Wheat Beer over powering clove taste

[Corbières]

Recently made my first wheat beer - 50/50 ale and wheat malt, mittelfrueh to 17 IBU, orange peel and coriander. Yeast was CML Gretel. Taste test at 3 weeks and all I get is clove to the point of almost medicinal. Nothing else coming thru.
Batch was 15L, OG 1.052, 17g coriander 34g orange peel. Fermented at 20c for 2 weeks. Kegged and force carbonated.
My question is will this mellow with age or have I made a mistake somewhere.

 

[thegrantickle]

You've fermented that quite low in temp. I would have been pushing it to 24C min.

How much did you pitch? If you have overpitched (and fermented too cold) you will have encouraged phenols (i.e. clove) and likely suppressed almost all esters (e.g. banana).

The clove will likely mellow out a bit, but you won't get anything else coming up more.

 

[Corbières]

You've fermented that quite low in temp. I would have been pushing it to 24C min.

How much did you pitch? If you have overpitched (and fermented too cold) you will have encouraged phenols (i.e. clove) and likely suppressed almost all esters (e.g. banana).

The clove will likely mellow out a bit, but you won't get anything else coming up more.

Pitched the whole packet

 

[thegrantickle]

I would have pitched 3/4 of a pack in 20L, so maybe 1/2 a pack in 15L. Underpitching stresses the yeast during the growth phase which will produce more esters such as banana and bubblegum.

 

[AdeDunn]

Just a quick observation, that's a heck of a lot of coriander in a 15 litre batch, I only used 10g in a 23 litre batch of Belgian wit (which is supposed to have a nice hit of clove and coriander, vs a German wheat...), and the flavour was quite apparent, you sure it's not the coriander that you're tasting?

As to a medicinal flavour, any time I get medicinal flavours (think sticking plasters/TCP) my alarm bells go off....

 

[thegrantickle]

Just a quick observation, that's a heck of a lot of coriander in a 15 litre batch, I only used 10g in a 23 litre batch of Belgian wit (which is supposed to have a nice hit of clove and coriander, vs a German wheat...), and the flavour was quite apparent, you sure it's not the coriander that you're tasting?

As to a medicinal flavour, any time I get medicinal flavours (think sticking plasters/TCP) my alarm bells go off....

I'd agree with that, too.

 

[Corbières]

Just a quick observation, that's a heck of a lot of coriander in a 15 litre batch, I only used 10g in a 23 litre batch of Belgian wit (which is supposed to have a nice hit of clove and coriander, vs a German wheat...), and the flavour was quite apparent, you sure it's not the coriander that you're tasting?

As to a medicinal flavour, any time I get medicinal flavours (think sticking plasters/TCP) my alarm bells go off....

I really like coriander (in food - ground powdered and fresh leaf) so am fairly sure it’s not coriander. The amount is scaled from Greg Hughes Witbier 25g in 23L.
Thanks for your reply

 

[Corbières]

I would have pitched 3/4 of a pack in 20L, so maybe 1/2 a pack in 15L. Underpitching stresses the yeast during the growth phase which will produce more esters such as banana and bubblegum.

Thank you - I’m fairly new to home brew - which is probably apparent. I’ll have another go taking the learnings from here

 

[An Ankoù]

I really like coriander (in food - ground powdered and fresh leaf) so am fairly sure it’s not coriander. The amount is scaled from Greg Hughes Witbier 25g in 23L.
Thanks for your reply

I made a batch of that beer and scaled back the coriander and the orange peel.
As for the banana v clove thing, this thread might shed some light or confuse you even more.
I'm also concerned that you're getting a "medicinal" flavour. It might be something else entirely

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/banana-vs-cloves.213135/

 

[Sadfield]

The flavour from Coriander seeds should come through very similar to hops, as in citrus/floral as they contain some common terpenes (Linalool, Pinene and Geraniol). As with hops you should aim to use spices as fresh as possible so that these haven't been oxidised. I've read, Indian (rugby ball shaped) seeds are preferable to European (Football shaped) varieties.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I once used 4g fresh ground coriander seed in a 4L batch of witbier and it was fine so that's probably not the issue.

Are you possibly over-sensitive to the "clove"? I like clove, but naturally tastes differ person to person. I've only used M20 but really liked the cloviness.

As above, if it's more medicinal tasting, then it could be from chlorine somewhere in the process.

 

[Corbières]

I got SWMBO to taste today after some of the earlier responses - she’s not a beer drinker and has an excellent palate - I didn’t highlight anything before and she said it tasted ok !?!?!?
Maybe I am over sensitive to clove. Gonna get a few beer drinkers to try.

 

[AdeDunn]

Buy a bottle of German wheat beer from Aldi or Lidl. The stuff they sell is usually a clove bomb in my experience, with pretty much no banana. Might help you to compare.