North west ale question ...

I am at my 4 th AG batch and all first 3 of them
Got off flavors because of the hot summer ... The last one I did was an APA with north west ale yeast from Wyeast... The summer is over in quebec canada and the nights are much colder, can I have screwed up the batch or get other kinds of off flavors because it went pretty low in the guest room where the window stayed open 24/7.... It is pretty cold in there, in the range of 53 to 64 degrees... The active fermentation stopped last week and now I just see fizzing in the carboy.

I always leave in my primary for 30 days without touching it, will my beer have off flavors because of the cold room ?

jesseroberge said:

I am at my 4 th AG batch and all first 3 of them
Got off flavors because of the hot summer ... The last one I did was an APA with north west ale yeast from Wyeast... The summer is over in quebec canada and the nights are much colder, can I have screwed up the batch or get other kinds of off flavors because it went pretty low in the guest room where the window stayed open 24/7.... It is pretty cold in there, in the range of 53 to 64 degrees... The active fermentation stopped last week and now I just see fizzing in the carboy.

I always leave in my primary for 30 days without touching it, will my beer have off flavors because of the cold room ?

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Temperature of fermentation is everything! You want to maintain the temperature in the desirable range of the yeast and do not want excessively high, low or crazy fluctuations during fermentation.

Too hot and off flavors are created, too cold and the yeast may just go dormant and quit, lots of up and down and who knows what kind of crazy things can happen!

Search swamp cooler for cheap control or make a fermentation chamber with temperature control.

What were the off flavors on the last one?

I haven't used it myself but I've heard some weird stuff about that NW ale yeast. Hale's in Seattle uses it but it's an English yeast that they import. Supposedly it gives off tart flavors if it gets above 68 or so. Most people have said it is much cleaner at about 62-64.

If you're fermenting too cold or the temp changes too rapidly or too much the yeast could be getting stressed and throwing off flavors too. Same if you're underpitching.

Getting your fermentation temps under control should be priority 1. If its too cool where you are you can throw a $30 analog temp controller with a fermwrap heater around the fermenter to try to keep it in line. You could also try a less finicky yeast and see if that helps.

The last one is a pale ale with Wyeast North West Ale and it's not finished fermenting yet, still 2 weeks to go...