Musty smelling Blonde

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
May 20, 2020
Messages
409
Reaction score
424
Location
East Yorkshire
My latest All grain has a really musty smell to it. It was brewed with Pilsnen Malt, mittlefruh and M41 Belgian Yeast and has come down from 1.068 to 1.006 but the sample I took when I moved it the fridge to cold crash It still has a musty smell to it that I'd attributed to the fermentation process.

My reading around this suggests a mould infection but the beer itself has dropped clear and it doesn't have a film on top or anything that would suggest its infected?

But the smell is pretty off putting so I'm in a dilemma as writing it off as bad sanitation and ditching it or hoping it will come good once its been fined and kegged.

Any Advice would be great.
 
Why did you choose M41? What style were you aiming for?
This yeast has quite a phenolic aroma profile to it. "Phenolic and Spicey" they say, and is highly attenuative. If you fermented it at a reasonable warm temperature, this will be enhanced. It may be perfectly OK, but you simply don't like the flavour. I for one, don't like the flavour that is common in "abbey" style beers.
I should bottle or keg it up, leave it to mature and condition for a couple of months and see what you think of it then. Unless it is obviously off.

As for musty smelling blondes, not my cup of tea at all. I tend to go for dark and fragrant! :laugh8:
 
Last edited:
Yeah I did wonder whether the belgian yeast is giving off a funkier profile, they can be a very aquired taste.. But If it looks okay I wouldn't toss it just yet and I agree with @An Ankoù

how long has it been going for? leave it to condition and it might level out to something more palatable.
 
Why did you choose M41? What style were you aiming for?
This yeast has quite a phenolic aroma profile to it. "Phenolic and Spicey" they say, and is highly attenuative. If you fermented it at a reasonable warm temperature, this will be enhanced. It may be perfectly OK, but you simply don't like the flavour. I for one, don't like the flavour that is common in "abbey" style beers.
I should bottle or keg it up, leave it to mature and condition for a couple of months and see what you think of it then. Unless it is obviously off.

As for musty smelling blondes, not my cup of tea at all. I tend to go for dark and fragrant! :laugh8:

I was going for Belgian Blonde and having had good results so far with Mangrove Jack yeast I picked what I thought was the best option which might not have been the case. I'll use something less "interesting" next time :)

Would I have better off with T-58 or something else?

Fortunately I've got Greg Hughes' book now so I'll stick to proven recipes for a bit :)
 
Back
Top