California Common - Fruity Esters

[WildHopHunter]

Hi Everyone - I am a long timer luker but this is my first post. I recently tried brewing a California Common, its the 1st time I've tried brewing a hybrid style beer. After primary fermentation the beer had a very strong pineapple taste. I fermented the beer in my basement which stays between 62-65 F, I used WLP 810 San Fran yeast. Not quite sure why there are so many esters as I thought I followed the temp guidelines for this yeast strain.

I have kegged and carbonated the beer. The pineapple taste has mellowed quite a bit but its still present in the aftertaste. I need to make room in my beer fridge for a Pilsner that needs to lager. At this point I have to decide if I want to bottle the CC and hope the fruit esters mellow futher with time or dump the batch. Any opinions or advice?

Thanks.

 

[antony]

just a guess as to what the bigwigs would say as I'm new too:

don't dump it. it may mellow more after it conditions for awhile in bottles. i'd check it every 2 weeks till you think its better.
what's the worst that could happen?

 

[Thirstin4aburstin]

What type of hops did you use?
White Labs says the optimal fermentation temp is 58-65 F so you were fermenting at the higher end which may have produced some fruity esters. Also, what was your target and actual FG? If fermentation hadn't completed than you may not have given the yeast time to clean up all its fermentation by-products such as acetaldehyde and ethyl acetate which can give some fruity flavors. I wouldn't dump the batch unless it's not drinkable as it should mellow out with a little more age.

 

[WildHopHunter]

Thanks for the replies,

I used 1 oz of Norther Brewer hops (.5 oz at 60 min, .5 oz at 45 min) and 2 oz of wild hops at 30 minutes.

The OG was ~1.052 and the FG ~ 1.014, these figures are pretty close to what I got out of Beer Calculus.

I think I will bottle the beer and test it again in a couple of weeks.

 

[bschoenb]

I suspect that as with all lager yeast you need a tad bit more yeast; Did you make a Starter? And, was it bit enough. If the yeast is stressed; they can through off esters.

I did a Cal Common LME Extract with one Tube of White Labs San-Fran yeast back in the day, and it finished out a bit sweat and fruity.