[Luke Ferry]

I brewed a blonde trying to showcase the berry flavors of Sundew. Fermented it at about 76 degrees and everything seemed to go well. The bubbles from the airlock smelled like the advertised fruit notes. Fermentation flew by and after checking fg I was able to keg after four days. Just tapped it on day 6 post brew day and gave it a taste. Figured it may not be perfect given that fast turnaround but couldn’t resist. First taste was disappointing. Basically tasted like a standard blonde fermented with a very neutral yeast. No berry flavor at all. Beer looked a little more golden than I would have anticipated but not a full on oxidized brown. Any ideas what happened?

- The temp probe was taped to the outside of the glass caribou meaning the liquid temp likely got even hotter than the recommended temp. Did I blow off all of the berry flavors?
-Did I oxidize it and kill any yeast flavors? My understanding was this mainly effected hops but I may be wrong.
- is the beer just way too young and I need to give it a few weeks to clean up off flavors?

Appreciate any thoughts. Beers not undrinkable just not what I was going for.

[tommymorris]

I brewed a blonde trying to showcase the berry flavors of Sundew. Fermented it at about 76 degrees and everything seemed to go well. The bubbles from the airlock smelled like the advertised fruit notes. Fermentation flew by and after checking fg I was able to keg after four days. Just tapped it on day 6 post brew day and gave it a taste. Figured it may not be perfect given that fast turnaround but couldn’t resist. First taste was disappointing. Basically tasted like a standard blonde fermented with a very neutral yeast. No berry flavor at all. Beer looked a little more golden than I would have anticipated but not a full on oxidized brown. Any ideas what happened?

- The temp probe was taped to the outside of the glass caribou meaning the liquid temp likely got even hotter than the recommended temp. Did I blow off all of the berry flavors?
-Did I oxidize it and kill any yeast flavors? My understanding was this mainly effected hops but I may be wrong.
- is the beer just way too young and I need to give it a few weeks to clean up off flavors?

Appreciate any thoughts. Beers not undrinkable just not what I was going for.

I do find that subtle flavors can be masked in young beer. I haven’t used that yeast so I am not sure if the fruit flavors are supposed to be present at Kölsch like levels or something stronger.  I would let the beer sit a week and try it again. Keep doing that until you think the beer has matured. Lots of my ales are great at two weeks. My light lagers take more like four.

[tommymorris]

Also, Sundew is marketed to “emphasize desirable notes in modern fruity hops”. Maybe the effect is symbiotic and you also need the hops to help emphasize the Sundew flavors.

[Luke Ferry]

Appreciate the feedback. I’ll give it some more time and see how it tastes. Tough to have patience as a home brewer sometimes!

[erockrph]

From what I understand, Sundew originated as a fruit forward, phenolic yeast strain, and the phenolic component was either bred out or a POF- mutant was found,  or something else along those lines. I don't know what the original strain was, but I assume it was either Belgian or hefeweizen. This makes me think that the fruit component is likely dependent on pitch rate, gravity, fermentation temp, etc.

I haven't used it yet, but I have a Sundew wheat scheduled for my next brew in a couple of weeks. I will probably ferment it similar to a hefeweizen - half a pack/no starter into 3 gallons of 1.048ish wort fermented in the mid 60's. I am planning on using a fair amount of late hops, but I'm hoping that the yeast will provide it's own fruity character in addition to the hops.

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[erockrph]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/2021/05/13/ingredient-series-gene-edited-yeast/

I just came across this interview with some of the peeps from Omega. Apparently Sundew and Bananza were gene-edited with CRISPR to inactivate their FDC1 gene, which encodes for 4VG production (i.e., makes the yeast POF+). This is pretty cool stuff.

There is also good info on how to handle these two yeasts for optimal ester production. Bananza works well with a slight underpitch, while Sundew likes temps in the low to mid 70's F, along with a slight overpitch.

Of course this comes two weeks after I brewed my Sundew wheat. I fermented at 66F, and pitched a 3-month old pack without a starter into 3 gallons, which is pretty much how I pitch a hefeweizen. It sounds like this would work well for Bananza, but probably isn't the best way to handle Sundew to maximize esters. My keg is conditioning right now, so I should have some updates on my own beer fairly soon.