Cascade and Ahtanum - Pale ale is too fruity...

[h-bar]

I brewed a pale ale, and it is like biting into a tropical fruit salad. I am getting pineapple, melon, peach, and a little citrus when I drink this beer. This might be good in a small dose, but this is almost overpowering.

I am blaming the hops at this point. Fermentation temperature was not the cause. I used US-05 yeast and fermented at 60 ˚F in a temperature controlled chest freezer.

This was my recipe for a 3 gallon batch:

6# Pale 2-row
8 oz Crystal 30L
4 oz Unmalted wheat
2 oz Acid malt

Mash ~150 ˚F for 60 min
Sparge 170-180˚F for 45 min fly

Hop total:
2 oz Cascade, whole leaf
1 oz Ahtanum

Hop Schedule:
0.25 oz Cascade 45 min
0.25 oz Cascade 30 min
0.25 oz Ahtanum 30 min
0.25 oz Cascade 20 min
0.25 oz Ahtanum 20 min
0.25 oz Ahtanum 10 min
0.25 oz Ahtanum 5 min
0.25 oz Cascade 0 min

1 oz Cascade Dry hop, 7 days


Should I expect such an extreme fruit flavor from this hop schedule? I know each of these hops will produce some fruity flavors, but this is unimaginable. Is there any other reason this happened? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LexusChris]

Using US-05 at low temps like that should make for a clean fermentation. So that is not the issue.

I would say that you are definitely tasting the results of all the late hops in the boil, mostly Ahtanum. That last 15-minutes is where most of the flavor oils come from, so it looks like 1.5 oz of Ahtanum and a dash of Cascade at the very end.

I like my APA's with about 2 oz hops per 5 gallons... that's just my initial rule of thumb. My IPA's will ramp up those late boil hops a bit, or dry-hop another 2-4 ozs.. so maybe 4-6 hops in total. Your recipe scaled to 5-gallons would be closer to my IPA at 5 oz hops... with 2oz in the last 20 minutes, plus the 1.6 oz of dryhops.. (yes, many ways to hop your IPA's... not judging anyone else out there, that's just my rule of thumb)

To me, your recipe for 3-gals, looks closer to a nice IPA, with 2 amazing hops. Floral, fruity, citrus! Not for everyone, but sounds tasty!

If you like those hops in general, for an APA I would back off the late additions by at least half. You could also move your bittering hops to 60-minutes of boil time, to ensure you boil off their contributions to flavor, and maximize your alpha acid isomerzation for IBU.

e.g.
1.0 oz Cascade at 60 mins
0.25 Cascade at 15 mins
0.25 Cascade at 5 mins
0.25 Ahtanum at 0 mins

No dry hops.

But yes, its the hops. :rockin:
--LexusChris

 

[Weezy]

1 oz per gallon is quite a bit of hops in general, let alone for an apa. That coupled with the near continuous hop schedule; Heightened hop flavors should be expected. Consider trying 1.5-2 oz total next time. Try skipping the dry hop in an APA sometime as well. Look for a hopping effect that doesn't over power the malt flavor.

Cascade and Ahtanum have similar profiles too. Consider trying a different and complimentary hop type with just one of them next time.

 

[Callacave]

US-05 at that temp will definitely give a fruity character to the beer. Most say peach. It's well documented. To keep US-05 clean it's best to keep it in the upper 60's.

 

[ArcaneXor]

It's a combination of the low fermentation temperature and the relatively large amount of (fruity) hops for a pale ale.

For cold ferments, use a liquid version of the Chico strain. They are not as prone to producing fruity esters when fermented cold, plus they flocculate a lot better.

 

[JonM]

Maybe I overlooked it, but how old is this beer? I find that the hop flavor in my IPAs change dramatically over the course of a month in the keg. If yours is young, I bet you'll have an entirely different, maybe less fruity, beer in a couple weeks.

 

[h-bar]

It has not had a lot of aging time yet. I'll wait a week and see if anything changes. Now I know - less hops next time!

US-05 at that temp will definitely give a fruity character to the beer. Most say peach. It's well documented. To keep US-05 clean it's best to keep it in the upper 60's.

Wait, really? I was aware that low fermentation temps prevent esters in all yeasts!

 

[rmyurick]

I second what JonM said. I bet this will be really good in a month.

 

[Beezer94]

It has not had a lot of aging time yet. I'll wait a week and see if anything changes. Now I know - less hops next time!




Wait, really? I was aware that low fermentation temps prevent esters in all yeasts!

Hops fade fast so I imagine it'll change quickly.

US-05 is the one yeast that everyone seems to report having peachy flavor/aroma if fermented too cool. I think the real reason may be most don't adjust's their pitch rate when they ferment at 60F vs 68F. It's not far off the high end of lager temps (55F) which call for 2-4x more yeast than the 68F ale; so a 60F ale could easily need 1.5-2x as much yeast as the same at 68F. And under pitching can increase ester/phenol production.

 

[h-bar]

Okay, that makes sense. I pitched a whole us-05 packet into three gallons, thinking it would be more than enough. Guess I would need a little more?

 

[beersk]

One packet should be enough for 3 gallons at 60F, depending on the OG.

 

[h-bar]

OG was 1.054. I would assume then that there was enough yeast since that isn't a super high gravity.

 

[Weezy]

More than enough. I don't think yeast stress was your issue here.