Wyeast Wehen Stephanner Yeast

[barkar]

Hi
I have two spoilt batches of hefe weizen with this yeast . Both from two different smack packs

Each have developed the same flavour profile, slightly clovey but very tart and an aroma noise in the glass that s hard to describe (kinda like mild orange juice) - not very pleasant / not undrinakable but not presentable either

The last yeast i had was 6 months old and took a while to get going i made a starter a day before but i doubt there was sufficient development based on the 4 day lag time after. It was lying in the fermenter for about 2-3 weeks
Before i transferred it

The previous batch was 6 months a go and was made from a split starter. Again some unusual fermenting it went off stopped for while and then started again

Do you think the yeast had done its job or did i prematurely keg it

Saddenned by this as i made 30 + litres - it was at 1.010 per hydrometer reading

Its not the corney keg as i had a couple of really nice alse in between these two batches

Whats your thoughts

 

[Ceejay]

I'm just listening to the Bavarian Hefeweizen podcast on The Brewing Network. It seems that the Weizen yeasts have a very short shelf life, and as yours was 6 months old, I imagine this is probably the issue here, even though you made a starter. 4 day lag time seems very long for this yeast. I'm sure someone else will be along with more specific info, but it definitely sounds like out of date yeast is your culprit.

What were your fermentation temps like?

 

[barkar]

It would appear that might be the case, Doesnt bode well i have wit yeast and ale yeast sitting in my fridge one over a year and the other the same as the wehen stephaner , so i think i might bin them , cant beat dry yeast in some instances

Would it be a case that some wild yeast activity has occurred , there is that definite mild hefe flavour but this other aroma also appears,

 

[Aleman]

Doesn't sound normal for that yeast, which normally has ferments that can best be described as Volcanic.

I think you picked up an infection somewhere along the lines, and this coupled with the severely under pitched yeast starters has lead to contamination.

I was using the WLP300 version of this yeast this week. . .Couple of months old, Pitched the tube into 5L of wort on Monday morning . . . activity in the starter after 2 hours and 'high Krausen' the following morning. I then pitched the Starter into 60L of wort at 10C (!!!!:shock:) 24 hours later the main batch of wort was fermenting (foam on surface), and was at 15C . . . it's now at 20C, and still fermenting well . . . nice vanilla and banana aromas.

I think one of the major issues with using liquid yeasts is matching starter production to the brewing schedule . . . particularly with Wyeast, if the starter is not working postpone brewing otherwise you run the risk of infection taking hold before the yeast can.

 

[Ceejay]

I think fermentation temperature is confusing/misunderstood with these as well. If you look at Whitelabs website it states the ideal fermentation temperature is between 20 and 22 degrees C. However, the accepted method of fermenting these is using the "30 degree" rule where the pitching temp and fermenting temp add up to 30 degrees (as per Aleman's post above). So, you can pitch at 12 degrees and ferment at 18 degrees for example.

 

[Aleman]

True . . . but if you do pitch cold you have to make sure you are not under pitching (too much) as well otherwise you are really extending the lag time

 

[barkar]

I dunno from my trials with liquid yeast it seems dry yeast seems so much easier , seems such a pita to perfect you r mash and boil and let sit in a temperature controlled environment only for the liquid yeast to fart - sorry i know a bad workman always blames his tools but have tried on numberous times to perfect a weissbeer and not have consistent same results as one would have with stouts or ales
Anyway sorry about the rant