Will this flavor go away with lagering?

[SuchSweetThunder]

I brewed a schwarzbier-like beer with Wyeast California Lager. I got a pretty old pack of yeast, but built up a starter to pitch at the correct level. The beer fermented to where it should have; I fermented in the mid-60s, keeping it as cool as I could.

I just moved to lager and it has what I think is a bit of solvent--it might be from too-warm fermentation, or possibly just old yeast. It just smells kind of hot, and the sample I took didn't taste very clean yet. Does this sort of thing go away with lagering? I opened a commercial lager and I can detect the same flavor but much much less--is this just 'lager strain' flavor that fades later?

Thanks for your help! If the beer is a loss, I'll write it off; the yeast was free, so I get what I paid for I guess.

 

[rwinzing]

It's not from old yeast. The reason you don't use old yeast is because it may not have enough active bodies to ferment the beer. You used a starter and it sounds like it fermented fine so the yeasts age is a non-factor. The problem with yeast if you continue to use the same strain over and over and it could eventually have an affect. As far as fermentation temps you didn't indicate how warm it got but that could be the reason. It also could just be green uncarbed beer. I would finish, let it condition and age. You may have made a great batch you just don't know it yet.

 

[joshesmusica]

I just brewed an oktoberfest ale, basically a lager style beer fermented with an ale yeast but fermented cooler than a typical ale fermentation.

anyways, i got that kinda warmish flavor from mine even after i lagered it for nearly two weeks. i wouldn't say solventy, but i thought i ruined it because i planned it to be slightly above normal for the style, and then got really good efficiency. but after only 24 hours of force carbing in the keg, that flavor was completely gone.

 

[SuchSweetThunder]

That's sounds about right. I opened a Uinta Baba Black lager right after and tasted a very similar flavor, like I mentioned--it probably is just green. Thanks for the reassurance! I'll try it in a few months when it's done.