Eureka, its time for another post. Todays beer we are looking at is the #48 Dunkler Nachthimmel brewed back in March 2012. Designed as a Dunkelweizen (dark wheat beer) and fermented in an open fermenter.
Fig 1: Dunkler Nachthimmel meets a wheat glass
Aroma: A lot of banana notes and some grain notes as well. Not bad. However, not a very fresh aroma. There were some other aromas in there I could not put in words.
Appearance: Brown color, poured the yeast into the glass as well, creamy head. a lot of carbonation visible. Looks like a very typical wheat beer.
Flavor: Could detect some banana notes, very overpowering solvent character… and the typical cardboard taste you get in an oxidized beer.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, average carbonation level, short malty aftertaste. No bitterness in the aftertaste.
Overall Impression: There is something wrong with this particular brew. I brewed this recipe before and went with a typical closed fermenter. The beer turned out very well back then.
The aroma in this particular beer is not as clear as expected and there was this oxidized sensation. Concerning the aroma, one possible explanation could be the age of the yeast. I used my #3068 Weihenstephan yeast which I banked back in June 2010. Wheat yeasts are not very genetically stable and maybe this strain was not the best anymore. Second reason could be due to the open fermentation. Maybe some other organisms got in the fermenter and altered the aroma and flavor of this beer…
Another batch of this particular batch will be brewed tomorrow with freshly harvested 3068 Weihenstephan yeast and a closed fermenter. No experiments this time with open fermentations. I will repeat this open fermentation experiment for sure. However, further plating experiments are in progress. I finally ordered the supplies to try other media and indicators. Stay tuned!
Eureka Brewing 