They can't all be winners I guess. I fermented this beer with yeast I cultured up from a can of White River Fall Creek Lager, an oktoberfest. I began culturing the yeast before I knew exactly what strain it is. The brewery replied that it is 34/70, which was disappointing as I had used that yeast many times.
Nonetheless, I continued trying to build up yeast cells. However, I think I rushed it, and as a result, my starter wasn't strong enough. I decided I wanted to brew one day and that was the yeast I had on hand, so I went for it. I didn't think much of the lag period, as that's typical for a first pitch of 34/70.
In retrospect, though, I think I massively underpitched. This beer tastes heavily of clove and maybe a touch of banana. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was some sort of Belgian beer, such as saison. A helles is all about malt, and there is no malt flavor in this.
I purchased the grain for this beer with a gift card I got for my birthday, so I feel bad about just dumping it. So I've been more or less choking it down -- overly strong language, actually. It's not undrinkable. Just not a helles. Oh well, live and learn!
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