First batch of beer has good taste, but fruity odor

I bottled my first batch of beer about a week and a half ago. It is a Bass Ale Clone. Fermented it in my basement and the ambient temp was between 64-66 f. I opened a bottle today just to see how the flavor was developing. The taste was close to spot on, but the beer has a fruity smell that kind of encroaches on the taste a bit.

Will this fruity smell mellow out or go away as it conditions in the bottle?

What type of yeast did you pitch and how long did it ferment? Fruity flavors generally come from yeast esters. I'm not a expert, but I did sleep in my own bed last night.

10 days is a little early - try again in 10 more days and see where you are

If the ambient was 66 degrees, an active fermentation might have easily kicked the inside temperature past 70-72 degrees (or more), and most often that will create some esters (those fruit flavors), particularly with an English yeast. They won't age age, usually, unless they are very mild.

Did you flavor with hops?This with the right hop can give you this but like others 10 days is too early to start picking apart. Did you dry hop or do aroma additions? Again. What kind of yeast? It will mellow out depending how long you wait and how much you want it to mellow out.

The beer was a Midwest kit (Brass Ale). I used the Muntons dry yeast. The recipe called for 1 oz Fuggle bittering hops for 60 min, Irish Moss for last 15 min, and 1 oz Challenger aroma hops for last 5 min.

The funny thing is that I was worried the basement was going to get too cold this time of year. I kept it upstairs for the first day which would have been an ambient temp between 71 and 75.

Since it was my first time, I forgot to get an starting gravity on it, but the final readings on it were good according to the recipe sheet. I just left it be for about a week and a half in the primary. Tranferred it to a secondary for two more weeks and then bottled.

I have a cream ale in now and left it upstairs for a day and a half under similar conditions, and took it to the basement. Used the Wyeast Activator pack that was recommended for the kit this time. Put it on the floor this time hoping the temp would be a little lower.

chad26003 said:

The beer was a Midwest kit (Brass Ale). I used the Muntons dry yeast. The recipe called for 1 oz Fuggle bittering hops for 60 min, Irish Moss for last 15 min, and 1 oz Challenger aroma hops for last 5 min.

The funny thing is that I was worried the basement was going to get too cold this time of year. I kept it upstairs for the first day which would have been an ambient temp between 71 and 75.

Since it was my first time, I forgot to get an starting gravity on it, but the final readings on it were good according to the recipe sheet. I just left it be for about a week and a half in the primary. Tranferred it to a secondary for two more weeks and then bottled.

I have a cream ale in now and left it upstairs for a day and a half under similar conditions, and took it to the basement. Used the Wyeast Activator pack that was recommended for the kit this time. Put it on the floor this time hoping the temp would be a little lower.

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ambient != inside-the-bucket-or-carboy temperature, especially when those feisty little yeast devils are busy eating away at the sugar and farting out gas and HEAT.

If your basement is low to mid sixties, it's just about perfect for ales and yeast like US-05 and S-04.

Edit: Also, it is important to make sure the temperature stays under control for the first part of fermentation. After it slows down (as you are approaching estimated final gravity), it then is ok to let the temperature rise a bit. So, for example fermenting with US-05, start in lower sixties (e.g. 63) and let it rise to 68-69 as you approach/after you reach FG level.

Well 70 is a bit high but maybe ok for muntons even said i would have done ambients of60- 65 during fermentation. YOur few days of fermentation temps are most important, its ok to go below once fermentation has begun, you may want to get a different yeast, muntons may give off some esters,try some 05 or nottingham dry yeast they are fairly clean at low 60's temps. Are you familiar with challenger as aroma hoping,this sounds like what you are talking about. Hops can give of significant aroma/flavors

Depending upon your pitch temp you may have started to ferment when you had it upstairs and it may have created some esters. In the future, pitch in the mid to low 60's and ferment in your basement.

You're not going to like this, but you'll probably have to wait 4-6 weeks for that flavour/smell to go away. I had 2 beers with this banana taste (notty yeast and S05). One of them mellowed out sufficiently, the other mellowed out but it still bothers me.

You fermented at too high a temperature. I've recently had success fermenting in my cold cellar, where the temp is usually hovering around 50-55F. This seems fine for that initial blast of fermentation. Here's my exact process:

-boil and cool wort.
-pitch yeast @ around 70F (after whirlpooling cooled wort in 70F basement)
-stick the bucket in the cold cellar, ambient air temp is 50-55F
-come down the next morning, see airlock bubbling away nicely, smile to myself
-do nothing for 2 weeks
-check gravity, adjust for temp.
-if gravity is at expected FG, I'll take the bucket out of the cold cellar for a couple days.
-if gravity seems stalled at something higher, I'll take the bucket out of the cold cellar for a week.
-check gravity again, then throw the bucket back in the cold cellar on a shelf and leave it until I've had 4 weeks of total primary action.
-when it's time to bottle, I siphon from the elevated primary that's been sitting there untouched for about 2 weeks. Beer is super-clear, and I bottle it cold-ish.

Success!

Bottom line: until you get your fermentation temps down, you won't have great beer. I'm finding it's better to have them too cold rather than too warm. Worst case scenario if it's too cold: yeast go to sleep, but you can easily wake 'em up. Worst case scenario if it's too warm: weird off-tastes and your beer isn't as good as it could have been.

Cold > Warm. Always.

chad26003 said:

I have a cream ale in now and left it upstairs for a day and a half under similar conditions, and took it to the basement.

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you're doing it backwards. always go from colder to hotter during fermentation.

Thanks for the advice. This website is fantastic.

Just an update - tasting right now to check the status (bottle conditioning for about two and a half weeks now) and the fruity bouquet has nearly completely dissipated. I have read over and over how profoundly the flavor can change over time. But it is pretty sweet to experience it for the first time. Have to drink another just to make sure - maybe two or three.

Thanks again for helping a noob. I will start fermenation next time in the back of the cellar next time to mitigate the fruity esters.

Some good tips here for me to take from this, after pitching my yeast on Saturday the temp dropped overnight to "off the scale" on my little sticky thermometer- it goes down to 60, but the FV was in my shed and the outside temp was cold enough for frost. This panicked me so I spent Sunday trying to bring the temp up and once momentum started I couldn't stop it, so it ended up at 78 or something! I've since managed to bring it "under control" but still upper 60s... Just planning to leave it now for as long as possible to help stabilise everything.

Lesson learned: too cold is ok... It'll warm. Too hot, not so good.