nrjones89
Well-Known Member
What am I doing wrong, guys? I did a Hefeweizen last winter because I kept bitching about how I can't find Paulaner... be careful what you wish for... I've been cursed by the dirty banana! Ever since, all my beers have been overpowered by banana esters with the exception of a blonde ale fermented with nottingham. I have been doing saisons and Belgian ales. The first saison was brewed with 3724, and fermented at around 75F. It was kegged, and at higher carb levels, the flavor was a little more champagne/orange-like.
The saison was overpowered by a banana flavor - it was reduced at higher carbonation levels. The blonde and dark ale, which used the same base wort, were not. I used Nottingham for them. The Belgian pale ale was fermented with 1214; I was going for a more sessionable abbey-inspired ale, and I wanted some yeast character, anything but banana. I was kind of hoping for something like chimay, so I fermented it in a freezer at 60F, and the fermentation temperature was around 65F. I ramped up to 72 toward the end of the fermentation. Should have been more nutty, right? Nope. Straight up liquid banana bread. It's not just me, saying that, either. To my palate, as far as I recall, it doesn't taste like the same banana flavor as I had in the weizen or the saison; I'm guessing that has more to do with the grainbill and balance.
Both the saison and Belgian were fermented in the same vessel - a PET carboy that was cleaned with PBW. The beer line did at first add a slight off flavor if beer sat in the line for longer than 30 minutes. That has dissipated. I didn't clean my keg super thorough, but my blonde ale was the last beer I brewed and so it couldn't have been that. Clearly something is going on with the fermentation and it must not be temps. I don't really take any measures to aerate wort before pitching and I usually do not make a starter with the liquid cultures. I'm thinking that probably has something to do with it.
The saison was overpowered by a banana flavor - it was reduced at higher carbonation levels. The blonde and dark ale, which used the same base wort, were not. I used Nottingham for them. The Belgian pale ale was fermented with 1214; I was going for a more sessionable abbey-inspired ale, and I wanted some yeast character, anything but banana. I was kind of hoping for something like chimay, so I fermented it in a freezer at 60F, and the fermentation temperature was around 65F. I ramped up to 72 toward the end of the fermentation. Should have been more nutty, right? Nope. Straight up liquid banana bread. It's not just me, saying that, either. To my palate, as far as I recall, it doesn't taste like the same banana flavor as I had in the weizen or the saison; I'm guessing that has more to do with the grainbill and balance.
Both the saison and Belgian were fermented in the same vessel - a PET carboy that was cleaned with PBW. The beer line did at first add a slight off flavor if beer sat in the line for longer than 30 minutes. That has dissipated. I didn't clean my keg super thorough, but my blonde ale was the last beer I brewed and so it couldn't have been that. Clearly something is going on with the fermentation and it must not be temps. I don't really take any measures to aerate wort before pitching and I usually do not make a starter with the liquid cultures. I'm thinking that probably has something to do with it.
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