I just checked the gravity of my Blonde ale. In tasting the sample, I am getting a lot of Banana. I doubt the temperature was high, I am thinking it was in the low 60s most of the time and never got above 68/69 degrees. I used Wyeast Northwest 1332. So I have a few questions. what could have caused this? I was planning on entering this in a competition but is this banana aroma and taste going to knock me out of the Blonde Category? I have read that Leffe Blonde and others have a banana quality and I know Hefes have them too.
Hmmm, I used a fresh Wyeast pack. But I trust your opinion. Is there anything I can do before bottling? It has been 2 weeks since brewday.
A smack pack alone isn't sufficient for most beers, 1.035+. I've never used that yeast, but yeast-derived off-flavors are almost always driven by high fermentation temperatures or under pitching. As most yeast esters come from the replication phase, the more you under pitch, the more replication the yeast does, and thus, the more esters.
Given your yeast (1332), I assume the Blonde category you're talking about is 6B. In 6B, low to moderate esters are okay. But I imagine strong banana would get dinged. How long until your competition? Banana tends to fade fairly quickly. You mentioned Leffe, but that would be category 18A (belgian blonde). Just curious...did you by any chance use corn sugar as an adjunct?
I have found this as well, though with a limited number of brews. The apple/ester flavors have faded on several of my beers after a few weeks. Also, you might be overly critical of your own brew, I find myself guilty of this pretty often, not necessarily a bad thing.
