| |
Main
Date: 01 Oct 2006 06:28:03
From: Adam Preble
Subject: Infected starts?
|
I was trying the mason jar starter idea I've seen on here for a lager,
but decided to toss it and get a fresh vial instead. I didn't trust the
smell of the starters to pitch. One was very pungent. It was of beer,
but harsh on the nose like it burnt. The other was clearly a cider
odor. Had I not known better I would have thought I was about to drink
some cider. I didn't taste either.
The base yeast was WLP's Czech Budejovice, leftover dregs from a prior
lager. I've pulled dregs and put in the vials before, but never with
mason jars. I was using extra light DME to feed them. Since it's a
lager yeast, perhaps the one with the harsh odor was prefectly fine;
they were fermenting at room temperature. The cidery one to me was
clearly infected.
Since they're already down the drain and I'm set on getting different
yeast for this new beer, I wanted to make certain of my judgements. As
I get further along in the hobby, I am learning to trust my instincts
more on the fly but I'm not quite there yet.
|
|
| |
Date: 01 Oct 2006 13:53:05
From: John Krehbiel
Subject: Re: Infected starts?
|
Adam Preble wrote:
> >
> Since they're already down the drain and I'm set on getting different
> yeast for this new beer, I wanted to make certain of my judgements.
I suppose "when in doubt, throw it out" is a safe strategy, but I have
had some starters with a lot of esters and pretty awful flavor, and the
beer was fine. Remember the starter isn't usually temperature
controlled, and I don't hop it, so I really don't expect the strater to
taste like beer.
Some people buy new liquid yeast cultures for every brew. I am usually
broke and have to save yeast, and so far so good
Bottom line, do what you can afford and are comfortable with.
John
|
| |
Date: 02 Oct 2006 15:23:45
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Infected starts?
|
On Sun, 01 2006 06:28:03 GMT, <rockobonaparte@hotmail.com > wrote:
> I was trying the mason jar starter idea I've seen on here for a lager,
> but decided to toss it and get a fresh vial instead. I didn't trust the
> smell of the starters to pitch. One was very pungent. It was of beer,
> but harsh on the nose like it burnt. The other was clearly a cider
> odor. Had I not known better I would have thought I was about to drink
> some cider. I didn't taste either.
>
> The base yeast was WLP's Czech Budejovice, leftover dregs from a prior
> lager. I've pulled dregs and put in the vials before, but never with
> mason jars. I was using extra light DME to feed them. Since it's a
> lager yeast, perhaps the one with the harsh odor was prefectly fine;
> they were fermenting at room temperature. The cidery one to me was
> clearly infected.
>
> Since they're already down the drain and I'm set on getting different
> yeast for this new beer, I wanted to make certain of my judgements. As
> I get further along in the hobby, I am learning to trust my instincts
> more on the fly but I'm not quite there yet.
It's difficult to tell. Both could have been fine. You get some weird
aromas in starters sometimes. We're not really making a beer in them,
so it's not going to smell like you're used to (no hops, no specialty grains,
etc). Also, with the higher concentration of yeast in the starter volume,
it's going to amplify any strange fermentation odor that they give off. IMO,
don't expect your starters to smell like a "normal" batch fermentation.
With that said, it's always better to be safe than sorry. If you don't
trust your starter for some reason, go ahead and replace it. I wouldn't
try and second guess myself afterwards. You may have thrown away healthy
yeast. But on the other hand you would have ruined an entire batch if
the starters were bad. New yeast isn't that expensive compared to the cost
of the 5 gallon batch.
John.
|
|
