Quick question. My very first Blonde Ale extract kit is finally drinkable and I like it very much. In fact, it was a big hit with everyone I gave one too. The only problem is that everyone keeps saying that there is an almost orange citrus flavor to it. I have had quite a few blonde ales in my time and Iam no expert, but did I do somethng wrong? Like I said, it is very tasty and drinkable, just curious where that flavor could have come from. thank you in advance for all your tips. Cheers :cross:
Off Flavor?
- Thread starter hmiles86
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What hops did you use?
Cheers!
Cheers!
+1 to it being the hops. Also, a citrusey Blonde sounds awesome. If you decide to get rid of it I'll "dispose" of it for you! 
That may be a little bit high, but not enough to produce off flavor. Willamette gives some fruit aroma, it might just be that
feinbera
Well-Known Member
How clear is the beer? Maybe people are picking up the flavor of dissolved yeast, which reminds them of that hefe they had that one time with a lemon or orange slice in it, and thinking "a-ha, citrus!"
If that was the room temperature, it is definitely possible that many ale yeast strains would produce a citrusy off-flavor. Nottingham gets especially fruity above 70 degrees, and I've seen an active fermentation be 10 degrees higher than ambient temperature.
S05 gets "peachy" at about 72-75. Some ale strains get more banana-like, while others get more fruity like bubblegum. It really depends on the yeast strain, but most often a room temperature of 70 degrees will produce fruitiness, and English strains will especially get fruity.
It's only an off flavor if you don't like it, dude.
+1. And if you like the off flavor, make sure you tell everyone it was intended
hops2it
Well-Known Member
Depending on yeast, that temp could cause a citrusy taste. I just finished a keg of CB that had the peachy flavor (US05) which was fermented in the upper 60's and that was the vessel temp. I used to ferment in the low 60s for most ales and I'm going back to that method. Seems a much cleaner finish for most yeasts as long as they can handle those temps which most can.
+1. And if you like the off flavor, make sure you tell everyone it was intended
Amen to that. My second batch was a porter, which I made with part of a yeast cake I haphazardly scooped into a non-airtight bottle and left in my disgusting fridge for a week, which I pitched directly into the carboy without making a starter. Bam, lacto infection... and it was absolutely delicious. Just sour enough.
"Dude, your porter is sour."
"Yeah, I know. So is Guinness."
"Huh, you're right. Awesome."
Beer is beer, and most mistakes are DELICIOUS.
The awesome thing here is that you know what temp you fermented at, so you can repeat it whenever you want!
Hey Yooper, is there any charts that characterize the yeast according to temperature? There are plenty of charts that will describe the effects and the optimum temperature, but what if your are above or below that temperature?
I've never seen anything like that.
For the most part, you get a "cleaner" product if you ferment below a yeast strains "optimum" temperature (as long as you don't go too low and stress the yeast!) but in my experience some strains don't necessarily work that way.
As an example, S05 gets "peachy" esters at a low temperature (like at 62). I just know that one from experience!
As far as "too high", those are all pretty much the same, as in fruity flavors that progress from mild at the high end of the optimum temperature for the yeast strain, to intense at higher temperatures, then leading to fusels if fermented even hotter than that.
Making a chart that was useful for one yeast would be problematic, as the specific fruit flavor, etc is (from what I understand) somewhat dependent on ABV, pitch rate, and maybe oxygenation. Making a chart for enough yeasts to be useful in a broad sense would involve a lot of data and be very tricky to get right.
That's why people speak in generalities... if you ferment in range a, you're likely to get some or all of ester flavors b.
