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**DrVertebrae** · 03-22-2012, 12:58 AM

I've brewed about 12 batches, all extracts. Most have had a bit of a fruity overtone, one with a bit of banana ester. I ferment at 65F or so (the upstairs A/C is Awesome and I can run it a lot with little increase in the electric bill 16SEER! I love it) and have been reading that the fruity flavors develop during the initial fermentation if it is too high. The two exceptions were the very first one I brewed and an IPA. How much of this can I expect to decrease if I let them lager longer? I have been doing two weeks at room temp and then popping them into the frig. Would longer at room temp work? Can I substitute a yeast which produces less fruity flavors and esters for the one that comes with the kits?

Also, are the partial grain kits from Midwest good? I'm not ready for the all grain thing but these kits look pretty promising.

***Yooper*** · 03-22-2012, 01:02 AM

Do you have a stick-on thermometer on your fermenter? The reason I ask is that I've seen fermenting beer be as much as 10 degrees higher than the ambient temperatures so if your room is 65 degrees, the fermenting beer could be 75 degrees! That's too high for all but maybe one or two ale strains.

If you have a stick-on thermometer, and have ruled that out, a couple of other things that contribute to esters:

Too high of a pitching temp. Make sure the wort is at or below fermentation temperatures before pitching the yeast;

Underpitching of yeast. In most cases, one 11 gram package of dry yeast is enough, but for liquid yeast almost all brands do not have enough yeast. The result is stressed yeast which contributes to ester formation;

Yeast strains that tend to be "estery". Some yeast strains, like S04, tend to throw esters anyway and any warm temperature will increase that. In that case, using a "cleaner" yeast strain may help.

**Qhrumphf** · 03-22-2012, 01:09 AM

Is 65 the ambient air temperature, or the temperature inside the fermenter? Air is a very poor heat conductor, and an ambient temperature of 65 could mean as high as 75 inside the fermenter. And 75 is definitely hot enough to kick off a lot of esters and/or phenols. The best solution is an insulated chamber with temperature control based on the temperature of the beer itself, but a plastic bin filled with water will also work well (as water conducts heat far better than air does). 65 is a good temperature for most ales (if that's the beer temperature) and most ales don't need lagering (although a cold crash isn't a bad thing). Usually the yeasts that you'd ferment at warmer temperatures are the yeasts that you WANT to kick off esters and phenols (Belgians namely). Otherwise, proper temp control is really the only way to do it.

What yeasts were you using? Banana's a pretty common (and desirable) ester for hefe strains and a lot of Belgian strains.

**DrVertebrae** · 03-22-2012, 01:10 AM

I do use the stick on thermometer. I can tell you, when it reads 66, the room is cold!

As to pitching the yeast, I have started to rehydrate it prior to pitching. Those are still conditioning so we'll see about that one. I haven't used any of the liquid yeasts yet.

I'll try getting the wort cooler before pitching too. I have usually pitched at 75 to 80 but its down in the sixties by morning and just beginning to produce CO2.

What about longer lagering though? Cool or room temp?

***Yooper*** · 03-22-2012, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrVertebrae

I'll try getting the wort cooler before pitching too. I have usually pitched at 75 to 80 but its down in the sixties by morning and just beginning to produce CO2.

What about longer lagering though? Cool or room temp?

Pitching cooler should help tremendously.

Lagering doesn't fix esters in my experience, but it's worth a try.

rodwha · 03-22-2012, 02:40 AM

I'm an A/C guy. Setting your thermostat that low can freeze up your evaporator coil and damage your compressor. Many variables, but 65-66* is awfully low. We typically don't recommend anything below 69*.

TarVolon · 03-22-2012, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodwha

I'm an A/C guy. Setting your thermostat that low can freeze up your evaporator coil and damage your compressor. Many variables, but 65-66* is awfully low. We typically don't recommend anything below 69*.

69? Wow. That seems awful high. I usually have to set it at 68 or lower to just be comfortable, let alone to ferment.

**DrVertebrae** · 03-22-2012, 09:31 AM

Heck Tarvalon, these things are amazing. One for up stairs and one for down stairs. I'm in Dallas and last summer, the hottest on record, a 2900 sq ft house, keeping in the sixties at night, low 70's in the day, I had no elecctirc bill above $280/moonth whilst my neighbors were hitting 500 and $600. Me A/C guy lives across the street and looks at'em each year. Even when my wooly dogs hair got all over them, they workd fine.

I couldn't be happier with them at this point.

**DrVertebrae** · 03-23-2012, 03:26 AM

Its been about 5 more days and the lesson of patience is all too clear. I tried one today and behold, a great tasting beer without any hint of banana or standout fruity esters. The truer word could not be said, give it time and then ty it. Fantastic taste with the hop end I wanted. It went well with sauteed garlic/paprika sauteed shrimp and Red Lobster style garlic rolls. I'm very happy about this. From now on, patience.