Tastes Like Banana :(

[Guysmiley54]

Hi guys,

I am tasting an ale that I bottled 2 weeks ago and I'm getting a banana taste.

This batch was a cascade/perle/chinook ale that I started 4 weeks ago. Around 1 week in I had (what I thought was) a stalled fermentation - around 1024 gravity - and so after advice from the forum I slowly raised the temperature and swirled the yeast back into suspension. I continued this for a few days until the temp was at 24, but still no movement. At the same time, I was trialling a quick ferment test to try and ascertain what my FG should be. Long story short (actually not shortened at all!) I realised that I may have reached final gravity and turned off my heat belt. After a few more days I bottled.

1 week in, the taste was very strong banana :icon_vomit: Not good! After another week, it seems a little fainter but not much.

Is this likely to settle down during bottle conditioning? How long will it take?

PS I tried Leffe Blonde from a tap the other night for the first time and did not like it one bit. It too had a very pronounced banana taste, much stronger than the taste in my beer and not in a pleasant way. Is that the way that beer is supposed to taste?

 

[kelbygreen]

what was the other ingredients? banana is usually a sign of fermenting to high if I remember correctly but certain styles its good in but personal taste. not sure if perle gives off banana but I know cascade and chinook dont.

 

[Guysmiley54]

Well I didn't put banana in! It was an extract brew with DME, Maltodextrin, and 120gm of 120 Crystal. I brewed for the first 7 days at a steady 20C using SAF-05. I did raise to 24 later on slow rise over a few days though...

 

[rotten]

Is that the way that beer is supposed to taste?

That comment concerns me greatly :huh:
Cheers

 

[Guysmiley54]

That comment concerns me greatly :huh:
Cheers

Hmmm... Should clarify:

Is that the way that (Leffe Blonde) should taste (like)?



It did sound like I had never tasted beer before didn't it! Nope, just new to Leffe. Not sure if it was in poor condition, or just not to my liking

 

[kelbygreen]

well perle seems to have no banana flavour from what I can see, but just says spicy, leathery, floral and fruity hop doesnt say the flavours it throws.

 

[Guysmiley54]

well perle seems to have no banana flavour from what I can see, but just says spicy, leathery, floral and fruity hop doesnt say the flavours it throws.

It wasn't the perle, the taste didn't develop until after I roused the yeast and raised the temperature. Until I bottled it, hydrometer samples after this point had a slight eggy aroma too. Fortunately the egg aroma has now disappeared.

 

[matr]

Is it a possibility you used WB06 but thought you used 05?

 

[Guysmiley54]

Is it a possibility you used WB06 but thought you used 05?

I'm not at the stage of keeping different types of yeast in my collection yet. The pack definitely said 05. It didn't have eggy aroma until after I swirled/heated it from 20-24. 20C was tasting great!

 

[jakub76]

Sounds to me like you have a very receptive palette. I'd suggest the banana flavours are the esters that the yeast has produced. Generally speaking most of these are formed when the yeast is multiplying in the first few days - particularly at higher temperatures. The sulphur smell is a natural yeast by-product also, usually created by ale yeasts at high temperatures as well as a lot of lager yeasts in normal fermentation, some to the point of gag-inducing when you open your fermentation fridge!
If you want to reduce the esters in future beers I would suggest pitching your yeast cold at maybe 16-18C then fermenting at 18C for at least 4 days before letting it free rise to around 21. There's really no need to get any warmer than that and us-05 works fine at temps as low as 15C. I reckon this batch is going to hold onto it's banana flavour though.
I am getting through a batch of Hefe that I let ferment at ambient temps up around 21 a few weeks ago and it's full of the banana lolly flavour...not my favourite either. Last one I made I started at 17C and let it get to 21 after a few days and it had no obvious banana flavour. Goes to show how much difference a few degrees can make - different yeast but the same concept is true for both.

