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Yeast Experiment – Tasting it green…

First taste of youg conditioned bottles

Boredom causes me to do some stupid things. Like, open up the week old “control” conditioned bottles for the experiment. These have only been conditioning for a week now, so not really ready for consumption and they really need some age. To be honest I didn’t have high hopes at all, but now I wonder if it is necessary to go any further. Anyway, without referring to my notes, I think I can easily pick out the over pitch.

Yeast Exp Head and Color

Raw notes below:

White Cap: Yeasty aroma with a little wet bread smell. Definite malt. Still very young. Pours like a brown abby ale with a creamy firm off-white head with lacing. Carbonation is good. Taste has a definite Belgian bite, as expected. Some warm alcohol notes. No banana or pepper. This has some way to go – but I expect it to improve in a few weeks aging. (This is the half pitch sample)

Blue Cap: Pale, almost a red color, slightly brown. Watery, no staying head and no lace. Nose is all malt, wet grain, some citrus and mineral. Taste is horrible. Tastes like trub – yeasty, bitter, strong mineral flavor. Oxidized in handling (all three bottles were also hydrometer samples) as expected. Profoundly bad – not sure aging will help at all. (This is the double pitch sample)

Green Cap: Cleaner yeast and malt aroma – a light bread-like smell of rising dough. Light lace with a thick creamy head with staying power. Dissolves into chunky clumps. Slightly yeasty flavor with a little bite, lingering aftertaste despite some warming alcohol. (This is the control pitch sample)

Yeast Exp Pour Alpha

Without looking at my notes, I can immediately identify the double pitch. I have never had such an example of off-flavors. The control and half pitch were much closer and definitely different. Neither really carry all of the flavors I would expect of a dubble. Time and aging should improve these beers, however, at this stage I can say over pitching seems like a terrible thing to do. Perhaps the oxidation (present in all of the tastes, but less so in the control) amplified or masked things – but the Blue bottle was horribly wrong. I hope I don’t anger my tasters when I can line them up… ugh

 

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One thought on “Yeast Experiment – Tasting it green…

  1. It occurs to me that I didn’t really indicate that these were my hydrometer samples that I bottled after priming. Screwy way to do it, but a helpful way to determine if carbonation levels are correct. Will crack another trio in a few days and check their status.

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