Butterscotch In Starter

[Rob C]

I Have got a starter of 1469 Wyeast already to pitch. I went for a smell and taste test before i pitched the yeast. I think may be smelling butterscotch im not 100% sure.

Does this seem fine to pitch? or should i try again. My beers are NoChill so can be kept until yeast is ready.

I also think i can notice the same type of aroma in a beer i kegged last week. Could this be due to a infection of some sort? The beer is still very hazy? I have only poured a couple of middys so maybe this is still pouring yeast.

Cheers
Rob

 

[Guest Lurker]

Normally butterscotch would turn up at the end of fermentation. If you are getting it at the start, you have some pretty unhappy/unhealthy yeast. Personally if there is no urgency on a no chill, I would try to create a better yeast colony and ditch that one.

 

[raven19]

I do know you can get a variety of flavours and aroma's depending on the yeast. Have not used this one though - how did you make the starter?

 

[Rob C]

Guest Lurker this is after the starter has fermented out.

Raven19 I created the starter by boiling 75grams of LDME into 750ml of water. I cooled this then tipped into my starter vessel. I tipped some into a slant i had ready swirled around then tipped into starter vessel. The starter was fermenting nicely after about 36 hours.

Cheers
Rob

 

[Kai]

It can be due to infection but it's more likely you need to improve on yeast health and/or fermentation management. Yeast produce diacetyl (that butterscotch flavour) during fermentation and then convert it to less smelly products at the end of the ferment. If the yeast is too stressed or if you chill and keg too early then you can be left with diacetyl in the beer. Or, if your yeast is not healthy then it might be unable to clean up the diacetyl at the end of the ferment.

If you're only smelling a little bit on your starter then it is probably ok. 1469 can be a fickle yeast though, so make sure you treat it nice!

 

[Rob C]

Kai will this cause the kegged beer to be very hazy? Has been in the keg since thursday. Or will this need more time to clear.

Cheers

 

[Kai]

It won't cause the beer to be too hazy but if you're kegging too early then that may be causing haze problems too, if you haven't settled the yeast out sufficiently.

 

[Rob C]

No Worries Thanks will see how the kegged beer goes. I fermented this for 14 days so i thought this would of been sufficient.

 

[raven19]

Guest Lurker this is after the starter has fermented out.

Raven19 I created the starter by boiling 75grams of LDME into 750ml of water. I cooled this then tipped into my starter vessel. I tipped some into a slant i had ready swirled around then tipped into starter vessel. The starter was fermenting nicely after about 36 hours.

Cheers
Rob

Nice to hear that you can get a 750ml starter cranking from a slant in 36 hours. I shall keep this in mind for my upcoming brews.

:icon_offtopic: My current slants that were fermenting on the bar at home got SO HOT during this heat spell that the slant melted, went flat (lost its 'slant'), yeast fell to bottom and have since stopped doing anything. I can laugh about it now, as I have some other samples in test tubes in fridge. Will innoculate more slants once it cools down... Note to self - check 7 day weather forecast prior to making slants, beer, etc... (or get fermentation fridge!). Feel free to laugh at my expense....

 

[Fourstar]

Kai will this cause the kegged beer to be very hazy? Has been in the keg since thursday. Or will this need more time to clear.
Cheers

Hi Rob C,

The haze is probably assoicated with the diacetyl you are experincing as Kai mentioned on.

If you have a fair amount of yeast in your beer when you pour. It may not hurt to bring the keg out of the fridge for a few days at ambient temps to let it fermet out further and absorb the excess diacetyl. I would also burp + purge the headspace from the keg at the end of this process before rechilling. Again, to clear the diacetyl aromas if any residuals are left.

Just an option to attempt to salvage it.

 

[Rob C]

Thanks for the response guys. I Had another taste / smell of the starter last night and decided im probaly just over reacting and its just the taste / smell of the malt, So i decided to pitch this into the brew.

20 hours later the brew has a nice Krausen and is fermenting nicely. Will let you guys know how it ends up once done.

Cheers
Rob