What does Autolysis taste like?

[Cubslover]

I brewed a cider for my inlaws, I fermented in my bottle (primary was tied up). I used Wyeast Cider Yeast and it NEVER dropped out. Even cold crashing. It was very thick.

I let it set for 3 months on what was a heavy yeast bed and still very cloudy. I went ahead and bottled it and let it set in bottles for another couple months.

I tasted one a month ago, smelled like farts and had a rotten olive taste.

 

[509inc]

I saw this awhile back on HBT.

Nothing useful to add.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Oh no, autolysis thread!

I've left beer on the cake for 6 months with no off-flavors. IMHO autolysis off-flavor is a myth... others will certainly have their opinions though.

I'd say it's something else. What's your water like? How well do you clean/sanitize?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Autolysis would taste "meaty". It's not a myth but it takes time and effort to autolyze yeast.

 

[Bsquared]

Take a beer with a thick yeast cake on the bottom, freeze it, let it thaw, and drink it. its more the flavor of lysis, or when yeast die and dump there contents in to the beer with no other yeast around to clean up the mess.

Like gala said it can be done, but not to easy to do it accidentally.

 

[jonmohno]

Ive tasted it from commercial beer with age and poor storage probably.It just has an off yeast taste to it,and i noticed those bottles how easily the yeast at the bottem floats around,like it thinned out.I always avoid those bottles when picking out beer.Its not always the case,but i can tell by the texture of the yeast layer floating around at the bottem,especially when you know certain bottles havent even been touched.Its more seperated yeast-thin and it floats instead of sinking back down shortly. Maybe chunky is a better word.
I always hate when i get a bomber and the cashier lays them down to put in the bag or handles them carlessly.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Like gala said it can be done, but not to easy to do it accidentally.

I am more a Fuji than a Gala.

 

[TyTanium]

Meaty is a good description - like rusty iron, blood, red meat with a little rubber mixed in. Not too good.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Meaty is a good description - like rusty iron, blood, red meat with a little rubber mixed in. Not too good.

YUM!!

I saw this awhile back on HBT.

Nothing useful to add.

i'm with these guys, i don't think your tasting autolyzed yeast, but the funky rhino fart flavors some yeasts produce during fermentation.

 

[jonmohno]

a1-sauce comes to mind also

 

[Yooper]

Autolysis is certainly no myth, and it's not all that uncommon especially for wines left on lees for an extended time. Meaty is a good description, soapy can be one of the flavors, "hot dogs" is another description, and in severe cases even fecal flavor and aroma can happen.

In cases where experienced winemakers want to add an extra depth of flavor, they will age on the lees (sur lie). But it involves the stirring of the lees periodically to avoid severe autolysis.

If you had inches of lees for three months, that probably isn't enough to completely ruin it, but you could have some off flavors. If you bottled it still cloudy, and you still have lees in there, it could worsen.

 

[daksin]

+1 to freezing a bottle solid (with a good yeast cake on bottom) and drinking that after it's thawed. You will immediately know what lysis tastes like, especially if you give a little swirl and rouse up some of what's left of the yeast (will be a little extreme, but you won't soon forget it). I know a few homebrewers who have had that experience...

 

[Calder]

The only time I have come across it, is when I have left yeast slurry in the fridge for a long time. As soon as you take the lid off it smells like burnt rubber. Never tasted it. On occasion I have used the yeast ....... washed and made a starter with it first.

I've never noticed it in a beer.