Post-mortem

[bicyclerepairman]

Hi all,

Just had a taster of some beer I've got in secondary that I made at the end of June.

The flavour is dominated by a strong punch somewhere between raw alcohol and banana vinegar. My two questions are: What have I done wrong? And: Will it improve with age??

It's a fairly standard recipe, half mash (2.5Kg Maris Otter) and half extract.

Looking at my notes, the main two problems are the mashing and the pitching.

I was trying out Mk. 1 of my mash tun, which didn't go well and resulted in a hasty (and messy) transfer to my original bucket mashtun, but only at the end of the mash (the copper manifold fell into pieces...).

Also, I pitched at 32degC with Safbrew S-33. I know that's very warm for pitching, but I didn't have a cooler and didn't want to leave it overnight to cool.

Any advice much appreciated :)

 

[Duxuk]

You have possibly created fusal alcohols, especially if your fermentation temp. remained high. It may end up as a great beer to give you a headache!
It may, unfortunately, be one to put down to experience.

 

[calumscott]

raw alcohol

Likely a "higher" alcohol like a fusel.

banana

Likely fruity esters from the initial high temperature and continued probably-a-bit-too-hot fermentation what with the general ambient temperatures being quite high.

vinegar

Not good...

Don't lob it. Let it mellow for a month and see what like. If the vinegar gets worse... well you've got a good few gallons of malt vinegar! I believe all you need to do is carefully and slowly let more oxygen at it and the job's a good un...

I doubt if the mash would have caused a problem. Physical issues won't affect the biochemistry that would still be happening while you were faffing around with your tuns...

 

[bicyclerepairman]

Thanks for all the information - I suspected it was the pitching temperature. I'll know better next time.

 

[Antony]

Sounds like my wherry, a bananna-y taste/smell, maybe a little sour on the finish... However its not bad, I hope it mellows to become a nice bananna beer, I will keep you updated on its progress

 

[DamageCase]

Sounds like my wherry, a bananna-y taste/smell, maybe a little sour on the finish... However its not bad, I hope it mellows to become a nice bananna beer, I will keep you updated on its progress

My wherry fermented too hot in those early July temperatures and came out like that, it's got a bannanary, almost wheat beer like taste.