OK so ive done four ag's now and i need some help. It seems that regardless of the recipe i get beer that tastes a lot like the other ones. With all of them having a overly yeasty taste. Ive changed yeasts with no change what gives?
Help!!!!!
- Thread starter tdavisii
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Are you racking to a secondary?
Are you kegging or bottling? If bottling are you stirring up the yeast from the bottle when you pour and letting a bunch of them get in your glass?
Are you letting it age for several weeks?
What type of beers have you been making?
more details please...
Are you kegging or bottling? If bottling are you stirring up the yeast from the bottle when you pour and letting a bunch of them get in your glass?
Are you letting it age for several weeks?
What type of beers have you been making?
more details please...
Those are my questions, too! And just one more, by "yeasty" do you mean a bready-yeasty taste?
Could you post some details about your process, so we can see if something sticks out. Thanks!
Could you post some details about your process, so we can see if something sticks out. Thanks!
OP
OP
tdavisii
Well-Known Member
it tastes yeasty not like bread necassarily but just yeast. I bottle not keg and usually let sit in the secondary for a week or so. i usually pop one open after a week and then taste after several weeks (month) to see if there is a change, which there has been none. maybe a little change in the taste but none in the yeast department. You all think a conical fermentor would help? Just drain that yeast off the bottom. Maybe kegging and filtering?
If you primary for at least one week and secondary for 1 or 2 weeks and your beer is fairly clear then you really shouldn't be tasting yeast, now yeast are responsible for a large portion of the flavors in beers but not yeasty flavors.
Could it be more of a grainy flavor? Ag beers tend to be grainy tasting when young, give them a few weeks in the bottle and it should be better. Fermenting at temps higher than 70º F can cause many yeasty off flavors.
Could it be more of a grainy flavor? Ag beers tend to be grainy tasting when young, give them a few weeks in the bottle and it should be better. Fermenting at temps higher than 70º F can cause many yeasty off flavors.
Well, one thing that comes to mind is stressed yeast. You said you changed yeasts- what did you start with and then end up with? Also, do you use a starter? Dry or liquid?
From John Palmer's howtobrew.com book on off-flavors:
Yeasty
The cause of this flavor is pretty easy to understand. If the yeast is unhealthy and begins autolyzing it will release compounds that can only be described as yeasty. Also if the beer is green, too young, and the yeast has not had time to settle out, it will have a yeasty taste. Watch your pouring method too, keep the yeast layer on the bottom of the bottle.
You need yeast to carbonate your beer- so it's a good thing. But it shouldn't have a yeasty taste, as you know. I'd keep in secondary at least two weeks before bottling and then rack off all the trub very carefully into the bottling bucket and then let it sit in a warm place without disturbing it so the yeast can compact to the bottom. I like Nottingham yeast for several reasons- one is no starter is required and it tends to flocculate out pretty well and you can rack off of it. And in the bottle it stays pretty compact on the bottom so you can pour your beer off of it easily. I'd keep the primary temperature around 68 degrees, too, if you can. I'm thinking that a conical fermentor and/or kegging is not going to help if you can't pin down exactly what's wrong. Filtering and force carbing would get rid of the yeast flavor, but also strip the flavor out of the beer, too.
I'm not sure what else to suggest- I"m sure some one else will have some great ideas for you.
From John Palmer's howtobrew.com book on off-flavors:
Yeasty
The cause of this flavor is pretty easy to understand. If the yeast is unhealthy and begins autolyzing it will release compounds that can only be described as yeasty. Also if the beer is green, too young, and the yeast has not had time to settle out, it will have a yeasty taste. Watch your pouring method too, keep the yeast layer on the bottom of the bottle.
You need yeast to carbonate your beer- so it's a good thing. But it shouldn't have a yeasty taste, as you know. I'd keep in secondary at least two weeks before bottling and then rack off all the trub very carefully into the bottling bucket and then let it sit in a warm place without disturbing it so the yeast can compact to the bottom. I like Nottingham yeast for several reasons- one is no starter is required and it tends to flocculate out pretty well and you can rack off of it. And in the bottle it stays pretty compact on the bottom so you can pour your beer off of it easily. I'd keep the primary temperature around 68 degrees, too, if you can. I'm thinking that a conical fermentor and/or kegging is not going to help if you can't pin down exactly what's wrong. Filtering and force carbing would get rid of the yeast flavor, but also strip the flavor out of the beer, too.
I'm not sure what else to suggest- I"m sure some one else will have some great ideas for you.
Zymurgrafi
Well-Known Member
I have been having a similar tasting issue. Probably not exactly the same issues you are having (yet to be determined). The main problem I have decided was the particular brand of yeast. Not one most folks on here would have ever heard of it is a small regional outfit (northern New england). Part of it was fermenting conditions.
I had a few yeasty tasting batches where every one of them ended up tasting "the same" or at least the yeasty flavor masked anything else. One at least one of them I had definate temperature fluctuation problems. Way too cold, then way too hot. Plus they were liquid cultures and I did not know about making a starter.
I corrected my temperature problem on the last problem batch and made a starter. It still had that yeasty taste which is what lead me to believe the particular brand of yeast was partly to blame. I left that batch in secondary about 2 months (2 week primary) and I just bottled it. I think it is going to actually be alright.
So, the "problem" with the yeast I was using is that it is extremely low flocculating, regardless of the strain it would seem (i.e. ale yeasts that should be medium to high) . So, it just needed ALOT of time to sediment.
I don't know what your temperature conditions are like. Speaking from my own experience I will recommend examining your temperature controls, making starters if you do not, and waiting. If it still tastes yeasty when you think you should bottle, don't. Set it somewhere cool (like a fridge) for a few more weeks.
I had a few yeasty tasting batches where every one of them ended up tasting "the same" or at least the yeasty flavor masked anything else. One at least one of them I had definate temperature fluctuation problems. Way too cold, then way too hot. Plus they were liquid cultures and I did not know about making a starter.
I corrected my temperature problem on the last problem batch and made a starter. It still had that yeasty taste which is what lead me to believe the particular brand of yeast was partly to blame. I left that batch in secondary about 2 months (2 week primary) and I just bottled it. I think it is going to actually be alright.
So, the "problem" with the yeast I was using is that it is extremely low flocculating, regardless of the strain it would seem (i.e. ale yeasts that should be medium to high) . So, it just needed ALOT of time to sediment.
I don't know what your temperature conditions are like. Speaking from my own experience I will recommend examining your temperature controls, making starters if you do not, and waiting. If it still tastes yeasty when you think you should bottle, don't. Set it somewhere cool (like a fridge) for a few more weeks.
delboy
Well-Known Member
stick the fermentor in a fridge for a couple of days you'll be amazed how much yeast falls out at the low temp, works for me :rockin: .
Evan!
Well-Known Member
I've had similar experiences. My very first AG batch is SUPER yeasty. Still. It was fermented with a belgian abbey strain, which imparts a yeasty character anyway...but still, you should see how much sediment it throws when I pour. My second batch was better---but it was a pils, so it lagered for 2.5 months, allowing any yeast/sediment to fall out. The third was pretty harsh, but is mellowing out. Essentially, like Gambrinus, what I guess what I'm finding is that they need much more conditioning time.
