Us-05 off taste?

[gotbags-10]

So I typically use dry yeasts for most of my beers unless the gravity or batch size is low enough then I'll use wyeast. Any time 1056 or wlp-001 is called for I just use us-05. Which is a lot. I have a fermentation fridge but no thermowell so I've been just setting the temp at 63 ambient and usually after 7-10 days I ramp 2 degrees over a day until it hits 70 and leave for a few days for the yeast to clean up. I've noticed a certain taste in all my beers and its been in everything from Denny's vanilla porter to an 13 oz all citra IPA to Yooper's house ale, which I'm currently drinking. I deff notice it more with Yooper's and I think it's because it's kind of a lighter ale. Is my temp off or is it just the way this yeast tastes? Could it be something I'm doing wrong? I ask because I want to brew the Left handed milk stout clone and it calls for good ole us-05.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

So I typically use dry yeasts for most of my beers unless the gravity or batch size is low enough then I'll use wyeast. Any time 1056 or wlp-001 is called for I just use us-05. Which is a lot. I have a fermentation fridge but no thermowell so I've been just setting the temp at 63 ambient and usually after 7-10 days I ramp 2 degrees over a day until it hits 70 and leave for a few days for the yeast to clean up. I've noticed a certain taste in all my beers and its been in everything from Denny's vanilla porter to an 13 oz all citra IPA to Yooper's house ale, which I'm currently drinking. I deff notice it more with Yooper's and I think it's because it's kind of a lighter ale. Is my temp off or is it just the way this yeast tastes?

So, can you describe the "off" taste?

 

[gotbags-10]

Not estery or clovy like a Belgian. I would say maybe kinda bread like. Like when I rehydrate the yeast I'm imagining that smell as the taste.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I'm thinking that 05 should be pretty clean with a neutral malt forward taste. My brew club is doing a malt exbeeriment where we use a different base malt but keep everything else constant so we can taste the malt. We originally selected 05 as the yeast but a member that is a long standing bjcp judge said we should change our yeast because 05 had a distinct taste that would effect the profile and taste. I'm not sure this helps but maybe you could split a batch and pitch different yeasts and see where that takes you. I think yeast selection is as important as anything else in the process of making beer.

 

[gbx]

Not estery or clovy like a Belgian. I would say maybe kinda bread like. Like when I rehydrate the yeast I'm imagining that smell as the taste.

Is the beer clear? it isn't a good flocculator and has a bready yeasty taste if the beer isn't clear. I can't drink it until it has been in fridge for a few weeks on gelatin.

 

[flars]

The off flavor could be from the US-05. I have noticed a peach flavor, in some beers, when I ferment below 65°F with US-05. I now hold the temperature between 65° to 68°.

 

[popgunandy]

I think it's more fair (as if being fair to a single-celled organism is necessary) to say you've identified a characteristic of 05 you don't care for. When it is consistently produced, it's not an off-flavor - it's a flavor.

Personally I use 05 almost exclusively...but I like it.

 

[flars]

I think it's more fair (as if being fair to a single-celled organism is necessary) to say you've identified a characteristic of 05 you don't care for. When it is consistently produced, it's not an off-flavor - it's a flavor.

Personally I use 05 almost exclusively...but I like it.

Very true. It is like the banana (off) flavor produced by WY3068 in a Hefeweizen, when the yeast is under pitched and fermented warm. I don't like banana, so I over pitch and ferment cool for more clove (good) flavor than banana.

One of the reasons I enjoy home brew.

 

[feinbera]

63° ambient could easily be 67°, 68° in your fermentor, which could explain some of your trouble. I'd try taping the temp controller's probe to the side of the fermentor with some insulation, or at least three or four layers of bubble wrap, on the other side, keeping it insulated from the ambient air – sure, the edge of the fermentor might not be quite the same temp as the middle of the fermentor, but it'll be a heck of a lot closer to it than the ambient air temp.

 

[modifier]

I have experienced just the same flavour you're getting. Bottled my first batch fermented with S04 yesterday and it tastes incredible compared to us-05.. like it's been aging for a month already.

 

[ong]

I won't use US-05 or any of the other variants (WY-1056, WLP 001) anymore because I have become so attuned to a gross, fermented orange juice flavor I always seem to taste from it. Ferm temp doesn't seem to matter. Other people don't seem to hate these beers, but I find them undrinkable.

 

[jwalk4]

I get a sweet, bubblegum flavor when I ferment it at 68, beer temp.

I love it!

 

[joshesmusica]

I get a sweet, bubblegum flavor when I ferment it at 68, beer temp.

I love it!

Funny, when I first started brewing I asked people on here about a bubblegum flavor. The esters that us-05 produces at 68 and higher taste like bubblegum to me to! But in the end, they're esters. If you like it, all the more power to you.

To the OP, I agree with the guy who said to at least tape your temp probe to the side of the fermentor with some insulation. The temps in the fermentor will be at least 5 degrees warmer than the ambient air. As an example, I'm currently fermenting using a yeast that is meant to ferment warm. I set my temp controller to 25C (77F), and by day two (the most vigorous part of fermentation for me), it had reached up to 32.8C (91F)! This heat was only produced by the fermentation activity. So you don't necessarily need a thermowell or anything, but you do need to have the temp probe reading, at least, the side of the fermentor.

If the off-flavor is indeed a yeasty one, it's likely you didn't let it clear, or when you're pouring your bottles, you're not making sure to not let the yeast form the bottom into the glass.

 

[RM-MN]

So I typically use dry yeasts for most of my beers unless the gravity or batch size is low enough then I'll use wyeast. Any time 1056 or wlp-001 is called for I just use us-05. Which is a lot. I have a fermentation fridge but no thermowell so I've been just setting the temp at 63 ambient and usually after 7-10 days I ramp 2 degrees over a day until it hits 70 and leave for a few days for the yeast to clean up. I've noticed a certain taste in all my beers and its been in everything from Denny's vanilla porter to an 13 oz all citra IPA to Yooper's house ale, which I'm currently drinking. I deff notice it more with Yooper's and I think it's because it's kind of a lighter ale. Is my temp off or is it just the way this yeast tastes? Could it be something I'm doing wrong? I ask because I want to brew the Left handed milk stout clone and it calls for good ole us-05.

You don't need a thermowell to control the temperature. People have experimented with thermowells and with thermometers taped to the side of the fermenter and the difference is less than half a degree. Do as joshesmusica suggested and tape the controller probe to the outside of the fermenter.

 

[Queequeg]

+ on it being the yeast, bready and yeasty defo. I don't get it on the liquid strains