Green Olive aroma

[kace069]

I brewed Jamils Dusseldorf Alt a few weeks ago. I repitched the yeast from my Kolsch, Wyeast 2565. I made a starter for the Kolsch and the yeast wasn't really all that aggressive and took for ever for the krausen to fall. The Kolsch was pretty rough arond the edges but has improved with lagering.

The repitch to the alt took off and fermented nicely. But flocculation was even worse then the first generation. So the Alt is rather rough around the edges, I kegged it last week. Now I am waiting for it to lager a bit. But it does have a green olive with pimentos aroma to it. Where is this coming from. I don't remember ever hearing a green olive aroma being attributed to infection or poor brewing process. So I am wondering if the Army has encountered anything like this before?

In the end I really don't like this Kolsch strain. I am pretty sure I won't be using this again.

[Mylo]

Were your fermentation temps low (low 60's), and did you hold them consistently? If so, then sounds like an infection.


Mylo

[kace069]

Yeah I managed to keep it around 62 degrees through most of the fermentation. I am concerned it is an infection. I haven't had an infection in years so I guess I'm about due for one.

[dmtaylor]

I have experienced an olive aroma and flavor in many commercial beers. Never in homebrew (yet). I could be wrong but I do NOT believe it is an infection since I always pick it up in commercially successful beers, such as Belhaven or Atwater, for example. In my experience, it seems to be much more prevalent in brown/black lagers or cool fermented ales. Perhaps it is an acidity / pH thing from use of dark roasted malts? Perhaps due to cool or stressed fermentation?

IF my hypotheses are correct (that's a pretty big if), you might expect to have olive character in an alt depending what kind of malts you used. Try using lower Lovibond colored malt in the future and see if the problem goes away. Or, try adding some carbonate to your mash water to cancel out some acidity. But I'm not sure which hypothesis is correct, if any.

By the way, I have had very good results with the 2565 Kolsch yeast, so I don't believe that's your issue. And it does take a while to flocculate for some reason, but eventually it does and then it drops like a rock. Patience is key if you want your beer clear with this yeast.

[kace069]

I have gotten a green olive character in more then a couple of Atwater Block beers. Thanks for confirming that for me!
My recipe is Jamils, although I had to use a lower Lovibond Caramunich. I have never used Caramunich or carafa special. I was really looking forward to this beer to find out what they contribute to the beer.

The kolsch and the alt both fermented at about the same temps, with the koslch being a much more sluggish ferment then the Alt. In fact both of these ferments went on much longer then I would expect for a 1050ish beer. The water was the same and the pils base malt was from the same sack. So I can eliminate both of those factors. This is my first alt and really haven't had many commercial examples. It was also my first successful kolsch, I brewed one in the past with the same yeast strain and it was DOA.

The only other factor I have to eliminate is the faucet, its not very clean and I had suspected this to be the cause of the Atwater I have had that had this similar aroma. I haven't had many bottled Atwater beers.

[dmtaylor]

I've only had Atwater in bottles, so I don't think it's a tap thing. It could be the water, and/or pH/acidity. And did you use any dark roasted malts in your alt?

[kace069]

Well my brew buddy came over and tasted it. He says he doesn't really get the olive aroma. I wish I wouldn't have told him before hand.
My gf will be coming over soon and i will let her taste it without telling her olive. If its there she will notice. She pointed out the green olive in the Atwaters we had.

Although she thinks all my brews taste funny. I think I may enter this one in some comps to see what other people think.

I failed to mention that I did a half as decoction on brew day. To make a long story short, I have never WANTED to do a decoction of any sort. But I was facing having to sparge with a grain bed at about 135 degrees.

So I am sure something with the ph really got screwd then. Its the only differnece in my standard brewday. I Didn't really warm up the grain bed a whole lot in the end.


Thanks for the help guys. Keep u updated

[Nate Diggler]

I lost a Schwarzbier about 3 years ago to the Green Olive Monster. It was fermenting in my buddy's basement and something got in it (I think it sucked in some airlock water). We thought it would age out... it didn't.

I've also tasted that flavor in other dark lagers... all beers that had Carafa or some other roasted malt, so maybe that is a contributor?