Just cracked a bottle of some hb, and there is a very distinctive off-flavour of sulfur. Tasted fine before bottling. As much as I can figure it is a by-product of the yeast. I pitched a small amount of EC-1118 as the original yeast was a bit old by the time I bottled. Was wondering if anyone else had similar problems with EC. I've never had problems with EC before when I used to use it my old cider making days. So, I am a bit stumped.
I guess my real question is will it mellow with age, or is it a dumper?
Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
sulfur
Sorry to say that sulfur needs a vent to evacuate. Usually you give the beer some vcold-storage time with an airlock, then bottle.duncan wrote:Just cracked a bottle of some hb, and there is a very distinctive off-flavour of sulfur. Tasted fine before bottling. As much as I can figure it is a by-product of the yeast. I pitched a small amount of EC-1118 as the original yeast was a bit old by the time I bottled. Was wondering if anyone else had similar problems with EC. I've never had problems with EC before when I used to use it my old cider making days. So, I am a bit stumped.
I guess my real question is will it mellow with age, or is it a dumper?
I dont know what yeast that is (too lazy to check, as I am also sick today) but you may want to pitch neutral aroma yeasts if you want to reactivate before bottling.
A way to check aroma is to do a small starter and give it a whiff before pitching.
Let us know how it turns out though. I've been lucky before on some batches.
Ian Guénard
http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/index.php
http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/index.php
I've used it and it definitely produces sulfur. As mentioned, it needs to be vented.
You're lucky you didn't get any bottle bombs as champagne yeast ferments extremely dry - it's extremely attenuative. In addition to the priming sugar, it no doubt fermented some of the stuff the original yeast didn't get.
I'm not sure why you chose to use champagne yeast for bottling, but it's not really a good idea, for reasons stated above. The only time it might be acceptable is when the primary ferment was done with it as well. If I REALLY had to resort to it for some reason though, I'd definitely pitch it 5-7+ days before bottling in order to let it convert anything the initial yeast didn't attenuate... not just to avoid bottle bombs, but also because it can vent the byproducts produced while consuming the extra sugars through the airlock, and only deal with potential byproducts of priming sugar consumption in the bottle, which isn't just a small amount, but also, the simple sugars often used to prime tend to result in less production of MOST unwanted byproducts... a big example being sulfur.
I'm not sure how long the beer was bulk aging to warrant pitching more yeast for bottling purposes - you didn't exactly give a ton of info - but if it is absolutely necessary, try and use the same yeast you fermented with, and if for some reason you can't, use a very clean and neutral yeast... preferably one that doesn't attenuate very well. This is pretty much the opposite of a champagne yeast!
If you were kegging, you could probably just bubble the sulfur compounds out, but with bottles, you'd have to pour them back into a fermenter, degas the beer, let it vent, and re-prime them (maybe even pitching a better yeast), which should get rid of the sulfur issue, but create a whole new issue in that it would then taste strongly of wet cardboard.
TL;DR - It can't be saved. Dump it.
You're lucky you didn't get any bottle bombs as champagne yeast ferments extremely dry - it's extremely attenuative. In addition to the priming sugar, it no doubt fermented some of the stuff the original yeast didn't get.
I'm not sure why you chose to use champagne yeast for bottling, but it's not really a good idea, for reasons stated above. The only time it might be acceptable is when the primary ferment was done with it as well. If I REALLY had to resort to it for some reason though, I'd definitely pitch it 5-7+ days before bottling in order to let it convert anything the initial yeast didn't attenuate... not just to avoid bottle bombs, but also because it can vent the byproducts produced while consuming the extra sugars through the airlock, and only deal with potential byproducts of priming sugar consumption in the bottle, which isn't just a small amount, but also, the simple sugars often used to prime tend to result in less production of MOST unwanted byproducts... a big example being sulfur.
I'm not sure how long the beer was bulk aging to warrant pitching more yeast for bottling purposes - you didn't exactly give a ton of info - but if it is absolutely necessary, try and use the same yeast you fermented with, and if for some reason you can't, use a very clean and neutral yeast... preferably one that doesn't attenuate very well. This is pretty much the opposite of a champagne yeast!
If you were kegging, you could probably just bubble the sulfur compounds out, but with bottles, you'd have to pour them back into a fermenter, degas the beer, let it vent, and re-prime them (maybe even pitching a better yeast), which should get rid of the sulfur issue, but create a whole new issue in that it would then taste strongly of wet cardboard.
TL;DR - It can't be saved. Dump it.