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**Sea** · 04-19-2008, 02:42 PM

Since I have gone all grain, I have had 2 ales with strong Fuesal notes, neither one ever getting above 68 deg F during fermentation. I'e been thinking about what was different with these two batches (one S-05, one Wyeast london ale), and there is only one thing that I keep coming back to. Oxygen. I rack to my primary VERY noisily, and shake the carboy vigorously, but maybe it's not enough.

So, can lack of Oxygen alone cause Fuesal alcohol flavors?

Wierd thing is this problem isn't present in my other AG beers, and I've used pretty much the same technique.

MikeFlynn74 · 04-19-2008, 02:50 PM

describe feusel notes

**Yuri_Rage** · 04-19-2008, 02:52 PM

Did the room never get above 68 degrees, or did you measure the actual fermentation temperature?

**Bobby_M** · 04-19-2008, 04:42 PM

If you pitched at anything over 70, it's likely that it never got below that through the primary active ferment no matter how cool the room is. Ferment temps can really get away from you because it's exothermic. The other thing is, what was the OG of both of these batches? It could just be that they're big beers that need aging time.

**Sea** · 04-19-2008, 08:30 PM

Thanks for the replies, this is VERY frustrating!

Fuesal notes: Hot alcohol flavors. I'm not absdolutely positive, but in reading everything I can find about off flavors, this seems to describe this flavor the best.

Not the room, I'm measuring the surface temp of the glass carboy, it can't bee far off with the thermal heat transfer properties of liquids and glass.

I pitched around 70-72. I thought that was fine for an ale yeast. Wrong? Both beers were in the 45-50 OG range.

Any ideas?

FlyGuy · 04-19-2008, 10:13 PM

You can get fusels produced anytime that the yeast is stressed. Typically, this stress comes from too high a temperature, but pitching at 70 - 72 is only slightly high.

Other stressors are underpitching, under-oxygenating (sounds like that isn't the problem here if you are shaking your carboy), improper pH of wort (rarely an issue), high worth gravity (not an issue here) or pitching unhealthy yeast. If you made up a starter/rehydrated dry yeast, the first and last stressors shouldn't have been an issue.

I would look hard at your pitching temperature. Perhaps you weren't measuring your pitching temperature as accurately as you thought?

MikeFlynn74 · 04-20-2008, 06:16 AM

I think your beer is just young.