Is the yeast to blame?

[half_whit]

I. Am so. Effing. Frustrated. 3rd Batch in a row that tastes like this. Probably around $150, 15 gallons, and 4 months of total frustration.

My beers keep getting these horrible fruity esters. First suspect, maybe my gear wasn't cleaned properly. Cleaned the crap out of everything. Second suspect, my warm apartment. Rigged up a ghetto-fabulous wet tshirt cooling apparatus and kept my temps in the low 70's upper 60s. Still getting this apricoty/peachy flavor. Now I've invested all this money into my kegging setup and my first batch of lovely tapped goodness tastes like a fruity pale ale.

It's a hazelnut brown ale.

So here's whats common among the past 3 brews:
-All grain. Recently made the switch to BIAB per DeathBrewer's instructional thread. So maybe I just suck at brewing and nobody has the heart to tell me
-Same equipment.
-Same water supply. Someone here on the forum said my water profile looks fine. Its the same water company as when I lived 4 blocks away. Beer was fine there.
-Safale 05.

I'm sorry, but I can't help but blame this yeast. Everyone raves about it, and yet when I search peachy/apricot off flavors, 05 is the first thing to pop up. I thought switching to dry yeast would be a great way to shave a few bucks off my recipes. My beers are now thin and fruity tasting. I NEVER had a bad batch with liquid yeast, and that was back when I didn't realize temperature control was an issue! Now I use dry and I've had 3 botched batches in a row. The first one was a dumper. At least the last two are drinkable. My lady loves them, but I'm so distracted by the off flavors it's difficult to enjoy them.

for $150 I could have just bought a crap tone of fruit punch and spiked the bowl.

-end of venting-

 

[Hammy71]

Sucks, I've been using 05 for almost 5 years and I've never had the fruity taste. Course I maintain a temperature in the mid 60s during fermentation. Everyones palette is different. You can't stand 05. I abhor anything with 04 in it. So, try the same recipe with some WLP 001 and see (although I think its just the liquid form of 05), hopefully you can narrow it down.

 

[USAFSooner]

I routinely use US05 in 72-74F range and don't get any fruity/apricot esters.

 

[duboman]

You've invested money in all the wrong places....

Yeast require diligent temperature control and without it you run the risk of developing off flavors due to fermenting at the highest range of the yeast if not higher.

If your swamp cooler method cannot get you into the mid to low 60s then you need to add and rotate more ice or you need a temperature controlled fermentation chamber.

Or, you need to brew beer with yeast that likes warm temps like Belgians or Saisons.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

My guess is that it is temperature related. I have tasted a little fruitiness from US-05 when the fermentation temperature was near 70°F. For most Ales I try to ferment toward the low end of the range. 60-65.

How about making a Saison, or a Belgian? They ferment well at higher temperatures.

My blog has some information on swamp coolers, and that section is entirely rewritten in my book. You may be able to get your temperature down low enough with ice.

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/09/swamp-cooler.html

EDIT: Looks like duboman was typing at the same time as me. Sorry for the duplicate information.

 

[half_whit]

I hardly feel like a bad investor. I've brewed stouts, porters, pale ales, ipas, browns, wheats with no problems (no saisons, don't care much for them) and usually have a hard time keeping them because my friends drink them all. I'm a little confused as to why my temperature control practices are only now an issue.

Are dry yeasts perhaps somehow more particular about their temperature than liquid?

 

[duboman]

I hardly feel like a bad investor. I've brewed stouts, porters, pale ales, ipas, browns, wheats with no problems (no saisons, don't care much for them) and usually have a hard time keeping them because my friends drink them all. I'm a little confused as to why my temperature control is only now an issue.

Are dry yeasts somehow more particular about their temperature than liquid?

No, yeast in general are particular about temperature control. Yeast make beer, treat your yeast properly and most everything else will fall in line.

If you have not yet read the book "Yeast" I would highly recommend it

The previous beer styles you mentioned can be more forgiving because there are other ingredients or elements in play that can help cover up other faults that may be in the beer but less perceptible.

The fruity esters you describe as being a problem are directly related to issues with temperature control during fermentation.

 

[WestCoastBrew]

I am wondering if you are getting a wild yeast strain contaminating your fermentation? Is there anything you may have forgotten to sanitize post boil like tubing?

I have used SA-05 in many of my beers prior to having a fermentation fridge. On occasion my fermentation temp probably reached near 80 F and I do not recall ever having any peach off flavors. That yeast strain tends to finish clean.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Are dry yeasts somehow more particular about their temperature than liquid?

Not knowing how you hydrate yeast, I'm going out on a limb, but dry yeast is a little finicky.

Furthermore, not knowing what other yeast you use, it may also be the strain.

BKYeast has done quite a bit with this, and I have as well. The best way I have found to do it is to sprinkle it on top of 80°F water and let it float for up to an hour. This will yield about 80% viable yeast or about 120 billion cells. Various deviations could result in a cell count as low as 70 billion.

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/02/rehydrating-safbrew-yeast.html

 

[half_whit]

What you're saying makes absolute sense and I understand the importance of temperature control. The part that I'm having a hard time getting past is consistency. Brown ale was my first brew ever and I let it ferment in the shade in my living room, which looking back must have been at least in the mid 70s because I didn't know any better back then. Why is a brown ale NOW deciding to cause issues when I'm actively keeping the temperature no higher than 72 during the fermentation. Unless I insulted it's mother, I don't see why my results should change so drastically now.

So let me ask this...since I've been doing AG, is it possible my yeastie beasties are not getting proper nutrition somehow? Would that result in fruity flavors?

 

[half_whit]

I am wondering if you are getting a wild yeast strain contaminating your fermentation? Is there anything you may have forgotten to sanitize post boil like tubing?

I have used SA-05 in many of my beers prior to having a fermentation fridge. On occasion my fermentation temp probably reached near 80 F and I do not recall ever having any peach off flavors. That yeast strain tends to finish clean.

I wonder if it has something to do with your mash temp?

I've been wondering that too...but I'm usually really good about keeping stuff cleaned and sanitized. Except for that one time I dropped my stopper into a carboy and fished it out with a (sanitized) wire hanger, and that turned out to be one of my best brews to date.

My mash temps have varied between the 3 brews. This more recent one mashed in at 156 with a 5 degree drop

 

[Qhrumphf]

You are rehydrating the yeast, correct? They talk about this in CW and JZ's yeast book, but pitching dry yeast without rehydrating shocks the yeast badly enough that it ends up killing off about half. Underpitching means more esters. So that's one possibility.

I rarely use dry yeast, so I've only used 05 a couple of times, and never got peachy. But I've heard peach comes from fermenting it too cold, not too warm. But I'll defer that one to people with more experience with that yeast.

 

[half_whit]

Not knowing how you hydrate yeast, I'm going out on a limb, but dry yeast is a little finicky.

Furthermore, not knowing what other yeast you use, it may also be the strain.

BKYeast has done quite a bit with this, and I have as well. The best way I have found to do it is to sprinkle it on top of 80°F water and let it float for up to an hour. This will yield about 80% viable yeast or about 120 billion cells. Various deviations could result in a cell count as low as 70 billion.

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/02/rehydrating-safbrew-yeast.html

You know what, I'm going to go ahead and say you've probably nailed it. I've read (both from other brewers and from instructions) that sprinkling onto the wort is acceptable, so I've actually never bothered pre-hydrating. It always seemed odd to me that this was ok to do, but after I saw my brews bubble away happily I stopped worrying about it

 

[half_whit]

Thanks for your help guys. The hydration thing makes a lot of sense, and it's consistent among the failed brews. I'll adjust my process for the next one