Wyeast Vs Bacteria

[beersatan]

So, I bought my first 1272 to do a comparison with US05 on two identical cubes of APA.
The US05 keg was a hoppy success.
I can't describe the 1272 keg very well but it is bitter as expected but the hop flavours are gone and replaced with a sort of licorice taste.

I made a 600ml starter from half the pack and it was well and truly firing by the time I pitched.
The dark krausen ring didn't appear on the fermenter for a few days but went crazy once it did.

Is it likely that in the few days before the yeast went nuts that bacteria has attacked the wort and given it this flavour?
Has anyone else had this licorice taste in their beer other than Guiness?

Edit - put this in the wrong category but can't see the delete button

 

[Stuster]

You've underpitched by using only half the yeast in a small starter (600ml is very small really). That means the long lag time is not really surprising. And with that long lag time, you certainly do get the chance for contaminants to take hold and alter the flavour of the beer. Liquorice though isn't something I'd expect a wild yeast or bacteria to give to your beer. Could you describe it as spicy or solventy? It might be due to yeast stress from underpitching.


(Hard to know without tasting it. Getting an experienced local to taste it is probably your best bet.)

 

[Sammus]

yeah anything more than 18L of 1.040 wort I'd be throwing a whole pack into a 1L starter before using it. At least. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html is normally a pretty good indicator of how much yeast you should be using.

 

[beersatan]

Cheers guys.

I just remembered that when my yeast was delivered to me it was already puffed up (still cold) which concerned me a lot but I made the starter and it smelled pretty good and figured it was so active so quickly I might get away with not stepping it up to a 1L or 2L. My bad.

I considered putting some in a bottle and taking it to my LHBS but am a bit embarrassed by it and thought posting on here and letting everyone in the brewing community know about my failure would be easier to deal with :huh:
I may have to though as I don't taste cooked veges or spicy and really don't know what solvent tastes like...
Will probably just suck up my shame and drink it so I don't have to buy beer.