Yeast smell to taste

[CBaker350]

New to home brewing, Ive done a few batches now, my newest, a dunkleweizen, smells amazing through the airlock releasing..it smells just as the brew on tap at my local brewery (portsmouth) is there a direct link to that smell and the taste the yeast will put in the brew itself??

 

[ChandlerBrewery]

Absolutely. I feel that yeast is a huge contributor to the taste of beer (both positively and negatively). This doesn't necessarily mean that it will "taste like it smells" but you will learn to associate the smell to the flavor as you become more experienced in your brewing. I personally will not use some strains of yeast, even though they may be traditionally used for the recipe, because I hate the taste.

 

[JJL]

You will find that the answer is typically no. Yeast throws off all kinds of strange aromas when it's working. It's best to assume that there is no real direct correlation between yeast smell and beer flavor. Otherwise, you'll be on here a couple of months from now asking if you've ruined your beer because there is a weird smell coming out of your airlock.

 

[AmandaK]

There is usually (German weizens being the exception, once they get past that sulfur dog fart stage) a huge difference between what smell is coming off your fermenting beer and what aroma you will get in a glass after bottle conditioning. Fermentation is a ugly, nasty thing.

That being said, the yeast plays (in my opinion) the most important role in determining the final aroma and flavor of your finished beer. Take a neutral base wort and ferment it with a spicy/fruity Belgian strain like Wyeast 3522, a classic German ale yeast like Wyeast 3068 and then an American strain like Wyeast 1272 and you'll see what I mean.

 

[CBaker350]

This is the 3068 that I used.