Wow... what an awsome reply......thank you all!!!!!! many helpful and intresting comments. I will reply to some below
It's funny (or maybe not so funny) when you identify a certain trait in a beer that you don't like and then when you ever smell it again it just puts you off straight away.
For me it's that banana smell...just can't stand it...don't know what it is but just can't drink it once it's there!
Sorry to hear about your troubles Tony....I use US05 in my APA's a bit....hope I don't start identifying that now...haha, betcha I will, then I'll have to start doing something else.
Hey by the way, that recipe sounds interesting, haven't used Centennial before. Care to divulge a little more about your recipe?
Cheers
Molly
I dont like telling people to search but i put it in the "what are you brewing" thread a couple weeks ago when i was making it.
Never used it but I've used 1272 for the past 3 brews and love it!
Have you been using successive generations or new packs each brew? I assume you leave the beer on the yeast for sufficient time to clean up the diacetyl?
I only use new packs these days...... i have dumped too much beer from problems with repitching so in a 50 liter batch...... i go with safety these days!
And yeah...... it finnished fermenting and i warmed it up a touch and rested it for almost a week before crash chilling and kegging.
From what I know - and I must admit it isnt much, you can avoid this by letting the beer rest for a while before bottling or kegging to let the diacetyl be reabsorbed. I use US-05 a bit but always at a low temperature and have not experienced the problem for a long time.
I have tried fermenting at low and higher temps....... still get it. This one was fermented at 16 deg.
:lol: Not that Tony can't fight his own battles, but im REASONABLY convinced that Tony may in fact know this highly secretive point already.
yeah
I respect your experience in this area, but have you had someone else taste the same beers to see if they detect the same as you do? ... I dunno, maybe it's the "pink pokerdot freakin undies" ... you know... the smell coming from them that is upsetting your olfactory senses :lol:
Over the years, i have... as i said... used all 3 varients of this yeast and i love to have others try the beer and tell me what they think. Fot years people tried the beer with the 05 yeasts and commented it was "sweet" and i would say..... noooooo its actually a quite bitter beer, and they would say.... yeah... bit its sweet too. This always confused me but what i picked up was an oilyness and a muted hop character under what i thought was malt.
I really thought i couldnt make a hoppy beer and APA's were shit........because for me they were.
I have made the LCBA clone lots of times and i usually use 1272 in it but when i use 05 yeasts im always disapointed and people give me the "sweet" line.
Sooooo one night i took a a few bottles of it to one of the first HUB nights in Newcastle. Nost tried it and went....Mmmmmmm its nice but when Kieth (head brewer at Potters) tried it he just looked at me and said..... Diacetyl..... its just all butterscotch to me.
Well i took the glass and had a smell and BANG it hit me like a ton of bricks........ i had smelt it but didnt pick it amongst the hops. once it was pointed out it stuck out like dogs balls. I still cant taste it... i just get this slick smooth oily feel in my mouth when i drink the beer. Its very subtle but its there and only with this yeast.
The beer i have on tap now...... i couldnt detect it when it was cold conditioning but the carbonation lifts it to the nose and it smells like a butterscotch lollie for about a second then it fades and i get hops.
I have just decided to not inhale
I've heard in an interview with a british brewer, I think it was meantime but not 100% sure, that he said they switched away from using MO in a certain beer as it was causing diacetylesque flavours.
Not saying it wasn't the us-05, just echoing batz' comment about malt.
I have had it in beers made with pilsner malt, ale malt, vienna malt from varoius maltsters...... its there! In varying degrees but its there.
Tony,
What's your fermentation profile? How quickly do you reach final gravity?
US-05/1056/001 does throw up diacetyl, but it is also a good clean yeast and has earned its reputation as a workhorse that tastes like Switzerland.
If you're always getting butterbombs, then either you're really sensitive to diacetyl (which I can understand completely) or there is something in your fermentation regime that is causing it.
Although, it's definitely easier to swap to a different yeast that works better for you.
Years ago I used to brew almost every time with recultured Coopers yeast. It powered through ferments, produced a great flavour profile in most of the styles I made, tasted clean as a whistle through fermentation, but it would always throw up bloody diacetyl for me for the first 2-3 weeks of bottle conditioning. Go figure.
I chill to 20 to 22 deg, pitch starter that has been held at pitch temp for min 24 hrs and 95% of the time it is foaming madly the next morning. ferment at a stable temperature (my temperature control holds liquid in brew to within 0.2 deg) at between 16 and 18 deg setpoint and when its done let it warm up to 20 to sit for a few days before crash chilling for a week before filtering to the keg.
I think i will just use another yeast and im thinking im very sensative to it in smell..... not taste. I have spoken to others that can taste it but not smell it as well.
Id say those who say they never get are lucky ones who cant detect it.
I've done literally hundreds of brews with US-05 and not had trouble with diacetyl. I agree with others comments that you may be super sensitive to diacetyl (I am like this with sulphur compounds) or it is the malt that is throwing up the honey notes.
cheers
Browndog
yeah.... im thinking in sensitive to it and now that i have been shown how to identify it....... i cant miss it.
Its not honey..... its butterscotch for sure.... and for me its in the aroma, i cant taste it but as i said... its there in mouthfeel.
Hey Tony - have you tried a D-rest?
Yeah mate i D rest all my beers... warm em up a bit for a few days to clean up before i chill them for the filter.
I use 1056 or Craftbrewer american ale prolifically (don't know which is which as it's been re-cultured so many times), but i've never experienced nor had anyone ping me for it in comps. Usually mash Americans at 65 or 66C and always ferment at 18C for 14 days with a little bump to 20 for 48hrs before crashing to 0C for 7-14days in primary before packaging.
If it were me, this is what i'd be doing; (you probably do it already, but not a bad check list)
- aeration of the wort prior to pitching
check
- appropriate size starter or rehydrated yeast too much can cause just as many issues as too little
check
- some yeast nutrient in the boil to help things along
I dont use nutrient but AG mash......calcium salts etc
- pitch at your desired ferment temp, not above or below
check..... well maybe 2 or 3 deg out but not lots.
- ferment at 18C (check thermo setting to make sure it is at correct temp... don't ask
)
Check..... i use a PT100 submerged in the brew to control to +- 0.2 deg
- after 14days ferment bump it by 2C for 48hr d-rest
Check
- -1C crash chill/condition for 7days
I go to 4 deg... but my fridge is old
- filter to keg
Check.... only this one i didnt filter cause the filter takes out the hop "edge" that bites at your tongue.
My true suspicion is that this yeast produces Diacetyl in certain situations, and i would say that my brewing process, my water chemistry and my fermentation schedule makes it make it.... and im sensitive to it.
Im not changing how i brew cause i like my beer how it is, and so do friends, family and judges.
Im not going to go stuffing around with different water
I will just use different yeast!
Easy!
I love the beer produced by the "05" range of yeasts from all 3, or more suppliers but there are just so many other great yeasts to use, that dont make me smell butterscotch.
cheers folks