Off-flavor and little to no head?

So I’m still fairly new to brewing (probably brewed 5 or 6 extract batches now).

Two things I’ve encountered on just about all my batches so far is:

1.) An overly sweet and bready flavor. Not sure if I need to do a better job of regulating temperature during fermentation? Perhaps reduce the amount of priming sugar I’m using? Let it sit in the primary for a week longer or so?

2.) Little to no head. I’m getting okay carbonation, but the head dissipates pretty quickly. Any suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong or what can alleviate this?

Any thoughts?

Here’s some details on my recipe, steps, and fermentation process for my latest batch, but again - I get this in just about all my brews. I’ve also since realized that not any and all grains can be used for steeping. Is it possible I’m getting certain off flavors from that bone-head amateur mistake of mine (that I will correct obviously…)?

It’s a shame, because the recipe below creates a damn, good looking beer. I’ll let it condition for another week and hope that some of the sweetness dies down.

Style: Saison
Original Gravity: ~1.055
Final Gravity: ~1.016

Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermenter volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons

STEEPING GRAINS:
0.25 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 10L (2.9%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Biscuit (5.7%)

FERMENTABLES:
4 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light
2 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light - (late addition; about 10 minutes left in boil)
1 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Light - (late addition; about 10 minutes left in boil)

HOPS:
2 oz - Czech Saaz (Pellet) – Boil for 60 min
1 oz - Styrian Golding(Pellet) – Boil for 30 min
1 oz - Nelson Sauvin (Pellet) – Boil for 10 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 oz - Sweet Orange Peel, Time: 5 min

YEAST:
White Labs - Belgian Saison I Yeast WLP565
Fermentation Temp: 75 F

OTHER NOTES:
Rack to secondary after 1 week in primary. Bottle exactly 2 weeks after initial brew day. Condition in bottle for 2 weeks.

Leave the next beer in the primary for at least three weeks. No secondary. Just let it finish.

Bottle condition for at least three weeks before you chill the first beer, for at least 48 hours, before your first taste.

Thanks! I posted something similar on beer advocate and they too said the FG was way too high. Interestingly enough some folks are saying this yeast can be stingy and shouldn’t ferment above 60. Not sure if there’s any validity to that or not.

Any who, guess I’ll give a tweak version of this recipe a shot. Hopefully that will correct what I think has some decent potential.

Thanks again.

I think its great that you trained your yeast/beer to read a calendar. :wink:

Don’t let the calendar tell you when to take steps, let the beer. If secondaries work for you stick with them (I’m pro secondary), but make sure the beer is finished fermenting. Most if not all beer benefits from a little aging. Even young drinkers like wheats, PA, and IPA benefit from a little time.

[quote=“cugabuh”]Thanks! I posted something similar on beer advocate and they too said the FG was way too high. Interestingly enough some folks are saying this yeast can be stingy and shouldn’t ferment above 60. Not sure if there’s any validity to that or not.

Any who, guess I’ll give a tweak version of this recipe a shot. Hopefully that will correct what I think has some decent potential.

Thanks again.[/quote]
One thing to remember is that yeast companies advertise specs for the best attenuation and flocculation. This isn’t necessarily the best for flavor. Too high of temps will result in fusel alcohol which will be detrimental to your head formation/retention.

1.016 is average or extract. Consider adding some table sugar to help dry it out a little and pus that FG down.

That yeast is the Dupont strain, which is notorious for slowing down and taking a long time to finish fermentation. It also likes to ferment at much higher temperatures than most beer yeast. A lot of brewers, including commercial brewers using this strain start fermentation in the mid seventies and let it rise into the 80’s (fahrenheit :slight_smile: ) which is pretty much unheard of with other strains.
Another technique is to use a blend of two strains or add another belgian strain after 10 days or so to help finish the fermentation.