off flavors from fermentation lag

[smarek82]

My first lager attempt was frustrating and had trouble with getting the fermentation rolling. I should have made a starter, but you live and learn. It took nearly 2 weeks until there was action in the airlock. Within those 2 weeks I was even checking Specific Gravity without any luck.

I brewed this beer on 12/22/09, racked to secondary for lagering on 1/26/10, and kegged 2/19/10. It has been on air and is carb'd nicely. After taking a taste at what I would consider final product, the beer is cloudy as hell, and it just does not taste very well. I did a 36 hr diacetyl rest, boiled for 90min, sanitized everything properly, cooled down quickly, etc. The only problem was the slow start to fermentation.

Sorry for being so long and drawn out, but has anyone noticed off flavors with this situation. If so what type of flavors, just so I can pinpoint what I did wrong.

Thanks,

SM

 

[Newbeerguy]

I can see a few things that would effect the beer.

1. It is almost a must that you make a starter for a lager. If you don't, not only will the lag time be extremely long (as you found out) but it also stresses the yeast out causing some off flavors.

2. I see you left it in the primary for a month, and that good. You didn't however lager for very long. A good guide to go by is lager a week for every 10 points of O.G. Example, a 1.040 beer, you'd lager for 4 weeks, 1.060 for six...ect.

3. You stated you boiled for 90 mins. I am assuming this is because you used Pilsen malt. If this is a light lager, any off flavors are very hard to hide.

Just remember this for next time.

 

[joety]

No matter how well you sanitize, you are asking a lot of your processes to not have some other hungry bugger take hold in the two weeks it took your yeast to get rockin. For all we know, it was some squatter yeast that fermented out your wort.

 

[rayg]

You didn't say what temps you used or what type
of beer (light, dark), or exactly what the off
flavor is. A million things can cause off flavors,
but a long lag time is always undesirable because
without alcohol in the wort, it's a perfect
medium for bacterial and wild yeast growth.
They can start dumping their crap in your
beer before the yeast finally takes over.
And since there are a million kinds of wild
yeast and bacteria, there are a lots of possible
off flavors.... Dark beers hide off flavors much
better than light beers.

Ray

 

[dshaggy]

I brewed my first batch about a week ago, it's a Brewers Best German Oktoberfest. I followed all the wort directions very closely, but fermentation didn't start right away. After checking the temp (45 degrees) I moved it into a more balmy 62 and the yeast fired up within a few hours. Obviously I'm still learning, but what was the temp you stored it at for ferment?

Also, (question for the rest of the forum, what is a starter?)

 

[Newbeerguy]

I brewed my first batch about a week ago, it's a Brewers Best German Oktoberfest. I followed all the wort directions very closely, but fermentation didn't start right away. After checking the temp (45 degrees) I moved it into a more balmy 62 and the yeast fired up within a few hours. Obviously I'm still learning, but what was the temp you stored it at for ferment?

Also, (question for the rest of the forum, what is a starter?)

Yeah, 45 degrees is a tad cool. I like to ferment my lagers at 52. Depending on the yeast strain you used, 62 maybe a little too warm. What straight of yeast was it?
A yeast starter is a way of increasing the cell count of a liquid yeast vile or smack pack before you pitch it into your wort. What you do is basically make a mini batch of beer and pitch your yeast into that. Wait a few days until it starts fermenting and the pitch that starter beer into your main beer. There are many different ways to make a starter so I suggest you do a search for more info on that matter.

 

[smarek82]

The good thing is that the beer is still drinkable so I would think that rules out bacteria or some type of wild yeast.

I think by lagering it in the keg for a couple more weeks hopefully will help. The OG is 1.059 (had too vigorous of a boil) FG: 1.014.

It is a vienna lager. I used 62.5% vienna, 30% pilsner malt, 5% crystal 20, and 2.5% melanoiden malt. Hops were Perle at 60min and Hersbrucker at 15 for an IBU of 30. Fermented with wyeast bavarian lager at 50degF.

Could the melanoiden malt lend to some different flavors I don't normally encounter? I never used it before.

Thanks for the replies.

SM

 

[Newbeerguy]

Yeah I think you would know if the beer is infected or not. Chances are the flavors just need a little more time to blend and mellow. Keep in cold and wait a few weeks. Next time make sure you make a big ol' starter for it. I usually make a 3000ml starter for my lagers. Once I decant it, it gives me around 1 cup of yeast slurry. I pitch it at 50 degrees. I never have had a lag problem, they just take right off. As for the melanoiden malt, I never used it either so maybe someone who has will chime in.