Wheat Beer Diagnosis?...

[Tobys]

Hi All - I brewing a wheat beer using Wyeast 3068. The recipe I'm using uses wheat DME, German Hallertau Hersbrucker & Northern brewer hops. The original frementation went really well with large amounts of yeast head which was very foamy and smelt of the cloves/banana I've seen people mention. I'm now 9 days in and things are still fermenting, although slowly. Temp is 19 degrees with a gravity of around 1.02 (started at 21 degrees, 1.052)

The head is now a lot less foamy and more slimy in consistency. It's a lightish brown in colour and giving a slightly sour smell with sulphur notes. I've read this can be normal but am concerned about the sour part? The head does not appear to be dying down and sinking into the beer like the other non wheat beers I've brewed.

Can anyone provide any guidance? Should i syphon to a separate fermenting bucket so the head is removed? I was hoping to dy hop this but not sure I'll be able to or if I should anyway? I thought to leave it till the end of the week and hope that it's fermented further and then bottle?

Thanks all.....

[gnutz2]

Well i've never used that yeast but it sounds exactly like us-05, a slimy head that hangs around for ages with a sulpher nose.

It must be a trait of bad flocculating yeast's.

[Jocky]

Don't panic, odd smells are entirely normal during fermentation of some brews. Nothing sounds too unusual from what you've described.

Wait until the head has gone, then dry hop it and bottle as per normal.