Esters fading during bottle conditioning

[cgpeltier]

Most of the beers I brew are fairly ester-dependent (saisons, tripels, dunkelweizens, etc.) and I'm a big fan of both the banana and tropical fruit esters I get from many yeast strains.

However, I've noticed that the esters in many of my beers will start off tasting great 2 weeks after bottling only to fade significantly over time. A dunkelweizen (fermented with WLP550) will start out smelling great like bananas, then will lose the banana aroma entirely after two months in the bottle. Or a saison (with Wyeast 3711) will start out fruity and right where I want it, only to turn solvent-y over time.

While I've read that a combination of too-high fermentation temps, not enough wort aeration, and not pitching enough yeast can lead to excess ester development to the point of solvent flavors, I'm not sure whether these might be the issues or whether it is a normal result of extended aging where the yeast change the flavor compounds (also, if excess ester production is the problem every time, since I don't get solvent off flavors consistently, but I do see my esters fade fairly often).

For reference, I always use starters/pitch rate calculators, ferment around 72F for these beers, but don't use O2 (just shaking my carboy) before pitching. Any ideas?

 

[GuldTuborg]

Some strains are notorious for doing this (Fuller's, e.g.). It seems to have something to do with the bottle conditioning process, as it (by and large) does not happen if one kegs.

I don't know if the same thing is going on here or not, but have you tried kegging? Do you have the equipment to do so? It might just be standard changes that all beers go through as they condition and age, or it might be that these strains do better when not bottle conditioned. I don't know.

You also might consider the environment you're storing these bottles in. Is the temp too high? Do you get them somewhere cool after 2-3 weeks when they have had a chance to carbonate?

Sorry I seem to have more questions than answers.

 

[cgpeltier]

Thanks for the reply.

Actually just got kegging equipment last week, so I'm excited to give it a go.

Bottles conditioned at room temperature, which ranges from low to high 70s throughout the day until they're put in the fridge, so that could definitely be part of it.