 

[Guysmiley54]

Sounds to me like you have a very receptive palette. I'd suggest the banana flavours are the esters that the yeast has produced. Generally speaking most of these are formed when the yeast is multiplying in the first few days - particularly at higher temperatures. The sulphur smell is a natural yeast by-product also, usually created by ale yeasts at high temperatures as well as a lot of lager yeasts in normal fermentation, some to the point of gag-inducing when you open your fermentation fridge!
If you want to reduce the esters in future beers I would suggest pitching your yeast cold at maybe 16-18C then fermenting at 18C for at least 4 days before letting it free rise to around 21. There's really no need to get any warmer than that and us-05 works fine at temps as low as 15C. I reckon this batch is going to hold onto it's banana flavour though.
I am getting through a batch of Hefe that I let ferment at ambient temps up around 21 a few weeks ago and it's full of the banana lolly flavour...not my favourite either. Last one I made I started at 17C and let it get to 21 after a few days and it had no obvious banana flavour. Goes to show how much difference a few degrees can make - different yeast but the same concept is true for both.

I have brewed two other ales at 20C without problems, but I did think that 24 was pushing it! The only reason I went that high was because I thought that - as you said - it was safer to do that later in the fermentation. Is 20C really too high? I may try my next batch closer to 17-18 as suggested.

I guess in heart I know why it tastes this way. I wanted to ask about to see if there was much of a chance of it improving. I'm sorry to hear you got some banana too Jakub! Thanks for your help.

 

[rotten]

In my humble experience 22c has been O.K. with US-05, only in summer though when outside temp gets over 40. try to stay around 18-20c to keep those fruity notes in check.
Cheers

 

[jakub76]

I did think that 24 was pushing it! The only reason I went that high was because I thought that - as you said - it was safer to do that later in the fermentation.

It is generally the first part of fermentation that really determines the ester profile so I would say that it is safe to go high to finish and I often do let both ales and lagers finish (after a week or more) at ambient temps when I have to clear the fermentation fridge. What temp did you pitch? I still think it could have been the start of your fermentation that created those esters. It does sound like you've got a pretty sensative palette too.

 

[Guysmiley54]

I did pitch high, probably around 22-24. Sound like that's a bad idea too! It's weird how badly this one batch has gone. High FG, yucky banana smell, geez I reckon it wasn't meant to be!!

I do seem to have a sensitive palate. I own a cafe and I drive my staff wild with my pedantic attitude towards coffee :lol:

 

[Sneddy]

You never know... Leave it for 6-12 months and it could mellow out into a fantastic beer!

Something the master brewer on a brewery tour once told me was never bin a beer in the first 6 months... Unless it's blatantly fowl/infected. Told me about a beer he brewed with a passion fruit flavour to it - he didn't like it but his friends loved it. 12 months later he found a bottle of it that he forgot to give away and said it was one of the nicest beer's he's ever brewed.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I did pitch high, probably around 22-24. Sound like that's a bad idea too! It's weird how badly this one batch has gone. High FG, yucky banana smell, geez I reckon it wasn't meant to be!!

I do seem to have a sensitive palate. I own a cafe and I drive my staff wild with my pedantic attitude towards coffee :lol:

Nothing wrong with that.

I live in Brisvegas, and I can go to two different cafes that serve the same variety of coffee, and one can get it so totally wrong. We're past the bad ol' days of dodgy coffee, but there are a couple of baristas floating around that can ruin a coffee with the wrong process.

Sorry to go :icon_offtopic:

Goomba

 

[Acasta]

RE-opening.

I used WLP-022 (essex ale) at 18 degrees for 5 days, down to FG and its now CCing, it tastes like a banana lolly. Very annoying. Will it benefit from being brought back up to ferment temps for a while? or is best to just bottle and and bottle condition under the house for a while?

Is this yeast know to do this at such low temps?

 

[Tanga]

The best solution would be to give it to me and I'll drink it for you. =)

Sorry, not productive I know, but I have no idea and I'm bored so kinda stalking the forums a bit. I do love a fruity beer though .

 

[Eater]

Acasta
Same sort of extract build as OP?

(all grainer here but circumstance means ill be extract soonish, so trying to get my head around numbers)

 

[Acasta]

All grain. Was Dr. Smurto's Landlord.