popsicleian
Well-Known Member
I brewed a Belgian Golden Strong last month for a competition--the challenge was to brew an 8+% beer in 6 weeks. Grain bill was 60% Pils, 11% Wheat, 11% Munich, 18% table sugar, with an OG of 1.074. I chose 3739 because it looked interesting and based on my limited research seemed to be a fast attenuator.
It dropped very quickly, and ended up stabilizing at 1.003 (for 9.1% ABV) after 2 weeks. I was going out of town, so I decided to cold crash, fine with gelatin, and bottle 3 bottles for the competition (2 to submit, 1 to sample). I bottled those on 10/4, primed in the bottle, and added a tiny bit of CBC-1 to each to promote fast carbing. The remainder of the batch went back into the fridge to keep clearing, and I bottled those the following weekend once I was back in town.
I tried one of the early bottled beers a couple of days ago to see how it was coming along. The carbonation level was fine, but I was greeted with an overwhelming level of isoamyl acetate in both flavor and aroma. I'm not great at picking out off flavors from uncarbonated samples, but the beer tasted pretty good at bottling and I'm surprised I didn't detect any of the gross banana flavor at that point.
I have a few questions about what's going on. First, what is the likelihood this will age out over time? I have to submit for the competition tomorrow, and I've already accepted that the beer they try is not going to be very good, but I'd really like the rest of the batch to come around. Opinions seem to be mixed online about whether isoamyl acetate ages out.
I'm also having trouble figuring out where I went wrong. I made a 1.2 liter stirplate starter for a 4 gallon batch and gave it 1 minute of pure oxygen before pitching. I pitched at 65ish, and started raising the temp after 2 days, eventually getting up to about 75. Wyeast lists the temp range for this yeast as 64-80.
Is it possible that I'm getting some of the ester from the CBC-1? I've never used it before, but it's supposed to be clean. Out of curiosity, I very quickly chilled one from the later bottled batch to see how it tasted--the banana was less overwhelming, but definitely still there. It also wasn't really carbed yet, and tasted super green.
Anyone have any thoughts?
It dropped very quickly, and ended up stabilizing at 1.003 (for 9.1% ABV) after 2 weeks. I was going out of town, so I decided to cold crash, fine with gelatin, and bottle 3 bottles for the competition (2 to submit, 1 to sample). I bottled those on 10/4, primed in the bottle, and added a tiny bit of CBC-1 to each to promote fast carbing. The remainder of the batch went back into the fridge to keep clearing, and I bottled those the following weekend once I was back in town.
I tried one of the early bottled beers a couple of days ago to see how it was coming along. The carbonation level was fine, but I was greeted with an overwhelming level of isoamyl acetate in both flavor and aroma. I'm not great at picking out off flavors from uncarbonated samples, but the beer tasted pretty good at bottling and I'm surprised I didn't detect any of the gross banana flavor at that point.
I have a few questions about what's going on. First, what is the likelihood this will age out over time? I have to submit for the competition tomorrow, and I've already accepted that the beer they try is not going to be very good, but I'd really like the rest of the batch to come around. Opinions seem to be mixed online about whether isoamyl acetate ages out.
I'm also having trouble figuring out where I went wrong. I made a 1.2 liter stirplate starter for a 4 gallon batch and gave it 1 minute of pure oxygen before pitching. I pitched at 65ish, and started raising the temp after 2 days, eventually getting up to about 75. Wyeast lists the temp range for this yeast as 64-80.
Is it possible that I'm getting some of the ester from the CBC-1? I've never used it before, but it's supposed to be clean. Out of curiosity, I very quickly chilled one from the later bottled batch to see how it tasted--the banana was less overwhelming, but definitely still there. It also wasn't really carbed yet, and tasted super green.
Anyone have any thoughts?
