I just bought a Bavarian Weissbier kit and I want to give it a banana flavor. is this possible? Someone told me it's done with a certain yeast. is this true? or can i just use a banana?
The banana flavor in a weissbeir (hefeweizen) is isoamyl acetate, a (sometimes elusive) fermentation byproduct of some yeast strains. What strain of yeast did your kit come with?
it came with a 5 gm powder. if i read it right. the other yeast is in liquid form and is for 5 gal. the kit i have is for 2 gal. the guy said i could use all the liquid yeast. but i've been reading it's very important for the right mixture of yeast or it will not turn out good
As had been stated: You need real Bavarian Weizen yeast. I recommend Wyeast 3068 and ferment it warm to optimize the banana flavors being produced: 68-70°F. Cheers!
And what does the liquid yeast packages say on it? It should say that it's made by Wyeast (smack pack) or White Labs (vial), and should have a number and name, both of which describe the strain.
I did not buy any yeast yet. i am new to this. i did go to a beer brew store and the guy there pulled some kind out of the refrigerator after looking it up to get the best banana hint to it. I am scared to use it only because it is for a 5 gal batch instead of the 2 gal i bought. i think i remember it being wyeast.
You don't have to pitch the whole pack into your wort. If the pack is very fresh, you could use about 2/3 of it. (I'm assuming your wort's Original Gravity will be somewhere around 1.048 (typical for a hefe). If the pack is about 4-6 weeks old, you could just use the whole thing. Don't put too much trust into the idea that one pack is good for 5 gallons. It depends on the gravity of the wort, the freshness (and thus viability/vitality) of the yeast, and whether you're making an ale or lager. The calculator at Mr. Malty can help... http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
He said he was new to this and you send him to MrMalty?!?! I would strongly recommend getting familiar with yeast before consulting MrMalty - you need to be able to interpret what MrMalty tells you. Seven vials of WLP830 for a five gallon batch of German Pilsner, indeed!
Thank you very much for your help. I am very nervous and am double thinking the whole thing if i'll ever be good at this. But I have done automotive my whole life (automatic transmissions) and have always had the love of beer. I just don't want to drink it anymore. I want to breathe it. from start to finish.
It is good to at the very least know of connections out there. for maybe at a later date when i start feeling comfortable. I just found this sight today and found that beer making is full of wonderful people wanting to help each other. the only other time i found such helping people is being a camper. everybody gives a helping hand there too. your part of a family. just like i'm seeing here.
Why not? It's not hard. All you need to know are batch volume (2 gallons), type of beer (ale), Original Gravity (from the recipe sheet), and the age of the yeast (easily determined by the markings on the pack/vial). Or we could wait until he posts his 'my first brewday' report and lambaste him for under- or over-pitching. Assuming a 1.050 OG, and fresh yeast, Mr. Malty says 3.6 vials. And I would do that, if I couldn't make an appropriate sized starter.
http://www.howtobrew.com/ Great place to start. The more reading you can do the better. I have this book and the Complete Joy of Homebrewing among many many others. Read as much as you can, both in books and online in forums and you will learn slowly but surely and will make plenty of beer that you are happy with and proud of.
Pick an acceptable yeast and you'll be fine. Plenty of suggestions, so I won't add another. I just want to add that fermenting a bit warmer than usual will give you a much stronger banana flavor.
It was 1.065 (granted, a bit high for the style), using one month old yeast. MrMalty says I needed 6.3 vials for that without a starter. That rounds up to 7 if I want to avoid underpitching (common advice to a newbie is to follow the directions exactly and to save the experimentation till later). Would you seriously advise a newbie to buy $50+ worth of yeast to make a 5 gallon batch of 1.065 beer? FWIW, it says I would have needed 2.3 (or 3) packets of dry yeast for that batch.
You guys are arguing about a lager? Dude, you should always tell a newbie "no lagers" for precisely the reasons you are arguing about, pitching rates (& temperature control of course)
The 'argument', such as it was, was over MrMalty. in hindsight, a lager was probably a poor choice for an illustration.
I would advise a newbie to make enough cells for the gravity and beer type via a starter. If they couldn't make one for some reason, I'd advise them to pitch multiple vials, whatever that number is per the calculator. I don't see any reason to tell a newbie to underpitch (as defined by Mr. Malty pitch rates) just because it's easier or cheaper. I would also advise our theoretical newbie not to make a lager for a first batch, because of more complicated processes, not because of yeast. My point is, if you think Mr. Malty assumes a higher pitch rate than is needed, and/or that it assumes a lower viability loss per unit of age, that's fine, use whatever assumptions make you happy. But if you do believe Mr. Malty's assumptions are reasonable, don't flip out when it gives you an answer you don't like.
