I used the WRONG yeast

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

raybies

Active Member
Joined
9/8/21
Messages
41
Reaction score
7
Location
Perth
Style: Citra Pale Ale.
I intended to use 1 sachet of Voss Kveik for a 5-day ferment at 35°C.
What this fool did was use 1 sachet of Diamond lager yeast. I wouldn't have even known if it wasn't for the fact that I have 1 too many Voss Kveik and 1 too few Diamond.

No, I didn't take a final gravity reading, however it fermented fairly well, nowhere near what Kveik would have achieved amd I was wondering why there was a lack of smell everytime I opened the fridge, and I usually pitch 2 sachets of Diamond. The fermenter does not have an airlock bubbler, so the pressure was about 5 PSI.
It's been conditioning for 10 days, and it tastes kind of unusual but not bad... just a bit like a lager that's off the fermenter with too much Saaz. I would say it's medium attenuated.

In brief, I have an under pitched Citra Lager fermented @ 35c, 5 PSI.
Now, I normally would just brew it out if I messed up, but I've never fermented lager at 35°C.
So what would you all do, try and fix it, if so how, or just brew it out with longer conditioning?

Thanks.
 
I don't imagine anything you could do at this point would improve it, even extended conditioning I don't think will help..

I'd just see how it is and chalk it up to experience. Post back here would be great even if just as a cautionary tale.
 
Update: Tasted it last night and it's not good, but it might eventually be drinkable. The first flavor to hit me was a buttery taste, indicating Diacetyl. It's the first time I've encountered this in any brew, and I can only assume it was due to the short fermentation, which didn't give the yeast enough time to clean it up. There's also a bit of an over-attenuated taste, which I suspect might be fusel alcohol.
 
The yeast will clean up the diacetyl, just keep it on the yeast cake for a bit longer.
 
It was removed from the fermenter and keg'd @ 5 days (14th Feb)... bcos I thought it was the Kveik which doesn't usually benefit from any more @ 35c.
 
3.5 months later: it's drinkable. I performed several hot/cold gas/degas cycles, which improved most of the flavor. It retains a slight butterscotch taste, and a metallic taste emerged, which was mitigated by the hot/cold cycling. It's somewhat lacking in character, but very clear and alcoholic. I believe the only factor that actually compromised it was the 5-day fermentation, not the heat. The proper solution would have been to remove it from the keg, pitch some yeast and allow it to clean up over several weeks in a fermenter.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top