Sampled first beer finally - Have questions

[bru-ster76]

So I finally sampled my beer after 3 weeks fermenting, 1 week cold crashing and 3.5 weeks bottle conditioning. It is a nut brown and tastes pretty good for my first try, but I have a couple of questions.

1. It tastes like a nut brown, but also has a slight hefeweizen flavouring to it. what would cause this? It's slightly on the sweeter side which could contribute to that?

2. The head on the pour was minimal and large bubbles like a "soapy lather." What causes this? Is it because it's not fully carbonated yet? the carbonation is fairly mild. I tried for a 2.4 CO2 volume.

 

[twistr25]

Banana esters are from high fermenting temps. Did it have a stable FG before you bottled?

What type sugar did you use and how much? How long did you refrigerate it before drinking?

 

[bru-ster76]

Banana esters are from high fermenting temps. Did it have a stable FG before you bottled?

What type sugar did you use and how much? How long did you refrigerate it before drinking?

I fermented it in the mid 60's, and it was left in primary for 4 weeks. I didn't bother taking more than one FG reading, as I figured after a month, it was more than done. The FG was where it was supposed to be.

I refrigerated it for about 5 hours, but it's in a 1L bottle and after 24hrs, it's still "hefeweizen-ey."

 

[glick]

Can you post your recipe and process?

 

[mrphillips]

All I can think of that would cause a hefewiezeny taste is an excess of flaked wheat or wheat extract. What was your malt/extract/grain selection? Was it a kit?

As far as the "soapy lather," this might sound like a silly question, so please don't be offended...but did you add priming sugar to your batch before you bottled? The looks of it sounds exactly like an uncarbonated beer fresh from the secondary.

Your fermentation temperature looks right (much lower than most of mine), and if your beer was infected, you would be able to tell with little effort. This is a curious situation...

 

[bru-ster76]

It was an extract kit from OBK. Light Dry Malt Extract, Chocolate & Victory Specialty Grains, Hallertauer Hops and Safale US05 Ale Yeast.

I added table sugar to my bottling bucket, racked on top of it, stirred it gently, and began bottling.

It's carbonated but not significantly. Beer wasn't infected. I used a ferm chamber to keep temp stable.

 

[glick]

did you boil the table sugar first to dissolve it? Also, can you be more specific as to what you mean by hefeweizen flavors?

 

[twistr25]

What temperature did you pitch at?

Typically you need at least 48 hours, if not more, in the fridge to make sure the CO2 gets fully dissolved back into the liquid, so that could be part of it too.

 

[bru-ster76]

did you boil the table sugar first to dissolve it? Also, can you be more specific as to what you mean by hefeweizen flavors?

yes, boiled the sugar first.

I'm not sure how to describe the hefewiezen flavours. I'm a newbie at being a beer connoisseur and describing its flavours etc. I just notice a specific taste that I have found in every wheat beer/hefewiezen I've tried. It's a pleasant, sweet taste that is almost "bubblegum" like, to me.

 

[bru-ster76]

What temperature did you pitch at?

Typically you need at least 48 hours, if not more, in the fridge to make sure the CO2 gets fully dissolved back into the liquid, so that could be part of it too.

I pitched at 70F, if I remember correctly.

Perhaps the fridge thing is responsible. I'll load another into the fridge tonight and leave it for 48hrs and see what becomes of it.

The downside I noticed about 1L bottles is you have to consume it all after opening as the oxidation definitely becomes noticeable on the next day.

 

[glick]

If you pitched at 70F how did you go about lowering the temp to mid 60's prior to ferment? The only thing that I can think of that will cause fruit flavors is fermenting too warm. Remember that actively fermenting wort is much warmer then the ambient air.

 

[mrphillips]

I'm stumped. It appears as though we've discussed and dispelled all possible variables. Everything sounds right...but there's still a rub in the mix somewhere.

The ONLY other thing I can think of is that the extract malt itself was not up to par. It's not a situation that I've run into before, but from responses to a recent thread I posted about all grain vs. partial mash vs. extract, a good reason to go all grain is because you have complete control over the process, whereas with extract brewing, you can't be 100% sure of the quality. I think it's a 1 in a 1000 chance that this is the culprit, but I also think that there's not many other reasons for it.

Curiouser and curiouser...

 

[PRE66_6TART]

I'm no expert but I always leave em in the fridge for several days minimum before I start drinking em. Plenty of time for the yeast to settle, plus it supposedly helps the co2 dissolve in the beer or something. When I give bottles away I tell them to wait a week if they can. I don't know if it will solve all your problems but it can't hurt.

 

[45thparallelhopper]

I'm pretty sure I read about a "bubblegum" off flavor associated with a yeast issue in an issue of Zymugry. Was the yeast stored in a cold environment until it was used? What type of yeast did you use? Was it possibly old/ bad date?

 

[bru-ster76]

If you pitched at 70F how did you go about lowering the temp to mid 60's prior to ferment? The only thing that I can think of that will cause fruit flavors is fermenting too warm. Remember that actively fermenting wort is much warmer then the ambient air.

I had the temp probe strapped to the fermenting vessel. It would have been using primarily the ferm temp with a little ambient air, but it was pretty well insulated from ambient air.

After I pitched, it was stuck in the ferm chamber immediately and set to drop it to 67F, then I dropped to 65F the following day, if I recall correctly.

I'm stumped. It appears as though we've discussed and dispelled all possible variables. Everything sounds right...but there's still a rub in the mix somewhere.

Ya, everything seems right to me too. I was pretty careful, but it was my first batch. It's quite drinkable, but not quite as expected. I'm actually happy with it for my first try, but want to be able to improve on it and not make the same mistake twice if/when possible.

I'm no expert but I always leave em in the fridge for several days minimum before I start drinking em. Plenty of time for the yeast to settle, plus it supposedly helps the co2 dissolve in the beer or something. When I give bottles away I tell them to wait a week if they can. I don't know if it will solve all your problems but it can't hurt.

I didn't have any noticeable sediment, which does strike me as odd. Perhaps this is part of the problem. Maybe it requires longer to condition and carbonate up, maybe i didn't add enough sugar, although I swear I did. I'll let the next bottle sit in fridge for a few days before opening.

I'm pretty sure I read about a "bubblegum" off flavor associated with a yeast issue in an issue of Zymugry. Was the yeast stored in a cold environment until it was used? What type of yeast did you use? Was it possibly old/ bad date?

If i recall, there was a date of 2017 on the yeast. the kit was bought from a reputable canadian dealer, so I suspect it was all fine, but who knows.

Thanks for your responses, folks.

 

[Pie_Man]

If you ferment US-05 too high, it can cause bubblegum flavors. In the future, I recommend pitching the yeast at a cooler temperature. Poor yeast health, old yeast, or underpitching, may also lead to off flavors.

As far the carbonation, it's possible you didn't use enough priming sugar, or perhaps it wasn't mixed in well enough. Leave the beer at room temperature a little longer and keep it in the fridge for a few days before drinking. Your bottling process will improve as you gain experience.

 

[meteorbrews]

I've had the large bubbles occur for me as well and while I haven't been able to specifically attribute it to one thing or ther other, I have had a few ideas on what the culprit could be. For example, how were the bottles stored while allowing them to carbonate, were they stored in a bright room that is warm? Also how did you clean/sanitized the bottles(I've tries reusing bottles that have had mold in them, not always a great idea). Another potential issue could be uneven carbonation, due to inadequate mixing of the sugar and beer. Just some ideas, but it hard to say really.

As per most other people have said, the off taste is likely due to some sort of yeast issue.