Wyeast 1469 - Odd Smells!

[marzipan71]

Hi All - I'm brewing Northern Brewer's The Innkeeper (as a Brit, I really miss Tim Taylor's Landlord - oh my, what a beer!) from their extract kit.

The brew session went great, very happy, hit the target OG. I'm ultra-cautious with hygiene. Pitched my Wyeast smack pack of Wyeast 1469 at around 70F.

Then...nothing for 48 hours. I usually press the lid of my fermenting bins to release a little aroma through the airlock from the contents to see how things are going. Usually, this is clean smelling but the batch smelled really off, slightly cheesy and a little acetic. Yuck. I thought maybe its a dud and some beasties got in, but today (almost 60 hours later) its bubbling merrily away, and releasing that same aroma from the airlock. Cheesy, acetic.

I've not brewed with this yeast before (but I notice a few threads where everyone loves it) - is this kind of thing normal, and does it indicate a problem? I know brewing is a smelly business but all my other beers (I'm a noob, this is my 7th brew) have smelled quite nice when they've been fermenting (even my batch of Ed Wort's apfelwein!).

Any help appreciated!!

 

[UKJay1971]

Well, at this stage you are already in it so wait it out and see how it turns out after primary.

Timothy Taylor's Landlord - best pint in the world (and quite local to me)!

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[marzipan71]

Thanks - that's what I was looking for - whether I should wait or whether the weird smells are categorical proof of a dud batch. Sounds like the former (unless anyone else wants to comment). Happy to let the yeasties work their Yorkshire magic.

I wish TT's would export Landlord...but then its fun trying to make a clone

 

[oldmangrimm]

I've brewed several batches with 1469 and occasionally there will be a cheesy smell and a long lag time if I don't bother with a starter. Let it finish and see how it tastes.

 

[Braufessor]

I use 1469 all the time for bitters and milds. It can throw some weird esters and odors. I have had some batches that I thought really tasted off at 3-4 weeks, and then at 6-7 weeks, I thought they were great. I would just roll with it and give it a solid 2-3 weeks to do its thing, bottle or keg and see how it all comes out - not really any other options at this point. A couple thoughts for the future.
1.) I like to make a 1-1.5 L yeast starter to make sure the yeast is active and ready to roll right away. Usually the beers I make with this yeast are on the small side as far as O.G. (1.040) or so - but I still think one smack pack is on the low side of pitching. Especially if it is not completely fresh.
2.) I like to start my fermentation at lower temps. with this yeast. I give it a day or 2 with the room temperature in the 60-62 range and then bring it to a room where the temp. is about 62-65. Remember - the yeast is generating heat, so the actual fermentation temperature is going to be higher than the temp. of your room. I like to keep fermentation temperature of this yeast in the 63-69 range. Seems to throw the stronger esters when you get over 70.

 

[brokebucket]

I am fermenting out an esb with this yeast now....first time user as well. I did not get any cheese flavor, but at 1 week, my gravity was below terminal, there was a huge floating yeast cake, and the sample was pretty fruity. I pitched at 62 and brought it up to 68 where it still rides. My plan is to let this ride until the 2.5 week point then cold crash to hopefully get the yeast to the bottom, then keg at the 3 week point.

 

[Braufessor]

It also stays cloudy for a while - not like 002 or 1968. It will eventually fall out and go crystal clear though in the keg in my experience.

 

[marzipan71]

Hi All - thanks for your posts. Wanted to give an update on this batch. I brewed it on 1/19/14,
OG: 1.046 using that cheesy, weird looking yeast. It started visible fermentation on 1/22, in a room around 70F, and as I mentioned, was giving off pretty nasty vapors! I racked it into a secondary (carboy) on 2/4/14, FG: 1.007. The beer was looking kind of odd, kind of soupy and very cloudy, a bit gelatinous. At this stage it smelled and tasted horrid - really medicinal. I thought I'd leave it in the carboy to see if the problems cleared up - left it in the garage at 55F until tonight (3/10) when I intended to bottle.

Anyhow, it still tasted terrible - and a bit of googling brought me to the old medicinal/ Band Aid problem which describes quite accurately how it tasted. I had my wife taste it and she said if I ever had her try it again she'd divorce me. It was that bad

Did some digging on the causes of this kind of taste and it seems to be either chlorine issues, or wild yeasts. Given that I didn't de-chlorinate the water, it could easily have been that. I use Star San exclusively, so it couldn't be bleach reacting etc. But I've brewed other brews without dechlorinating (this was brew number 8 for me) and they've been fine. Could also have been the wild yeasts of course.

I can't help thinking it was a bad batch of yeast though - when I opened it originally, it had a cheesy smell and a gelatinous texture. I guess I should have just ditched it and bought new yeast. Since I bought this mail order, I'm inclined to think that could have something to do with it.

Lessons learned:

- Use cleanser and Star San to make sure equipment is totally clean
- Use fresh yeast bought from a local, trusted brew shop
- If in doubt, throw it out
- 70F room temperature is way too warm and I should have had it in a room around 65-69 max
- Dechlorinate your brew-water
- If it tastes really terrible when you move it to the secondary, its likely to stay truly terrible
- Never give your wife bad beer to try in the hope she'll persuade you its a winner

So I now know the pain of ditching 5 gallons of beer - oh well.

Thanks for all your posts on this. We learn by experience

 

[brokebucket]

Man, sorry to hear about your beer, really a bummer. I used this yeast 4 times over by top cropping and have nothing but good things to say about it! Dont give up on the strain.

 

[strangegreenman]

Man, sorry to hear about your beer, really a bummer. I used this yeast 4 times over by top cropping and have nothing but good things to say about it! Dont give up on the strain.

+1 to this, especially considering you're cloning a Timothy Taylor beer. That yeast is from that very brewery... and also happens to be my favorite english strain, bar none.
Good luck on your next brew with it!

 

[Gameface]

Sucks to hear the bad news but very good to hear that you are using it as a learning experience. You're definitely on the right track!

 

[rmyurick]

I made an ESB with the 1469 and it tastes great, but has yet to clear (bottled 2/19). Should maybe have used some finings?

It has a nutty taste. Not much head retention, but that is probably process/recipe related. A week after bottling, it had a lot of pear-like ester flavors, but that seems to have faded somewhat. I put one in the fridge to see if it would clear totally--it seems to be clearing, but slowly. (I usually bottle one or two clear bottles to monitor clearing/yeast settling).

 

[FarmerTed]

I did the Landlord clone last year, and it turned out really well. I went through that beer fast. Bummer about the problems, but dumping sounded like the way to go. 1469 gives a ridiculous krausen that will never go away. The two times I've used it, I swirled the crap out of my fermenter (after the ferment was done) until the sticky mass broke up and dropped down to the bottom.