Will the smell of phenols go away?

[Shoemaker]

I made a lager, turns out I underpitched with my starter, and it smells of phenols. Will this smell go away if I bottle it for a few months or is it basically ruined?

 

[Yooper]

I've never had good luck with off-flavors going away, but it's certainly worth a try! A longer lagering period may help quite a bit to smooth it out, even if it never completely goes away.

I usually lager one week for each 10 points of OG. So, for an 1.070 OG lager, I generally lager for 7 weeks. If there were some off-flavors that I picked up, I'd extend that lagering period to maybe 10-12 weeks.

 

[WorryWort]

Phenols simply don't go away. Other aspects of the beer may change, thus making the phenols more or less noticeable/detracting. But they don't dissipate on their own to any noticeable extent.

Also, I find the term "Phenols" is thrown around a bit (by myself included), but regardless, check your fermentation temps as well as the pitching rate. Yeast can produce fusels/higher alcohols at higher temps, but the stress caused from underpitching will create esters more than phenols, which will result in fruitiness. Phenols will be produced by specific yeast, wild yeast or bacteria, often regardless of temp (of course the temp can change the intensity of those phenols). This, as with everything, is a generalilty.

Could you describe what it smells like? Rubbing alcohol, paint thinner (like my first oatmeal stout!!), bananas, cloves, bandaids, etc....

Cheers,

 

[joety]

I agree with worry wort. It's more likely a fermentation temp or sanitation issue. How much yeast did you pitch?

 

[Shoemaker]

I realize it is an underpitching issue. I will not do it again. I just want to know if this smell will go away or should I just dump it?

 

[bbrim]

Don't dump it. Give it time. I have a couple beers that are over a year old now. One was a California Common with Rauchmalt, the smoke flavor was way too much at first. Now at about 15 months old it has a wonderfully complex caramel flavor with hints of smoke. That example relates very poorly to your situation, but it is anecdotal evidence of the effect time can have. My other beer that is so old is a Dubbel I made Jan. 1 2009. It was my first AG brew so I wanted to hold onto a few. Being an Abbey style I used an abbey yeast that produced wonderful phenols that dominated the aroma and had substantial influence on the flavor as well. My fermentation got up to 73-75 so these flavors were probably stronger than they should have been. By six months these phenols were fading, having blended well with the malt flavors present (Aromatic and Special B). At one year I'm not sure I could pick out the yeast at all. The once dominate yeast character is hardly noticeable at this point.
The point is, give it time, if it sucks now it will be easy to forget about. Come back in 3 months and see how things are coming along. As of now you have a beer you think is crappy, maybe 6 months down the road you will be surprised by a beer you really enjoy and maybe it will still be crappy, no loss.

 

[joety]

The only beers I've ever dumped have been infected in some way. I have never dumped a beer due to esters or phenols. They don't need to go away completely for the beer to be drinkable, and in fact you may find they add an interesting dimension as the beer ages.

If you know enough about the process to be certain your problem was underpitching how did that happen to begin with? The pitch rate is easy to control.