Hey all. I’ve been having a rough year in general but this particular problem seems to only affect two batches. I’ve recently had two batches give off that distinctive Banana/Clove aroma and flavor after bottling. They tasted perfect AT bottling time but after a few weeks of bottle conditioning I get the Hefe aroma and flavor. Both batches fermented and conditioned in the cellar at about 65-68 degrees and both with boiled priming sugar.
The first was Dawson’s multi-grain Red (WLP British yeast which never took off, re-pitched with S-04 which was why I originally wrote that one off as the re-pitch being the culprit) and I’m fairly certain that it’s not meant to resemble a wheat beer in any way.
The second was the Oatmeal Stout (WY-Whitbread) which DEFINITELY should not taste like a wheat beer. I used the same fermentor to make both however I’ve made several batches before and after that have been fine. And it only seems to affect the bottles, my kegs turn out perfect. I use StarSan on everything and unless I’m doing something wrong I believe I’m sanitizing my equipment properly.
I’ve heard some say that it may be the bottles weren’t completely sanitized but my thought would be “I can’t have missed them all”. That leaves me with a bottling bucket harboring “fugitives” (I’ve never made a wheat beer so I don’t believe that’s what happened), a similarly infected bottle filler or auto-siphon.
The only other time I got an infection was last year before I obtained a wort-chiller and that had the green apple thing going on so this is a bit confusing. This is not medicinal, band-aid or green apple. Just straight banana/clove hefe and a little bit of the base beer.
