The Mystery of My First Batch-the continuing saga

[Bartlebrewer]

So, I've posted before about my first ever batch ( one gallon of Hefeweizen, all grain) that due to accident/ignorance was fermented, at least for the first day, at insanely high temperatures of almost 80 degrees.
Well, yesterday was bottling day and the plot thickens...

Everyone on the forum warned me that I would taste fussels, have banana bombs that give me headaches, etc.
Well, I drank a glass before bottling and it tasted AWESOME. I'm not exaggerating when I say , exactly like a Schneider, and no subsequent headache. I'm of course congratulating myself until I take a hydrometer sample and see that it's still 1.012(after temp correction) the same as it's been for two days now. ( it's been in secondary for three weeks)

So...my question is, did I dodge the fermenting problems only because there wasn't enough sugar to begin with? Or did I actually dodge the fermenting problems at all...will the off tastes com out after conditioning? I bottled the beer at this point.

Secondly, I mashed in the oven, temps and times were right on target. O.G. was 1.050. The only reason I can think of for the low FGs is that I milled the grain myself with a rolling pin because I forgot to have it done at the store.

I appreciate any thoughts you guys have....Cheers,

 

[kh54s10]

We would need to see the recipe, but 1.012 is not low for an FG.

It sounds like you have a decent beer on your hands. You may detect different flavors after carbonation, but if it is good now it will probably be good later.

 

[Bartlebrewer]

This is very nice news...and also proof that my college prof was right in giving me a "D" in Chemistry class...Thanks.

 

[Demus]

1.050 to 1.012 is 75% attenuation. Those numbers a pretty dead on. Would your beer have tasted even better fermented at 65? Probably, brew another to find out!!! Off flavors from warm ferments can happen, but every strain and recipe is different. Sounds to me like you flew a little close to the sun, but didn't get burned!

 

[woozy]

Almost 80 degrees is not "insanely" high. It's rookie mistake and incorrect high and let's try to do better next time high. It's high enough to run a serious risk of fusels, off tastes and headaches but to claim you *will* get fusels off tastes a headaches is like claiming you *will* get hacked if you use the internet without a firewall. You were lucky but not extraordinarily let's tap-dance on the nose of the grim reaper lucky.

Fermenting in the 90s is insanely high.

As stated before, 1.012 is not a low final gravity.

I don't quite follow your reasoning that a low final gravity would prevent off flavors.

 

[Bartlebrewer]

Yeah, I appreciate the clarification on that woozy. One of the things that's difficult as a noob is figuring out what's fact,what's opinion, what's maybe/what's definite.

When I mistakenly thought I had a low FG, I was wondering if having less sugars fermenting would make the yeast produce less unwanted byproducts. That's probably scientifically wrong... just making guesses...

 

[Demus]

Yeah, I appreciate the clarification on that woozy. One of the things that's difficult as a noob is figuring out what's fact,what's opinion, what's maybe/what's definite.

This is a constant battle! Reading recent books and magazines like Zymurgy and BYO helps. It also helps to realize that there's often more than one "right" answer. Welcome to brewing!!!