How on earth did I get this? It's root beer flavor.....

[ProblemChild]

Hi all,

Recently brewed a Saison - 5.75 gallon batch, 6.4% ABV

80% Pils, 17% red wheat, 3% flaked oat

Saisonstein's monster yeast

Went with American hops - .5 oz Strata@ 60, 1.0 oz Chinook at 2

Somehow, I came up with a root beer flavor. It is not unpleasant, but it is just so strange.

Anyone have a clue how this flavor comes about?

 

[Vale71]

Phenols from fermentation, i.e. it's the yeast's fault.

 

[ProblemChild]

Phenols from fermentation, i.e. it's the yeast's fault.

OUCH.

That one is quite new to me. Not even sure how to go about avoiding that except to change yeast. I am sure that this one will not fade - something tells me I am stuck with that for this batch

 

[Jayjay1976]

Did you bottle it?

 

[ProblemChild]

Did you bottle it?

Yup

 

[Jayjay1976]

Yup

Then most likely it won't age out but it may fade or transform into a more pleasant flavor with time. When this sort of thing happens to me, I age some of the bottles at room temp, some in the fridge at serving temp, and the rest go in a box under the stairs or in a closet to forget about for a year.

 

[ProblemChild]

It was so strange. At first, it came out as a different but not unpleasant flavor. It was passed around the brew club and someone said "root beer" . They were right of course. Now all I can taste is root beer

 

[Vale71]

It happened to me with a Dubbel. Used a different White Labs yeast and the result was cloyingly medicinal tasting, like cough syrup.
It did mellow out with aging but in the end it was still unpleasant and I ended up dumping most of the batch.

 

[Jayjay1976]

It was so strange. At first, it came out as a different but not unpleasant flavor. It was passed around the brew club and someone said "root beer" . They were right of course. Now all I can taste is root beer

I used to really like Two Brother's Domaine Du Page, that is until I was sipping one with my wife on a Saturday afternoon and she suddenly exclaimed "black tea!", she was right of course and I can't drink it ever since. I *hate* black tea.

 

[BrewMan13]

I got bubblegum on it too, but that's not that unusual I guess reading the yeast description. But yeah, once someone said root beer, it was hard to get around that flavor. I did enjoy it regardless.

 

[ProblemChild]

I got bubblegum on it too, but that's not that unusual I guess reading the yeast description. But yeah, once someone said root beer, it was hard to get around that flavor. I did enjoy it regardless.

Thanks - appreciate the support. It was not a bad beer, but (childish stomping of feet and clenched fists) should not taste like root beer....