. Fermenting beer can often smell weird- so that's not a reliable indicator of the final product.

 

[ACo]

you gotta embrace the banana esters, i dunno....I was upset at first when I realized how banana-y my 1sy heffe was, but it grew on me....

 

[carbon111]

I've got a standard Pale Ale going right now with Danstar, also fermented at (what I believed to be) a reasonable temperature, and it tastes like a hefe.

No more Nottingham for me!

I've made some nice "banana-free" beers with Nottingham, it's a great yeast.

I think the problem in the batch in question was I had too much sugar (lyles golden syrup, brown sugar) in the wort...and I underpitched for the gravity.

Stressed Notty = Banana Boat.