Anybody have experience fining out or otherwise reducing that bready autolysis flavor from an otherwise-finished batch?
To be clear, I'm not asking how to avoid autolysis in general – I know, get the product off the yeast! We've corrected the process issue; we racked the next batch, brewed with the same yeast and honey (this is a mead), a lot sooner, and that batch tastes great, no bready off-flavor to speak of. But that doesn't change the fact that we've got 1,000 gallons of product that needs help.
We did try blending a bit of the autolysed batch with a bit of the good batch, and while it reduced the off flavor, it certainly didn't eliminate it, so we decided to avoid going this route with the whole batch, as it seems like throwing good product after bad.
We've added bentonite to a gallon of the stuff, on the theory that a big portion of autolysis byproducts are proteins and degraded protein pieces, so, we're keeping our fingers crossed that the bentonite will pull some of it out of solution. But it's a bit of a shot in the dark, I'd love to be able to try something somebody else has actually seen work.
To be clear, I'm not asking how to avoid autolysis in general – I know, get the product off the yeast! We've corrected the process issue; we racked the next batch, brewed with the same yeast and honey (this is a mead), a lot sooner, and that batch tastes great, no bready off-flavor to speak of. But that doesn't change the fact that we've got 1,000 gallons of product that needs help.
We did try blending a bit of the autolysed batch with a bit of the good batch, and while it reduced the off flavor, it certainly didn't eliminate it, so we decided to avoid going this route with the whole batch, as it seems like throwing good product after bad.
We've added bentonite to a gallon of the stuff, on the theory that a big portion of autolysis byproducts are proteins and degraded protein pieces, so, we're keeping our fingers crossed that the bentonite will pull some of it out of solution. But it's a bit of a shot in the dark, I'd love to be able to try something somebody else has actually seen work.
Comment