Esters in extract brew

[abacab666]

Calling the hive mind. I'm having an issue with unpleasant esters in my brews. First time it happened I put it down to the temperature...house was a bit cold, so I put the heat belt on, evidently wasn't cold enough, so fv was too warm. This time I left the belt off, temperature has been fairly consistent within the range 18-22c, but my brew again reeks of nail polish remover. Extract kit, Nottingham yeast (first time using), made sure temp was well down before pitching. I've read that Nottingham can produce slight ester, but this is ridiculous. Is it more because the fumes are trapped in FB, and they'll fade once I bottle, or is it buggered. Is it also possible that the previous issue has buggered my fv, and I need a new one?

Cheers folks

 

[dwhite60]

I shoot for 16C and get good results. Esters tend to be fruity. You might try another yeast. US-05 makes minimal esters at higher temps. If it's nail polish it's fusel alcohols which says the temp was too high. These will age out, some, but won't all go away.

Also, some people are more sensitive to particular smells and tastes. Have someone else try it, without mentioning what you think, and see what they say. Where are you located?

May just be some flavor Nottingham produces that you're sensitive to.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Calling the hive mind.

Many of us are not part of the "hive mind" , but we may have some extra keystrokes available to help anyway.

... temperature has been fairly consistent within the range 18-22c, but my brew again reeks of nail polish remover.

18c-65f; 22c = 72f.

Where are you measuring temperature? room (ambient) temperature and fermentation temperature will be different. The amount of difference will vary based on a number of things; batch size is a primary factor. For a 5 gallon batch, the difference is often mentioned as 5f.

Getting off flavors, like nail polish, is certainly plausible if you were fermenting in the upper 70s. These off flavors won't hurt the FV.

Fermentation temperature control is one of the core techniques that must be mastered to make good beer.

 

[jschein]

Many of us are not part of the "hive mind" , but we may have some extra keystrokes available to help anyway.



18c-65f; 22c = 72f.

Where are you measuring temperature? room (ambient) temperature and fermentation temperature will be different. The amount of difference will vary based on a number of things; batch size is a primary factor. For a 5 gallon batch, the difference is often mentioned as 5f.

Getting off flavors, like nail polish, is certainly plausible if you were fermenting in the upper 70s. These off flavors won't hurt the FV.

Fermentation temperature control is one of the core techniques that must be mastered to make good beer.

I agree with all of BrewnWKopperKat said.
I gave up on notty until I had good temperature control. I used US-05 as I found it more forgiving with my temperature swings.
Now with good temperature control I have been using notty again, when the temps are right it works great in my stouts

 

[abacab666]

Since day 1 I've worked from the stick on thermometer on the outside of my fv, and never had a problem. Fv always sits in the same place and, with the exception of the disaster with the heat belt, temp has been consistent in that corner. There's no heaters or radiators anywhere to impact it, so no obvious reasons to suddenly be fermenting hot

At least I don't need to replace the fv...

 

[RM-MN]

Nottingham yeast will ferment very clean if you can keep it cooler. 13 to 15C will be great for the first 5 to 7 days, then let it warm to 22 and you get great beer. Starting it at 18 without very good active temperature, the yeast activity will raise that temperature to 22 to maybe 24C which is waaay to high for Nottingham.

 

[BigEd]

but my brew again reeks of nail polish remover. ?

Cheers folks

Nail polish remover is acetone. Acetone is not an ester, it's a ketone. If it is acetone I would suspect a bacterial infection.