Is this the main issue for high and wrong temperature fermentation? Help!

[BioHopology]

I just finished drinking my last imperial blonde ale and used wyeast 2112 ca lager. Primary 2 weeks, 2nd for 2.5 weeks all at 74 degrees ... This was my 12th extract batch and turn out ok. Dont have the equipment to lager; however, working on piecing it together now.

Like most of my beers, it turned out less saisonish than the others, and using the ca 2112 for the last 10 brews. Thinking this is the issue. So if you want and easy saison ... ferment at 74 degree. Taste great, but I'm getting sick of it. Cheers!

 

[BioHopology]

Also, made an extract chocolate oak stout with wyeast 2112 lager...ferment pri for 2weeks @74 and 2nd 2weeks @74. Im at 1.008 @ 76F and placed it in the temp control fridge at 53F with my Lager ofest and the airlock is going crazy! Should i continue to lagar the stout?

1st time lager here...

 

[chickypad]

Trying to sort out your questions here, are you asking if fermenting warm with cali lager yeast is giving you beers that taste like saisons (I assume you mean fruity and/or phenolic)?. If that is your problem then I would say yes, that likely explains it. While that yeast can ferment at warmer than usual lager temps and still be clean, 74 deg is pretty high even for ale yeasts. It sounds like you have a fermentation fridge, I think if you ferment it more in the low 60's you'll find it's much cleaner.

 

[BioHopology]

Thanks

 

[davejanssen]

Yeah, it sounds like chickypad has done a good job of providing the help you were looking for. Also thanks to chickypad for providing the potential names of some of the flavor and aroma compounds that you were experiencing with this warm lager fermentation. Biohopology, if you are looking for a more clean/'neutral ale yeast to try to approximate some of these beers while you don't have lager temp control material, you may want to try something like WLP001 or Wyeast 1056.

There seems to be a misconception common among some brewers that a beer fermented too warm with lager/non-belgian ale yeast, or with some other fermentation flaw, could now be called a Belgian beer. maybe in some isolated cases that could be true, but generally in my experience it is not. And I'm not trying to single you out here because I've heard it lots of times before from many different brewers of wide experience ranges, but I just wanted to point out that there is a big difference between a well-brewed Belgian beer and a non-Belgian beer with an off character.

If you (or anyone else) is interested in a relatively easy saison I would suggest the Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast. It is an amazing fermenter and produces some good character. Again sorry if that comes across rough (it wasn't meant that way) and I'm really not singling you out. I just want to help educate the community on the difference between Belgian beer and fermentation problems.

 

[Foosier]

Another thought. If you are going to use the Cali lager yeast, you really need to try and keep the temps low. Not lager low, but certainly ale low would be recommended. I'd aim to keep it in the low 60s myself. I have great luck with most ale yeasts in that range.

 

[BioHopology]

Thank you dave and foosier,

It has been a experimental and learning curve for this first 8 months now. Criticism does not bother me... again *learning as I post an read. I feel i do a lot more reading then posting as a newbie....normal. The off flavors have to be from +10-20 over temp fermentation. My wife keeps telling me "band-aid" after taste....but i can notice a significant difference in different bottles with the same batch; however, I chop it up to higher fermentation temps.

My ofest is lager at a steady 53F and that is the highest my fridge goes "standard". Going to the LHBS tomorrow to pick up a johnson or ranco term control and picking up a 8.0 cf freezer from a FB friend for free (woot woot) to help with fermentation issues.