fruity oktoberfest with wyeast 1007

I wanted to relay one of my experiences and see if anyone had a similar one.

I am new to brewing as of April. Over the summer I thought it would be great to make an oktoberfest. However, I don't have a fridge for lagering. Therefore, I attempted a hybrid using the wyeast 1007 and a swamp cooler. It was late July.

After 2 weeks in the bottle I thought it was great. A month later and the beer is very fruity. The wyeast site says 1007 can be little fruity at the higher end of the temp range, which I know was one of my problems. This is pretty bad.

Will bottle conditioning at room temp(70 F) with a hybrid strain cause off flavors?

It seems if I leave the beer in the fridge for a few days or more before opening and the fruitiness is even more pronounced. Any thoughts?

1 lb cara45 (told by LBHS it was similar to caramunich)

2 lb pilsen DME
6.3 lb amber LME

1 oz hallertau for 60 min

I tried to make a starter, but my container didn't fit in the fridge so it never settled. I threw the whole thing in. Fermented around 65F although at the beginning it got a little higher. Primary 6 weeks and bottle. OG unknown and FG about 1.015.

JBmadtown said:

Will bottle conditioning at room temp(70 F) with a hybrid strain cause off flavors?

I tried to make a starter, but my container didn't fit in the fridge so it never settled. I threw the whole thing in. Fermented around 65F although at the beginning it got a little higher. Primary 6 weeks and bottle. OG unknown and FG about 1.015.

Click to expand...

No, bottle conditioning at 70 shouldn't cause any problems- it's a minute amount of fermentation in the bottle and below any flavor threshold.

Being "around 65F" and "at the beginning got a little higher" is the cause.


YEAST STRAIN: 1007 | German Ale™

A true top cropping yeast with low ester formation and a broad temperature range. Fermentation at higher temperatures may produce mild fruitiness. This powdery strain results in yeast that remains in suspension post fermentation. Beers mature rapidly, even when cold fermentation is used. Low or no detectable diacetyl.

Origin:
Flocculation: low
Attenuation: 73-77%
Temperature Range: 55-68° F

I read the wyeast description and that very well may be the reason.

My surprise is that the fruity taste seems to have increased as the bottles have aged. I don't have a good reason why. Also, the taste is more pronounced after a bottle has sat in my fridge for a while. Again, I don't have a good reason why.

I am officially putting a case of this beer in salvage mode. According to Revvy and others time will possibly heal things. I am putting it away for a couple of months. Although I still have questions.

1. why it has become fruitier with age?

2. Have other people had these problems with wyeast 1007 when fermented between 65-70F?

At this point the beer is truly undrinkable... I guess we can't all be perfect.

JBmadtown said:

I am officially putting a case of this beer in salvage mode. According to Revvy and others time will possibly heal things. I am putting it away for a couple of months. Although I still have questions.

1. why it has become fruitier with age?

2. Have other people had these problems with wyeast 1007 when fermented between 65-70F?

At this point the beer is truly undrinkable... I guess we can't all be perfect.

Click to expand...

It probably hasn't become fruitier, but since it's aged a bit, maybe some of the bitterness/hoppiness/maltiness has melded together and the fruitiness is far more noticeable.

I've only done 1007 in the high 50s, and it was very clean. It makes a great alt.

One thought I had was the possibility of underpitching. How big was the starter you made, and what was the temp of the wort when you pitched the starter?

I try to get my wort temperatures down to pitching temperature as quickly as possible right after flameout. After pitching my yeast I lower the temperature quickly again and ferment at the lower end of the yeast's optimal temperature for 21 days.

Click for more...Yeast In Your Beer

For anyone that cares here is an update.

- I tried one of my "attempt to salvage with time" fruity oktoberfest made with wyeast 1007.

After another 7 weeks the beer has not changed. It is still tastes almost like a fruit beer to me even though no fruit was added. I may keep a 6 pack just for fun to see what happens in 3-4 months, but the rest is probably going to get poured.

Lesson learned - fermenting temps really do matter!

I think the carbonation is also bringing out the fruitiness. Esters and phenols are volatile compounds, so they are highly aromatic, and carbonation brings out malt, hop and ester/phenol aromatics.

if you chill it ice cold like budweiser, you might detect the fruity less.