Sweet Smellin' Brew

[voodoochild7]

I have two beers one Gingerbread Stout and the other a Plain Old Ale. Neither are hopped very heavily they have a slightly sweet smell to them. Not bad at all actually very pleasant. I say it's kind of banana like my friends who are not homebrewers say I'm nuts it just smells like the malt I use. But I swear it's banana like. These are the only 2 beers that have the smell. I used 2 different yeast strains so I don't think it's banana esters from the yeast. Is it possibly the low hop content? I mean they taste awesome and the smell is good. I'm just trying to track down the cause any suggestions.

 

[Walker]

I used 2 different yeast strains so I don't think it's banana esters from the yeast.

what temp were these fermented at? I had bananas show up in two batches recently that used totally different yeasts. My issue was that I fermented too warm (between 75F and 78F).

-walker

 

[drengel]

what kind of yeast was it? ans was it re-used? It's definitely esters youre smelling. many yeasts produce banana like esters. and in my experience, the more cycles the yeast goess through the stronger thay get. i had an english ale yeast that i re-used about 7 times, and the last 3 batches all had overwhelming banana esters, hopefully theyll mellow with time.

 

[voodoochild7]

they were both white labs liquid yeasts new tubes for each and fermented between 68-70. My buddies think I'm nuts and neither of them smell banana but I swear it's in there. They say it just smells like malt to them.

 

[AllHoppedUp]

There's another thread on this forum about banana flavors that I responded to. A lot of people who responded blamed it on high fermentation temps but I have a batch of Hefeweizen with banana flavors that fermented at 63-64 degrees, so I don't think that temperature is the ONLY culprit.

I read somewher (sorry, don't remember where) that there are certain varieties of yeast that are known and expected to impart banana-like esthers. Maybe you could ask your supplier (or someone with more expertise than me) if the types of yeast you used fell into this category. It's possible that your yeast was actually supposed to produce the results that you got.

AHU

 

[homebrewer_99]

It's possible that your yeast was actually supposed to produce the results that you got.
AHU

All good comments...especially this last one.
You need to read the typical results of the yeast you choose. If it produces a flavor you don't want then find another yeast that does.

 

[Janx]

Which style of White Labs liquid yeast?

If you want to try for the cleanest beer you can possibly make to use as a baseline, use some of the White Labs California Ale. It's what the vast majority of American microbrews use, and it's as clean as it gets.

Cheers!

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

go to www.whitelabs.com and get all the profiles for each strain.

 

[voodoochild7]

I used the california ale for the pale ale and Irish ale for the stout.