Mmm smells like banana!

[Beer is good]

Hello, my fermentation has been kept at 60-70 degrees but I smell bananas... I thought that happened if fermentation was too fast :-o

is something wrong?

 

[Orpheus]

What kind of beer are you brewing and what type of yeast did you use. Banana scents are common and desirable with wheat beers and hefeweizen yeasts.

 

[Beer is good]

I am brewing a dopplebock with white labs german ale yeast hehe

 

[Turricaine]

It's ok, that's just life.

 

[TheJadedDog]

My first brew smelled really strongly of banana but ended up tasting fine after some bottle conditioning. Wait and see how it is before you start to worry.

 

[Orpheus]

I'm not familiar with that specific yeast, but Hefs are German ales, so I'd assume they're closely related and therefore a banana scent would be perfectly normal.



My brew smells like bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
My brew smells like bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S

 

[Beer is good]

haha I love that banana picture

I wont worry! I must...

Relax, not worry, and most importantly... have a homebrew!

 

[Nate]

If you like the banana, drink it young... it fades fairly quickly.

 

[Spyk'd]

The banana flavor will die off in a couple of weeks of cold conditioning.



On a side note, I love banana esters!

(<--first time I get to use it!)

 

[Reverend JC]

My first hefe i took to a tailgate (for the cornhuskers 56-0 victory this weekend)and i will be damned if after 3 weeks conditioning it still tasted and smelled of bananas. I think it will be ok in about another 3 weeks, im not worried about that, what i am worried about is the guy that my sister is dating absolutely loved it.

Now this brings me to 2 conclusions.


1. he is lying and trying way to hard for my brew partner and I (my brother) to like him. In which case he is being fake and I like most playmate ceterfolds hate fake people, but we love a sense of humor hehehehehehehehe *giggles*


OR

2. he really does like fruity beer, and not the lambic kind. Is he a real man? someone i want my sister to get serious with?


Who would have ever guessed beer would help me weed out possible suiters for my sister.

Beer, is there anything it can't do?


Reverend

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

My first hefe i took to a tailgate (for the cornhuskers 56-0 victory this weekend)and i will be damned if after 3 weeks conditioning it still tasted and smelled of bananas.

Uhhh, Heffeweizens are supposed to taste like bananas. You might be waiting a long time...

 

[Reverend JC]

yeah i know, subtly, this was full on banana though. I am thinking that will simmer down a bit.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

Yeah, you're right it should. Until then, serve it with milk in a blender...

 

[rcd]

i made a honey wheat a while back that was super duper banana. god it still tastes horrible. but im letting it sit in the bottle for a couple of months since i've got nothing better to do with the bottles since i went to kegging. maybe it will turn out ok... but i doubt it. i hate banana!

 

[Beer is good]

ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring banana beer....

 

[Brew-boy]

I made a honey wheat and had the same Banana taste. Yuck by the time I was down to the last one the Banana had mellowed out. I should have waited 3-4 months before drinking them.

 

[graemhoek]

Yeah..., I got bananas in my toasted honey weiss... I'm worried i might have gotten some pseudomonas fluorescens in it too and the banana is covering it up... DRINK UP!

 

[rcd]

are honey wheats particularly susceptible to banana or something? i mean even moreso than non-honey?

in wheatbears in general, is it the wheat, or the yeast that's causing so much banana?

how to fix? lower temps? or just a longass waiting time??

 

[Reverend JC]

It is the yeast and you are more apt to find it in Hefeweizens. If you are not fond of the slightest hints of banana then more wheats are not for you.

 

[teu1003]

although i dont have it in front of me now, the book "designing great beers" addresses this issue well. obviously the banana is cause by esters being produced by high ferment temps. the author refers to ANOTHER book on wheat beers whose author says that ideally the sum of the pitch and ferment temps ought to be 30C ... this means like a pitch temp of 54F and ferment temp of 64F ... both pretty darn low. i made a wheat this summer (the result of which chased me to the book in the first place) and it was an ORCHARD (if there is such a thing) of banana. i hated it ... but several other people with more knowledge than me liked it, saying it was natural and desirable. after i got back from vacation in august, i decided to open one and the banana had dissipated a LOT. it was still there, but the spiciness i was looking for definitely took over. next spring, i'll try ice baths during the high krausen.

 

[runhard]

"the author refers to ANOTHER book on wheat beers whose author says that ideally the sum of the pitch and ferment temps ought to be 30C ... this means like a pitch temp of 54F and ferment temp of 64F ... both pretty darn low. "

I not familiar with what the author referenced in Designing Great Beers but can you explain your aforementioned quote a little further. 30°C is significantly higher than either 54°F or 64°F and a lot less than the sum. 30°C if 86°F so I'm a little confused. The sum of 54°F and 64° is about 48°C. Could you help me understand?

 

[teu1003]

"the author refers to ANOTHER book on wheat beers whose author says that ideally the sum of the pitch and ferment temps ought to be 30C ... this means like a pitch temp of 54F and ferment temp of 64F ... both pretty darn low. "

I not familiar with what the author referenced in Designing Great Beers but can you explain your aforementioned quote a little further. 30°C is significantly higher than either 54°F or 64°F and a lot less than the sum. 30°C if 86°F so I'm a little confused. The sum of 54°F and 64° is about 48°C. Could you help me understand?

take 30C ... split that in 2 ... say 13C and 17C ... 13 C is about 55F or so ...
17C is about 63F or so. 54F and 64F is pretty close too