Should I chill the primary?

[shlap]

Hey guys, recently after my Kolsch was done fermenting (after 10 days) -- I lowered the temp to about 35 for 6hrs or so to help drop yeast and other bits out of suspension before racking directly to the keg.

I tasted the beer before chilling and it taste like what you'd expect, a green kolsch, no off flavors ;-) Thing is, after I racked it over to the keg and tried some, it had a hint of bubblegum flavor. Could this have come from chilling quickly with all that yeast in the bottom?

Thanks!

 

[MizzouFermentationScience]

I don’t see how bubblegum could have been the result of a cold crash if FG was stable. Theoretically, if the yeast was still fermenting and got stressed during the cool down, they could produce “off” flavors. Make sure you rack as anaerobically as possible (CO2 purge vessels), but bubblegum isn’t an oxidation taste as far as I know. I brew a lot of saison and am a very poor cleaner so a lot of my beers are “contaminated” with a little belle saison which gives bubblegum and cloves.

 

[shlap]

I don’t see how bubblegum could have been the result of a cold crash if FG was stable. Theoretically, if the yeast was still fermenting and got stressed during the cool down, they could produce “off” flavors. Make sure you rack as anaerobically as possible (CO2 purge vessels), but bubblegum isn’t an oxidation taste as far as I know. I brew a lot of saison and am a very poor cleaner so a lot of my beers are “contaminated” with a little belle saison which gives bubblegum and cloves.

Thanks that's kind of what I assumed. My fermentation took off pretty quickly and was strong. It looked completely dead after 10 days but maybe there was still some conversion going on. Next time maybe I'll give it a full 2 weeks to complete.

 

[Yooper]

Esters like that are almost always a product of fermentation, and not from the finishing of fermentation. Could it be a warmer temperature than ideal, or underpitching the yeast?