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Delicate Question

Northern Brewer General
#1

We recently completed 2 Bavarian Hefewizens. We basically riffed a little bit on the stock extract kit, to the first (bottled 6/2) we added a bottle of blackberry extract at bottling. To the other we added ~6lb of Cherry puree to the primary (bottled 7/5.) The blackberry is really tasty. The cherry is drinkable but I wouldn’t call it good.

So anyway, I know hefe’s are yeasty, and yeast can be a laxative, but these things are unbelievable. And I’m not talking about getting hammered here; I’m talking about one or two. I hesitate to drink them if I have anything to do the next morning. With these I do not rouse the sediment to serve “mit hefe”, I pour gently and leave the sediment behind; and still, when morning comes it’s worse than broccoli tacos.

The BJCP doesn’t mention anything about this style turing your insides out. Both blew the top off the primary, but got cleaned and resealed. Could this do it?

WHAT DID I DO WRONG???

#2

Hefes’ are no more yeasty than any other ale. Pouring the yeast in your glass of Hefe defines part of the Hefe taste profile. Your problem may partly lie in to high of fermentation temperature if the tops were blown off the fermentors and the fruit you added.

#3

I had this problem when I first started brewing but my body got used to it , must have figured I wasn’t going to change :lol:

#4

Are you doing water chemistry? If so (as I recently discovered) an imbalance in a few different adjusters can have a diuretic effect.

#5

Sell it in the drugstores, or from the back of a covered wagon, if you can get a crowd together. People pay good money for tonics of similar efficacy.

#6

Nice! I like it. The covered wagon makes it all the more realistic to conceptualize.

I do side towards the minerals question posed also. Them and the thing is your body becoming accustomed to the yeast itself which does cause gassiness or in some cases diarrhea depending on your own intestinal balance/imbalance or other health.

Regarding minerals the one I know from memory is Magnesium in high concentrations can cause diarrhea. If you have/ are using a well it can also have high magnesium/ iron concentrations and or slime bacteria in concentration that would cause issue.

I know when we were kids, we would go help on the farm for a couple summers and myself and siblings would have diarrhea for a couple days until our body’s got used to the sick,sick,sulfury putrid well water used or we learned to avoid it as teenagers and followed our cousin’s lead by sticking to beer. Which is kind of ironic to say in this case but it was one time we were happy to have BMC whatever rather than that awful well water. Just a thought, although if your making beer with municipal tap water very rarely will you see high levels of Mg.

#7

If it’s the minerals, wouldn’t everything we make with the water be a problem? We make other beers, tea, coffee, and even drink it straight. It is municipal, not well. I know it’s not the best in the country, but they’ve been replacing all the mains over the last few years. Straight from the tap it can taste a bit metallic, but I’ve never smelled or tasted chlorine like the water where I work.

Fermentation was at the high side; I think the liquid yeast says 75 tops, and the basement should have been under 70 the whole time. The yeast may have have pushed 5 or more degrees over ambient. If I try this again I’ll wait till I can keep it colder.

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