Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit And Temperature

[Nick JD]

Just went to adjust the STC1000 for a Wit that's about to go in and was wondering if anyone has any advice about what to set it to...

I'm after a fair whack of yeast character in this batch (it's a Vanilla Wit with no orange and corriander) and have heard that upping the temperature will increase the phenolics, which I reckon would compliment the vanilla, but at what point am I going to start getting fusels and crap like that with 3944?

A violent 1L starter (from stored trub) is on the bench.

Wyeast say 16-24C, and I'm thinking 22C. Has anyone used 3944 this high and got bad flavours?

Cheers.

 

[hefejimbo]

Hey,

I just recently did a Belgian Wit with the 3944 at 20c.. It thru off massive bannana esters so I personally wouldn't go any higher but hey at the end of the day its still beer!

Good Luck

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Only ever used it at 18-19C and love the yeast. Give 20-21C a whirl - I'll be very interested to see how it comes out Nick
Cheers
BBB

 

[Nick JD]

It's by no means "to style" for a Wit, and I've had lots of fun (big yeast character with no ill flavours) with 3068 and 3638 well into the 20s ... so let's see I s'pose.

Pretty sure the fusels won't start until 24C+.

It's at 21C. I'll ramp it to 22C past halfway - probably after I clean up the mess and wonder why I didn't use my blow-off tube.

EDIT: just read that a lot of American brewers ferment it at 72F, so it should still be okay.

 

[hsb]

I threw down a Belgian Wit on a 1.5L starter of 3944. (1040 OG)

Pale Malt 2570g
Unmalted Wheat 2320g
Flaked Oats 255g
60min:
EKG 30g
Saaz 15g
15min:
Saaz 15g
10min:
Coriander seed 10g/Orange peel 20g

Started it at 16C and let it rise up to about 18C.
Reagitated after 5 days at 1022.
Got it down to 1014 after 12 days in primary.

Racked to secondary, another couple of days, then Cold crashed for another 10 days at 5C.

Kegged it last night, still at 1014, couldn't get it to budge down from there.

Taste was great all the way through from mash to secondary, until I sampled from the keg last night.

There's a real upfront butteriness in the taste, first thing that hits the palate. Dammit dammit dammit.
What does everyone think - diacetyl? or residual sugar from an unfinished ferment?
I think it is diacetyl. It is so immediate on the nose and palate that it squashes the lovely delicate coriander/orange thing that was going on before.

It isn't gassed, it is just sitting in the keg. So I was contemplating bringing it up to 20C for a couple of days to see if it shifts that butteriness.
Anyone think it's a good idea? Or is it too late now it's been at 5C for 10 days plus?
Have really not had any joy with lager of any kind so far, the search goes on.

Main thing to note about the Yeast was that it was slow and it didn't form any real compacted yeast trub cake, very not-flocculant.

 

[hsb]

So the above brew that's been in the keg since August 8th has slowly mellowed a bit with the 'buttery' taste. It's still weird tasting but I can 'get it down' lol.

But I've knocked out another Wheat beer - left out spice/fruit to keep it simple.

Fermentation has been fairly normal - about 7 days to drop from 1045 ish to aroun 1011, krausen has come and gone in that time.
Fermentation started at 18C and let it come up to 20C.

A taste test last night and it has a hint of that previous flavour (diacetyl?) a dominant sort of buttery flavour, can't quite put my finger on it so I'm assuming it is diacetyl.
There's also just a hint of 'smokiness' about it.

What should I do from here? Let is warm up to 22C? for a couple of days to give it a diacetyl rest?

My normal practice would be to cold crash it (5C) for a few days to drop the yeast out, then keg.

It might just be the 'banana/clove' etc.. characteristics of the yeast I'm not getting a handle on.

TBH this is typical of my experience with lager/wheat beer and what has me thinking of just abandoning them totally for the meantime - all that effort and 7 days into fermentation it suddenly turns into a 'pig', then I wait months for it to be drinkable but never nice. It's got me reaching for the IPA, ESB, APA recipe book, as I know I can bang out ales with no drama whatsoever.

Anyone had similar experience with Wyeast 3944?

The recipe:
22 litres
Flaked Wheat 2.4kg
Pilsener Malt 1.5kg
Munich I 0.7kg
Pale Wheat Malt 0.3kg
Flaked Oats 0.3kg
Hallertauer (flowers) 60min 20g
Hallertauer (flowers) 10min 20g
Hallertauer (flowers) Hop Tea to Primary 15g (when pitching)

I also made a nice 2L starter on a stir plate to try to be sure the yeast was 'in a happy place' prior to pitching.

 

[orangehero]

Are you sure it's not the wheat you're tasting? For me the wheat has this really soft, mellow graininess that I guess could almost be described as buttery. The oats contribute a lush, slick mouthfeel and a rather distinct flavor (at 10%) also. Most wheat beers are not necessarily fresh, so perhaps you're just not used to the fresh wheat/oats flavor that you get in homebrew?

Also, how are you oxygenating the wort? What carbonation level do you have it at?

 

[OneEye]

I pitched a 1L starter of this yeast tonight. Because its been so warm here the plate chiller only got the wort down to about 29C (not a bad effort still) So I threw the fermenter into the fridge and was going to wait until it was about 18-19C. Something came up and I had to leave the house for a few hours so I pitched at 23C.... four hours later and the STC is reading 17.5C. I guess it will be a waiting game to see if pitching warm will cause any problems.

 

[JDW81]

I pitched a 1L starter of this yeast tonight. Because its been so warm here the plate chiller only got the wort down to about 29C (not a bad effort still) So I threw the fermenter into the fridge and was going to wait until it was about 18-19C. Something came up and I had to leave the house for a few hours so I pitched at 23C.... four hours later and the STC is reading 17.5C. I guess it will be a waiting game to see if pitching warm will cause any problems.

I'm sure it will be fine mate. The temperature was falling when you pitched, and your pitching temp wasn't that high. You've got it right in the sweet spot within 4 hours so no harm done.

JD

 

[BilBrewing]

My most recent Wit was 3944. Pitched at 23 and fermented out at 20. Awesome beer.