Vigorous Fermentation or Infection?

[AirLock Sniffer]

Hey gang.

I have a question about Batch #4 currently in the fermenter. I'm a beginning extract brewer. Batches 1 thru 3 are in various stages of bottle conditioning and pretty tasty. I purchased several pounds of Briess and Muntons wheat DME to try and make some Hefeweizens. WB-06 dry yeast.

This time around I decided to harvest some of the yeast from the previous batch. I saved about 500ml of trub slurry into a sterilized pyrex and pitched about 3/4 of a cup of the creamy top layer the next day into a cleaned and sanitized carboy per usual.

Lag time seemed slightly longer, though it started fermentation within 24 hours. Then it took off like a rocket. I was used to "vigorous" fermentation, or thought I was anyway. Always use a blowoff tube for the first few days. This time it was really rockin'. Much more swirling of large hop particles and trub. I did ramp up the temperature on this batch slightly in an effort to coax more esters. The last few batches were always done at 62F, this location is a steady 67F. I attribute part of the fireworks to that, maybe not all?

But - I expected things to be winding down by now, like previous fermentations. They usually stopped most obvious visual signs by now. It's been almost a week, and while things are much more sedate of course I still see plenty of very fine "fizzy bubbles" doing their thing streaming and extending up the sides of the carboy. Krausen has fallen, I guess. The airlock is still bubbling regular about every 5 seconds. Is this batch doomed? Did a bad bug get in there?

True to my namesake, the beer smells OK, at least.

 

[Miraculix]

Wb06 is actually more of a saison yeast and has diastetic abilities, it produces enzymes that chop longer and unfermentable sugars into shorter ones which are fermentable. This process takes time, that might be why everything takes longer with this yeast. At the end, you will have a very low final gravity.

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

OK, I understand it is quite a bit different than liquid yeasts like 3068, I like the dry yeasts as they are convenient and long lasting. The last few batches seemed to attenuate well, I'm not super skilled with hydrometer readings, but right around 1.010 or better. I will say it is reasonably strong ABV, after a couple I'm definitely feeling it.

What was kind of strange, I did succumb to curiosity in the very first batch and tried a beer after only a few days of bottle conditioning. It tasted pretty darn authentic as far as a Bavarian hefe, actually. I speak from extensive experience ha ha. But the slight banana notes seem to have dissipated with more extended bottle conditioning. Still pretty tasty stuff with longer maturation but not what I was after. Need to dial the carbonation back a little bit. Hefes I think are probably a little tricky to get just right, perhaps there's a lot of things going on flavor wise.

I suppose as a practical matter I could take a hydrometer reading now. If it has reached predicted terminal gravity yet is still fizzing in the carboy and bubbling in the airlock, I can assume it has a wild critter of some sort chewing through eveything?

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

OK, I understand it is quite a bit different than liquid yeasts like 3068, I like the dry yeasts as they are convenient and long lasting. The last few batches seemed to attenuate well, I'm not super skilled with hydrometer readings, but right around 1.010 or better. I will say it is reasonably strong ABV, after a couple I'm definitely feeling it.

What was kind of strange, I did succumb to curiosity in the very first batch and tried a beer after only a few days of bottle conditioning. It tasted pretty darn authentic as far as a Bavarian hefe, actually. I speak from extensive experience ha ha. But the slight banana notes seem to have dissipated with more extended bottle conditioning. Still pretty tasty stuff with longer maturation but not what I was after. Need to dial the carbonation back a little bit. Hefes I think are probably a little tricky to get just right, perhaps there's a lot of things going on flavor wise.

I suppose as a practical matter I could take a hydrometer reading now. If it has reached predicted terminal gravity yet is still fizzing in the carboy and bubbling in the airlock, I can assume it has a wild critter of some sort chewing through eveything?

Nothing difficult about taking a hydro reading. Similar to any liquid, read at the meniscus. Adjust for sample temp vs hydro temp.

From my understanding the banana notes are due to stressing the yeast and higher fermentation temps. I do hope this is correct as wife really enjoys these types of hefeweizens and I am planning to make them soon.

