I haven't had a very long history of brewing(over a year), but I have used English ale yeast a few times. This first time was WLP002 with a starter in a porter last year. The beer turned out excessively fruity, but I still consumed the entire batch eventually. That was before I had a keezer for spot on ferment temps though and fermented at basement temps. I probably overpitched that batch with a 3L starter though.
Fast forward to this year, I went all grain and used WLP002 with a keezer I purchased and used a Ranco I wired up recently. It has spot on temperature accuracy. I made a robust porter yet again. When I bottled it the uncarbonated beer tasted fine and had no fruity components whatsoever. I was feeling pretty good about it. I bottled and threw it in the keezer at 68 to nail the carbonation volumes I wanted for 2-3 weeks.
Now I open the bottles and I am getting apple skins in the aromas with moderate roast flavors. Taste is still pretty good, but I don't get how this could have gone fruity after all of my close monitoring with the temps throughout the entire process.
Long story short: I think I will be using american ale yeast from now on with really high mashing temps to produce malty porters and other higher finishing gravity styles. I have not had a single problem with off flavors from WLP001 or similar yeasts.
Fast forward to this year, I went all grain and used WLP002 with a keezer I purchased and used a Ranco I wired up recently. It has spot on temperature accuracy. I made a robust porter yet again. When I bottled it the uncarbonated beer tasted fine and had no fruity components whatsoever. I was feeling pretty good about it. I bottled and threw it in the keezer at 68 to nail the carbonation volumes I wanted for 2-3 weeks.
Now I open the bottles and I am getting apple skins in the aromas with moderate roast flavors. Taste is still pretty good, but I don't get how this could have gone fruity after all of my close monitoring with the temps throughout the entire process.
Long story short: I think I will be using american ale yeast from now on with really high mashing temps to produce malty porters and other higher finishing gravity styles. I have not had a single problem with off flavors from WLP001 or similar yeasts.