SafAle S-33 or an infection?

[^Tony^]

This is probably a really stupid question to post but I'm going to anyway....

Has anyone used S-33 before? I wanted to try something new so I used it for a pale ale and the finished beer is NOT what I was expecting. I am trying to find out if it is/was my brewing or if it's the yeast that is unusual. 5 gallons out of the fermentor (on November 22) and it was cloudy but absolutely no sign of infection. I was not worried because my "cloudy" beers always clear up in the keg/bottle after a week or so. I always Starsan the crap out of the kegs, tubes, o-rings, etc...always; and this time was the same as every other time I've gone through the process. It's not impossible I got an infection anyway but I doubt it. This pale ale is still like a mud puddle almost 3 weeks later. S-33 is a medium flocculator so I anticipated a little cloudiness but daaaaaaaam its like a NEIPA although a dusky reddish colour. It also has a slightly perceptible gritty mouthfeel which I can only attribute to the yeast as I have never had this problem on any other brew I've done with several different yeasts.

And here is the detail that makes me really question things...the beer has a fruity and slightly sour almost lemon like flavor to it or maybe more like a Berliner Weisse or a gose. Subtle but noticeable.

This is not my first pale ale and I've never had this find of flavour (I usually use S-04 or S-05 depending on my mood). I googled several different sites to see if that is part of the S-33 flavor profile but can't find anything. At first I thought it might be infected but if it is its a GOOD infection...tastes fantastic actually. I really would rather not open the keg to check for pellicles and infection unless I have no other choice....but I don't want anyone to get sick...not that visitors kicking my kegs is a big problem now and days. If its not an infection I am definitely making this recipe again!

Should I leave things as they are and attribute the slight lemony sour to the S-33 and my recipe? Should I just keep drinking it to see if the flavor changes or it gets so nasty sour (if its infected) that I can't drink it? I'm not usually a fan of "sours/Berliner/gose/Lambic, etc" but this brew is so good it might not make more than 2 or 3 weeks anyway! Should I worry about making myself sick if it IS infected and I keep drinking it?

Here's the recipe
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1072508/dead-leaf-pale-ale

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

You have a permission error on your recipe link.

Turbid beer can come from a number of things. Yeast and chill haze are the most common. It's possible that flocculant yeast can remain suspended if the beer isn't finished, but after 3 weeks it should have dropped. Chill haze come and goes with temperature, so if it warms up it would get clearer. The other possibility is starch haze. This is caused by a incomplete conversion in the mash, which could bring in a lot of starch into the boil. Once the wort gets above 175F the enzymes that convert starch are de-natured and the starch remains.

What could be happening is not one thing causing the hazy beer but a combination of things, Chill haze with yeast, starch haze and chill haze, etc. An infection that would cause chill haze should show up in the flavor. It's not unusual for yeast to produce a tart finish, Kviek Voss, WLP029, K97 and Nottingham all produce tart finishes and not everyone picks up on it. So at this point, if it taste good, just drink it.

 

[J A]

S-33 won't usually cause particularly sour flavor but I've gotten some interesting notes when I've let it run warm for a long time to attenuate.if it stalls and then restarts it can get sort of fruity-Belgian flavor with maybe a hint of citrus. Maybe that's what you're getting. It's not a good yeast for Pale Ale. I've used it for Saison-style beers to good effect and in conjunction with S-23 for a Belgian Pale that's worked extremely well. No need to use it for American style beers. There are much better yeasts.
I've had mixed results with it and I think it's totally possible that it's not a particularly pure strain in terms of generational consistency.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I used a few weeks ago in a Belgian Ale. It came out great no foul odors or off tastes. I'll go back to using Lallemand Abbaye though.

 

[^Tony^]

S-33 won't usually cause particularly sour flavor but I've gotten some interesting notes when I've let it run warm for a long time to attenuate.if it stalls and then restarts it can get sort of fruity-Belgian flavor with maybe a hint of citrus. Maybe that's what you're getting. It's not a good yeast for Pale Ale. I've used it for Saison-style beers to good effect and in conjunction with S-23 for a Belgian Pale that's worked extremely well. No need to use it for American style beers. There are much better yeasts.
I've had mixed results with it and I think it's totally possible that it's not a particularly pure strain in terms of generational consistency.

This particular batch was more of an experiment for me than anything else. I've been experimenting with different yeasts I have never tried before to expand my yeast palate a little bit and hopefully expand my brew repertoire a little. The S-33 was a bit of an impulse decision but I was really not excepting such an extreme result. I did ferment warmer than usual just to see what would happen. I have got some lime type flavor from S-05 fermenting on the warm side but it was more of an accent flavor than such a smack in the face.

I suppose I will just keep sampling it and if the tartness/sour gets stronger then it is probably safe to say its infected. In the end...if it tastes great...just keep on keeping on!

 

[^Tony^]

I used a few weeks ago in a Belgian Ale. It came out great no foul odors or off tastes. I'll go back to using Lallemand Abbaye though.

was the final result cloudy or clear"ish"?

 

[J A]

I have got some lime type flavor from S-05 fermenting on the warm side but it was more of an accent flavor than such a smack in the face.

I suppose I will just keep sampling it and if the tartness/sour gets stronger then it is probably safe to say its infected. In the end...if it tastes great...just keep on keeping on!

I suspect that if you've gotten any tartness from US-05 and you've gotten a stronger version of it in a subsequent batch, some of your equipment is innoculated with a lactobacillus. US-05 is pretty notoriously bland and "soft" in it's fruit esters - very peachy/strawberry and never sharp or tart in my experience.

 

[dmtaylor]

S-33 turns out reasonably clean for me with very low non-descript fruitiness that I would NOT describe as lemon. It also comes out clear, not cloudy. I would guess the hazy batch was due to contamination by some other yeast.

 

[^Tony^]

A little update. I had a pint last night and the flavor continues to evolve towards nasty. It is no longer tart, now it is downright boozy with an accent of barnyard. I am almost 100% sure this one got an infection somewhere. I suspect it was from the sample port/racking port on my SS brew bucket when I transferred from the fermenter to the keg. It was "sticky" when I pulled it apart after the transfer. I thought it was just a little tight but one of the washers was cracked once I got it off. I didn't think much of it at the time but who knows. Just goes to show you that even the most strict cleaning procedures can still miss the occasional bug. My brew season is on winter break for the next few months so I get to spend some quality holiday time stripping down all my equipment and sanitizing like a mad man.

Thanks for the info dmtaylor. I suspected as much. I've never had even the lowest flocing yeast be this cloudy. I have never used S-33 so I thought "maybe". Good to know my instincts are not completely shot either!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Infections often lead to abnormally low finished gravities.

 

[^Tony^]

Infections often lead to abnormally low finished gravities.

Yup. That was another que for me too. It should have finished about 1.012 but it was 1.007 when I kegged it. the few pints I got were good though...good enough I might try a tiny bit of a kettle sour on a pale ale next year.