However, I do see "Omega Yeast OYL400 Bananza™ Ale Yeast" is available.

" Ripe Banana esters, with a hint of pear, makes Omega Yeast's new exclusive strain OYL-400 Bananza™ a stand out for pastry stouts, milkshake IPAs, and other modern ales. Unlike its parental Hefeweizen strain, Bananza™ is versatile because it is non-phenolic and therefore incapable of producing clove flavors that would mask its pure banana profile. The banana esters set the stage for tropical fruity notes in hops, complementing and amplifying their tropical characters. For more grain focused recipes stouts are a good option with their complementing chocolate notes playing with the banana character. Specialty fruited beers are another solid choice for this strain, similar to hops, the banana esters can highlight and enhance tropical fruit flavors. "

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

This process takes time, that might be why everything takes longer with this yeast. At the end, you will have a very low final gravity.

But it never took very long in prior batches, in cooler temperatures, which has me concerned. I pitched one week ago, and there are still carbonation fizzies rising, though Krausen has fallen.

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

Anybody? Bueller?

I figure it has to be an infected batch.

 

[flyfishorbrew]

Remember too that fermented beer is going to continue to off-gas as CO2 comes out of solution. That being said, since I have no experience with that yeast, at this point you just need to take a hydrometer sample and once you've measured it, taste it. I haven't had many truly infected batches but the ones I have weren't "visibly" affected - the proof was in the smell and taste.

 

[BrewZer]

Anybody? Bueller?

I figure it has to be an infected batch.

RDWHAHB.

Taste your next sample tube for sourness or off flavors... realizing, of course, it's still very young and will mellow out considerably in the first few weeks in the bottle.

My current brew in bottles was made with a saison yeast, and I had a full airlock with occasional bubbles until the day I bottled it -- 13 days after I pitched it.

Your photo looks like dried yeast/trub over a layer of kreusen on a layer of flocculated and floating yeast rafts.

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

Well ... OK. It's just ... different than the previous brews I had to wonder. Previously visible signs tapered off after a few days.

Fermenter is ~ 5 degrees warmer location than the earlier beers however. And I suppose with repitching a much greater yeast cell count? Was I underpitching before? Overpitching?

Brews 2 & 3 I rehydrated in sterile tap water, the 1st just sprinkled dry yeast onto the wort.

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

Well I took a fuel sample, and it looks to be 1.012, more or less fully attenuated I expect. 6 pounds of DME in 5 gallons, I didn't bother with taking an OG., would have been somewhere around 1.05x I expect.

However comma noticed a slight yet distinct ... odor emanating the fermenter, redolent of stinky socks, with a fecal note. It's a dumper. &$@$&!!

 

[KeizerBrewr]

Pump the brakes there race car! Are you actually sure it's not just a smell from the yeast finishing up their job? The picture you posted looks fine to me. WB-06 can have some really good smells, other times it can smell odd. So before you get the hair to dump it, stop and relax. How long has it been fermenting now? With WB-06, i start at the low end of it's range and by the end of day 5 its right there against it's top end to get all of the flavors I can coax out of it. Finishing it high helps with any diacetyl or off flavors the yeast can fix on their own. So, as stated once above, RDWHAHB.

 

[flyfishorbrew]

I haven't brewed with that yeast but I do agree there have been some times I've had an off smell during or after fermentation that turned out to be no big deal. Also, with a real infection, I'd expect your gravity to be lower than 1.012 (although maybe there are types of infections that don't impact gravity, though I don't know of them). Do you normally rack to kegs or bottles? I think if it were me, I'd run some off to a glass, give it a minute to breathe, and give it a good hard smelling. If that didn't scare me off, I'd taste it. We'd hate for you to dump a perfectly good batch of beer. That being said, you're the one with the beer, and your intuition counts more than my conjecture - if the little voice is in your head is screaming "please don't drink this," you should probably listen to that, not me. You also mentioned you pitched from the yeast cake so that introduced a new variable (I've brewed maybe 20 batches in my year of all grain brewing and still haven't felt good enough about my sanitization abilities to pitch directly from the cake, but I really should start).