I just transferred a brett beer to the secondary and it was waaayyy phenolic. Much more than I’d hoped. My temperature control was pretty good and I have no reason to think this is a sanitation problem. (It was a split batch, and the other carboy with saison yeast was awesome.) Has anyone had this issue with Brett? Any chance the phenols will dissipate over time? It was in the primary for almost a month.
What were you fermenting with? Typically the lambic blends contain a Belgian Sacch strain that is going to put out some phenolics, nothing over the top though. What was your ferm temp and how were you controlling?
What kind of phenols are we talking about? Can you describe the flavor/aroma?
Spicy clove, or Bandaid?
Some spicy clove, but more toward bandaid or bicycle tire…not appealing. Fermentation temp was around 170, though it probably fluctuated 2-3 degrees because of a heat wave. There’s a slight sour note but I wish it were more. I’m thinking of adding raspberries to the secondary. Suggestions on ways to hide this if the phenols don’t mellow?
170!!! holy moly!!! haha. assuming you meant 70…how long has it been sitting on the Brett? Brett can take quite a bit longer to ferment out, so it may still be doing some clean up work. Also which Brett strain did you use?
oops…yeah, it was 70 degrees, not “170.” I’m letting it do its thing in a secondary for now and will see how it comes out. Crossing my fingers for a miracle.
What Brett strain did you use? Was it all Brett, or Brett in secondary? I recently did an all Brett clausenii Saison that started out with a lot of smoky/rubber phenolics. Over time the phenols faded and it turned into a nice beer with lots of tropical fruit and very low phenols. There’s hope…
The band-aid taste could often be a result of over sparging or sparging with water that is too hot.
The band-aid taste will not disipate over time.
I thought the band-aid taste was from chlorinated water combining with hop and yeast phenols. Where did you get this information? I haven’t heard it before.
Chlorine is what caused my band-aid problem in two batches. I have heard that oversparging and/ or too hot water sparge water can cause them too. I also have heard contamination could also be the cause.
Dont recall what books I’ve read this in but here are some quick links I found.
http://byo.com/resources/troubleshooting
Edited to add links.
I’ve had similar problems with ban-aid flavors (only in my first two attempts at brewing lambics). In my case I traced it back to over sparging with overly hot water. I use RO water, and I know that chlorine or chloramine is not an issue for me.
I still have a case of 4 year old peach and cherry lambic bottled that has a foul band-aid after taste. That is why I am saying that the band-aid flavor does not go away.
The yeast I used was White Labs WLP650, and it was the only yeast I used. Based on what you guys have said, I’m guessing this is a contamination problem. I don’t have chlorinated water (I’m on a well) and I’d say the oversparging could be the issue, if not for the fact that I split the batch in half and the carboy with a Saison yeast was awesome…no Band Aid at all.
Thanks for the input, everyone.