Has anyone much experience with lallemand Nova lager yeast?
I brewed an uncharacteristic bad beer for no discernable reason recently and one of the kegs fermented with this yeast had a particular almost smokey flavor, very dry, with high bitterness. The other kegs weren't very good in my opinion, although some people liked all of them, but I just figured I'd done something wrong somewhere. Anyway next batch was spot on and the following batch, apart from the keg I repitched the Nova lager yeast which again has this distinct taste. It is a fairly dry and bitter recipe, but this is much more than the other kegs using new yeast and one other repitch from the same sub par batch, all of which are really good, but this one just tastes.. idk. Not right. Almost phenolic in fact. And exactly as much as the previous batch. Perhaps I got an infection and repitched that but my experience of infections is that they would take over on the second pitch, and this is by no means a spoiled batch taste, like I say some people loved it, but to me it's more akin to a funky beer than a lager.. it's low in esters but idk. Not too keen.
I was planning on using a fresh load on a lager tonight but I'm hesitant to in case this is just how it tastes, but there's nothing to suggest it should be in any way not just a clean normal yeast although i am sensitive to some flavours others don't notice like plastic from beer lines or containers, and this is in that general category of taste to me
I brewed an uncharacteristic bad beer for no discernable reason recently and one of the kegs fermented with this yeast had a particular almost smokey flavor, very dry, with high bitterness. The other kegs weren't very good in my opinion, although some people liked all of them, but I just figured I'd done something wrong somewhere. Anyway next batch was spot on and the following batch, apart from the keg I repitched the Nova lager yeast which again has this distinct taste. It is a fairly dry and bitter recipe, but this is much more than the other kegs using new yeast and one other repitch from the same sub par batch, all of which are really good, but this one just tastes.. idk. Not right. Almost phenolic in fact. And exactly as much as the previous batch. Perhaps I got an infection and repitched that but my experience of infections is that they would take over on the second pitch, and this is by no means a spoiled batch taste, like I say some people loved it, but to me it's more akin to a funky beer than a lager.. it's low in esters but idk. Not too keen.
I was planning on using a fresh load on a lager tonight but I'm hesitant to in case this is just how it tastes, but there's nothing to suggest it should be in any way not just a clean normal yeast although i am sensitive to some flavours others don't notice like plastic from beer lines or containers, and this is in that general category of taste to me
