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- Sep 21, 2017
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Morning folks. I brewed a hefezweizen in January of last year (bottled). Overall, it turned out ok but there was a little bit of an off-flavor and aroma. I'm really bad at associating a title to a taste but can pick up on a lot of tastes. it was a little plasticy but could also have been a little leathery. when i'd pour it in a glass, i'd pick up on the aroma and taste quite noticeably at first. if i let it sit for 5-10 minutes, it was either very diminished or gone completely. it was never bad enough to consider the beer bad or make it unenjoyable. it was very enjoyable actually, despite the "flaw". i used two packs of WLP 300 for 7 gallons and started fermentation at mid 60s and ramped up to 70 after 4 days. treated water with potassium metabisulfite. i've never had any infection issues. 62% wheat, 34% pilsner. only a 60 min boil.
fast forward to this year. i just brewed another hefeweizen and in an effort to avoid that similar taste/aroma, i extended the boil to 90 mins since the i read that pilsner can be a pain for DMS. like i said, i'm terrible at associating a title to the taste so i went cautiously and extended the boil. we bottled last night and guess what...the flavor is there again. although, much much more subtle. wife picked up on it too. this batch i made a starter from an old packet of Stephon (imperial yeast) and a packet of wlp300. based on yeast calcs, i overpitched. again, by design in the hope that maybe i had a yeast issue last year (even though i had a good quantity of yeast). same ratios of wheat/pilsner. same fermentation schedule. same mash. same sparge. no ferulic rest either time.
a side note of uncertain value. last summer i brewed a saison and despite everything going per recipe, there was a fairly strong bandaid/vinyl aroma and taste. last night, the wife said that the aroma/taste with the hefe is different and not bandaid. also much more subtle.
Any thoughts on this? are we just sensitive to the phenol compounds associated with the saison and hefe strains that can be higher in phenols? i'm assuming it's not an infection since i've had zero infections and the likelihood of two random infections with the same beer type (and the saison) would be very very low. i use starsan.
fast forward to this year. i just brewed another hefeweizen and in an effort to avoid that similar taste/aroma, i extended the boil to 90 mins since the i read that pilsner can be a pain for DMS. like i said, i'm terrible at associating a title to the taste so i went cautiously and extended the boil. we bottled last night and guess what...the flavor is there again. although, much much more subtle. wife picked up on it too. this batch i made a starter from an old packet of Stephon (imperial yeast) and a packet of wlp300. based on yeast calcs, i overpitched. again, by design in the hope that maybe i had a yeast issue last year (even though i had a good quantity of yeast). same ratios of wheat/pilsner. same fermentation schedule. same mash. same sparge. no ferulic rest either time.
a side note of uncertain value. last summer i brewed a saison and despite everything going per recipe, there was a fairly strong bandaid/vinyl aroma and taste. last night, the wife said that the aroma/taste with the hefe is different and not bandaid. also much more subtle.
Any thoughts on this? are we just sensitive to the phenol compounds associated with the saison and hefe strains that can be higher in phenols? i'm assuming it's not an infection since i've had zero infections and the likelihood of two random infections with the same beer type (and the saison) would be very very low. i use starsan.