Unintentional Belgian-like flavors

[Mattyc88]

Hey guys, I made an amber ale and a strong ale with similar recipes, partial mash. Both were the same base grains and malts but the strong just had more extract. Both used California ale yeast. They both came out with ale bit of fruity belgian-like like flavors. They're still malty and still good beers but I'd like to know why. The temperature here outside has been changing like crazy, 17 degrees out then all the sudden 60-70 again. This could have a Leggett ed by beer fermentation room a bit. Would constantly changing temperatures result in something like this or does California ale yeast produce fruity esters sometimes?

 

[Cbaddad]

Yes,the quick changes in temp can stress the yeast and cause those flavors. Usually cali yeast is very clean.

 

[Mattyc88]

Yes,the quick changes in temp can stress the yeast and cause those flavors. Usually cali yeast is very clean.

Bummer, okay thanks. Guess it's time to invest in some kind of temperature controlled environment.

 

[Ogri]

Bummer, okay thanks. Guess it's time to invest in some kind of temperature controlled environment.

Even just a simple swamp cooler setup will help combat sudden swings in ambient temps therefore lessening the stress to the yeast that can cause some weird flavours to appear.

When you say "Cali ale yeast" do you mean the Chico strain/US-05??

You can get some peach-like flavours with that yeast when it ferments at rather low temperatures. Definitely experienced this myself but it didn't result in a bad or undrinkable beer.

 

[Mattyc88]

Even just a simple swamp cooler setup will help combat sudden swings in ambient temps therefore lessening the stress to the yeast that can cause some weird flavours to appear.

When you say "Cali ale yeast" do you mean the Chico strain/US-05??

You can get some peach-like flavours with that yeast when it ferments at rather low temperatures. Definitely experienced this myself but it didn't result in a bad or undrinkable beer.

No, sorry... I meant WLP001 The beer is still far form undrinkable. It's actually quite good, just wasn't quite what was intended.

 

[TexanRudeboy]

No, sorry... I meant WLP001 The beer is still far form undrinkable. It's actually quite good, just wasn't quite what was intended.

US05 WLP001 and Wyeast1056 are all the same "Cali Ale" strain.

 

[BreezyBrew]

What's your carbonation level? I have had "Belgian like" qualities in beers that are carbed higher than the style suggests.

 

[ICWiener]

No, sorry... I meant WLP001 The beer is still far form undrinkable. It's actually quite good, just wasn't quite what was intended

I had the exact same thing happen to me with WLP090. Fermented at 69-72 and it came out like a Belgian IPA. It was weird and unexpected, but it tasted really good.

 

[Pappers_]

For a clean fermentation flavor profile, WLP001 is a good choice, if its fermented at a low temp, such as 62F - 64F. The comments above about the temp swings are spot on, I think.